New Delhi, Apr 29 (PTI) From the bygone days when 'hasya-kavi sammelans' were the only widely popular means for rip-roaring comedies, laughter today has branched into a flourishing business, thanks to popularity of laughter shows on the TV channels.
The boom in the business has spelt success for the artists who find themselves suddenly in the big league spotlight. Although critical of the laughter shows as lacking in originality, popular poets however say the good old Kavi sammelans continue to be popular and still draw crowds.
Rajeev Nigam, a popular artist points out "There is no doubt that laughter shows are fuelling boom in the entertainment industry. Laughter Challenge was the first show that changed the fortunes of my type of artists. Raju Srivastava, who used to take five to ten thousand rupees per show, now charges honorarium in lakhs."
Stand-up comedy had started much earlier but the impact was never like this, he says. With audiences looking not only for just jokes but a combination of spoofs and gags he says stand-up comedy has become a much more difficult task, Nigam says.
Noted humourist and poet Surendra Sharma says, "Comedy today shows lack of originality and challenges all poets and artists, except the veterans, to showcase at least one original humour." "The laughter show artists fabricate original lyrics to make them vulgar. These kinds of shows are not appropriate for family audience. Nobody laughs in these shows except Navjot Singh Sidhu," he adds.
Famous Hindi poet Allahar Bikaneri says he feels a lot of new poets have suffered because of the laughter shows but there are still a large number of audience who understand and prefer to laugh on good poetry. "These laughter show artists have nothing new to present. They just repeat jokes and satire used by famous poets fourty years ago. But I see it as a positive change. Now poets have no choices but to create original work, which will ultimately help in improving the quality of poems," he says.
During the last few years the space for stand-up comedy in the country has widened with performances by the likes of Sunil Pal, Ehsaan Qurasi, Naveen Prabhakar, Raju Srivastava, Rauf Lala among others who continue to entertain audiences as well as rake in big money for artists, producers and advertisers, say industry experts.
But even as shows like the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, Comedy Ka Badshah, Comedy Champions, Raju and Party and Aaj Tak Aisi Ki Taisi do brisk business laughter-based shows may not mean gauranteed success. Editorial Head of TV Today Network, Qamar Waheed Naqvi, views such shows as reflecting the present day society. He strongly denies that such shows have anything to do with the money- making business. He takes the example of Aaj Taks Aisi Ki Taisi as a programme that views happenings in politics, cinema and sports with a hint of sarcasm. He points out that news channels are merely delivering what viewers want.
"We don't go with TRPs or the number of advertisers. We started this show for our audience to show the 'exact' situation of the country," he says. "For a news channel, it takes lots of time and money to create programming, but for the viewer, only seconds to reject it," he adds. For the average television viewer like Reema Kapoor, a housewife, it doesnt matter where she gets her laughs from.
"I love watching laughter shows. It has become a part of my routine appetite she says. Vinay Pathak of 'Bheja Fry' fame, who started his career with the small screen and then marched to Bollywood, is careful to talk about comedy shows on news channels. "Well I don't want to bite the hands that feed me but let's not go nuts. Deliberate gags on news channels are not good and substance still matters," he says Surendra Dube dubs those who produce television laughter programmes as 'a bunch of thieves'. "These kinds of shows are dangerous to our litereture and culture," he says.
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