Live
- New Delhi: India-China hold 'in-depth' talks but no breakthrough in sight
- New Delhi: High Court dismisses Cong pleas against IT re-assessment
- Will sign on mega DSC first after taking office: Naidu
- New Delhi: High Court rejects plea to oust Kejriwal as CM
- MyVoice: Views of our readers 29th March 2024
- New Delhi: Kejriwal's ED custody extended till Fools' Day
- The Scindias: Moving seamlessly between parties in different elections on home turf
- A Tribute to Swami Smaranananda
- Erode: Denied LS ticket, TN MP commits suicide
- Harnessing opportunities of AI to improve govt services
Just In
From Johnny Lever\'s ‘JohnyAala Re’, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shekhar Suman judging ‘Laughter Challenge’ to the popular ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’– comedy in India, like most other fields, has largely been male dominated. But women are slowly taking centrestage, say content makers and comedians.
Breaking stereotypes on the humour circuit
From Johnny Lever's ‘JohnyAala Re’, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shekhar Suman judging ‘Laughter Challenge’ to the popular ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’– comedy in India, like most other fields, has largely been male dominated. But women are slowly taking centrestage, say content makers and comedians.
Raju Shrivastava, Johnny Lever, Sunil Grover, Papa CJ, Tanmay Bhatt, Sorabh Pant and Jivesh Ahluwalia are some of the men who immediately come to mind in any conversation about India's comedy scene.
In an era when there's a spike in the number of televised comedy shows and stand-up events, apart from the emergence of various web platforms to push the genre, female comedians like Bharti Singh, Radhika Vaz, Mallika Dua, Aditi Mittal, Jamie Lever, Kaneez Surka and NeetiPalta have come into their own. Yet, the ratio of men and women comedians remains "unjustified", says Zulfia Waris, Business Head - Female and Family Entertainment Products, Discovery Communications India.
The network is soon coming up with ‘Queens of Comedy’, to provide a national platform to comediennes and to "change the way how women are perceived on India's comedy circuit", Waris said."Female comedians have been in the circuit for quite some time and I think they will continue to be there because of their humour. (But) the ratio of men to women in the comedy industry is completely unjustified.
"With 'Queens of Comedy', we are giving women a platform to showcase their hidden talent. I think the idea is to provide equal opportunities to female stand-up comedians," added Waris about the show, which will air on Discovery-owned TLC channel from September 23.
The breakthrough show will be judged by actress Richa Chadha, comedian Rohan Joshi and Kaneez Surka. Surka, who doesn't quite like the term "female comedian", said: "Being a woman, I do have an issue being labelled as a female comedian, because sometimes I feel it diminishes what I am doing or what I have done. Hence, I don't really like that tagline of being a female comedian.
"However, I do feel that it is important for the women to open up and come to the forefront on various comedy platforms." The scenario is same across the globe, says NeetiPalta. "The same ratio exists across the globe, not just in India. But as comedy is getting more popular and the audience is becoming more accepting, more ladies are stepping up," Palta said, adding: "I get paid more than a lot of male comics.
The pay structure is based more on the experience of the comic than their gender." Yet, there seem to be fewer opportunities for women in this arena. But War is says she sees a ray of hope.
By: Shivani Chaskar
© 2024 Hyderabad Media House Limited/The Hans India. All rights reserved. Powered by hocalwire.com