Open Letter to Kapil Sharma

Dear Kapil,

It's not been very long since you started your television career, but you've entertained us so immensely over the past few years that I thought it's about time I wrote you an open letter. After all, I don't want to give you a chance to complain about Mr. Raghuram Rajan getting love letters in the Economic Times, while all you get is the Babaji ka Thullu.

As a member of the metropolitan generation which stopped watching television since the day Sarabhai vs. Sarabhai was pulled off air, I always fancied situational comedies set in NYC more than Raju Srivastav's brilliant acts on weddings and villages. While The Great Indian Laughter Challenge opened the urban youth to primetime Hindi comedy, it was your presence on Comedy Circus that really made us overlook all the slapstick performances that preceded your well timed acts and admire a Hindi comedian so openly on the social media, a space that we had earlier reserved only for mentioning Russell Peters. It's liberating to admit to the brilliance you have brought about in our (or my, if I should only speak for myself) otherwise heavily Americanized, often pseudo-elitist, taste in humor.

Your self-production, Comedy Nights with Kapil, is enjoyable beyond what words can express. For once, there's a comedy show on which I do not mind Navjot Singh Sidhu's laughter because there's enough for him to genuinely khadkaao his hahakaar at. While your interaction with the audience remains my favorite part of the show, there are a few things that I'd request you to improve on at the earliest.

The Bua

If you must do just one thing to improve the show, please cull the character of bua. There's a limit to which one can go on and on about not getting married. I think it's about time you realize that Upasana Singh's picture deserves a position in the Oxford Picture Dictionary, right next to the definition of annoying. It was a pain to watch her go “Abba Dabba Chabba” in Judaai, so you can imagine how much Tiger Balm it would take to relieve me of the headache that her hundred word script can induce. There's no need to think of another character for the actress; just let her go. I was feeling guilty about being so harsh, but I got over the feeling as soon as I realized that “twanty too years old, hawt and saxy” is how I literally describe my patootie, and I would not want to see images of it on national television.

The Dadi

Ali Asgar has had so much screen time in a drag act throughout his television career that Bobby Darling's existence finds it difficult to compete with it. If there's one thing funny about his portrayal of dadi, it is being called “buddhan” and being given a kick on his butt in every second episode. He looks nothing less than a Saroj Khan duplicate in sneakers, and I think his imaarat's buniyaad clearly needs some pest control for continuously acting like some cockroaches crept up his salwar.

Please take a hint from Akshay Kumar when he said that he would rip his wig off and throw him away if he dared to kiss any more people on the show. Kissing Shahrukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor is one thing, but planting his leech of a mouth on Tusshar Kapoor is just mean. I mean, at least let the poor kid get some real action in life first before he is teased by a red lipped drag queen originally born out of Kahanii Ghar Ghar Ki.

To be honest, I can still bear his idiocy as long as the bua doesn't enter the same frame. If I were to choose just one, get rid of the bua already!

Guthi

An extremely underrated actor, Sunil Grover has never enjoyed the respect he deserves probably because all the original talent has mostly gone unnoticed behind his small mimicry stunts on Indian television. His portrayal of Guthi and some other recent characters has salvaged the image that he carried into the show in some of the initial episodes. I would love to watch him perform more on the show, provided he does not overdo what he is already doing up to a level of perfection, beyond which looms a saturation point.

The Question and the Thullu

Humor lies in the unexpected, which you so wonderfully exhibit every time a member of the audience puts up a question. It's hilarious to see you pull off the brat attitude with such innocence. However, it is now getting a little disappointing to see that your first question to every guest boils down to asking them how they feel on having finally made it to your show, after you mention all their well known works one after the other. It's been repeated as many times as the number of episodes, and I can see through how it ends even before it starts.

Babaji ka Thullu has undoubtedly been the biggest contribution of the show, as it finally gave the country a phrase to replace “ghanta” with. All of us are guilty of using it in our everyday lives now, complete with the little naag gesture. But I hope you will give us more such things to laugh about in our lives before Troll Punjabi's Thullu internet memes become too much of an inspiration for people to visit every meme generator, post Asaram Bapu's image and make jokes about how the babaji ka thullu is still in perfect working condition despite the age.

The show is undeniably the most entertaining on present day Indian television and deserves all the TRP's that it's already getting, and more. My only concern is that it might slowly lose its charm if the characters try to constantly stick to the same eccentric traits or jokes time and again, one episode after another, only because they worked wonderfully in a few initial episodes. Constant reinvention of the characters might break the repetition which is slowly beginning to cause monotony in the humor.

I am only a lowly mortal and probably not someone with enough credibility to make any suggestions to your highly acclaimed work. However, you may give the advice some heed, if you so please.

Irrespective of whether this letter reaches you or not, there's a hope that you will stay just as entertaining as you are, because without Kapil Sharma's “oh mayi goad”, all that my cable connection can provide is no more than a Babaji ka Thullu that looks like a designer blouse, a minor bride, or a lady on a Laado murdering spree.

Image Source: mid-day.com