Review: FRESH THOUGHTS WITH KUNAL KAMRA at Canvas Laugh Club

From fresh to radical to hysterical, everything about Kunal Kamra's thoughts is different from what we have been exposed to in Indian comedy so far. A night in Noida at the Canvas Laughter Club, I along with an odd four hundred people watched him purging on the ill and the good of the country, but never too far from his very hilarious, normal Mumbai-guy existence. The entire show is carefully built around the issues that encompass Kamra's life and it hits you strong when he suggests to an audience member "tujh main bahot daring hai, aur yeh MAIN keh raha hun!", all of this because the kid was on a nonchalant date with his old father that night.

There are several funny moments to take from the narratives he creates and amidst it all, there seems to be a certain tiredness of having been politically correct for too long. The refrain he builds of "Siachen", (a popular laugh at the hypocrisy of the right wing in its dependence on the army for every argument) is extended to other political observations, this time with names and accusations. His dismissal of the aged as pure and pious and that of women being shielded from the brunt of his jokes causes a sad discomfort, for I am yet to see more of this in Indian satire, and the unusual recklessness made me think about the stance I wish to take, that of agreement or disagreement- what's worse is that I laughed and moved past the discomfort, just what any good comedy should endeavour to.

Whether to agree with everything he has to say or not is for a viewer to decide but in its entirety, this hour of comedy gets everything technical right. The piece asserts that he is no do-gooder or terrorism empathizer, just an informed individual ready to assess government officials as citizens at service and not models of superiority. He is interested in religion, brimming with jokes from the middle-class experience, he is interested in privilege and above all, he is interested in creating just the right setups for his laughs. Through his podcast "Shut Up Ya Kunal", he has created an alternative to biased media, something he satirizes at length. Thus, if you wish to engage in politics, not just vote bank but the politics of everything Indian, "Fresh Thoughts" with Kunal Kamra is the place to be.

For more such shows, check out Canvas Laugh Club.

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