Does Vir Das' Two Indias Video Deserve All That Hate It Is Getting?

In Vir Das' words, his bit named 'I Come From Two Indias' is a gigantic joke and yet it is not funny at all. It is a complex and yet a very simplistic take on the duality that exists in our Indian society. Whether Das did the bit for notoriety or it was an honest piece of art is unknown to us but as individuals with common sense, we should look at his verses just like we should look at any work of art.

If it makes us applaud in praise, it can also be pretty average for some and completely unpalatable for others. But should it make people file a police complaint against the comedian? That is something we should be worried about.

Vir Das Two Indias :

Das at Kennedy Centre requested his audience to stay back after his stand up. He wanted to make a video of himself reading out from sheets of paper he was seen flipping through. The comedian had just enjoyed performing in a sold-out room, yet wanted to share what he had written about his own country.

Das' monologue was surely critical but very few people will have the heart to say that it was untrue. He talked about gangrapes of women in the land which also worships them as deities. Think it is a tad harsh? Over 28,000 cases of rapes were reported in the year 2020- a year that mostly went by in-between lockdowns. How journalism, the fourth pillar of democracy is crumbling under the weight of one-sided political wave.

The comedian is not the only one talking about these pressing issues faced by the country but he did get flagged on social media and received unfair amount of hate for saying it all on public forum outside the nation. Read more here.

Das talked about how Indians get emotional over cricket and find it justifiable to make Islamophobic statements. The number of arrests made after India's recent loss to Pakistan in India are blatant examples of that. Where was our sportsmen spirit when we booked individuals who were just celebrating the victory of another nation? Indian cricketer Mohammad Shami, who played in the match against Pakistan, was targetted by the trolls for his religious identity and was practically accused of siding with the winning team. How was any of that fair?

A proud country like ours that has people from different religions, class, caste and race, is something to cherish. Something to preserve and build further but the recent events of the past seem like a warning. When women continue to feel unsafe, when your religious identity sparks safety concerns, when leaders give tone-deaf speeches about sexuality and assault over the disadvantaged, we need to assess if we want our country to become something we cannot love anymore. No critic can state for everyone that Vir Das's I Come From Two Indias bit was the best monologue ever but many would agree that he gave us some food for thought.

Views expressed by the author are their own.