How Kapil Sharma’s Show “Comedy Nights With Kapil” Objectifies Indian Women

Tuesday, January 20, 2015 Social Lens , The FEMINIST You 0 Comments

The only, and perhaps, the most important part that has been sadly overlooked by viewers, is that the punch lines are created generally by targeting women, and portraying them as mere objects of fun and mockery.

The fact that the show is liked by one and all, winning several awards in 2014, makes me wonder more and more that are we still living in a society where the husband tries to have affairs with beautiful women, fools around his wife, insults her in almost every matter, and wins the hearts of audience?

The popular TV show “Comedy Nights With Kapil” has been entertaining Indian audience from over an year now.  Celebrities from all age group mainly into entertainment, cricket and corporate world have made their appearances in the show, cheerfully mentioning how much they and their families love watching it. The success of the show is attributed to Kapil Sharma’s simplicity, and of course his excellent comic skills. The ease with which he connects with his guests and audience gets him the credit of wining highest Television Rating Poing (TRP).  Everyone else in the show is for completing an average Indian family including his darling wife, ‘dadi’ (grandmonther), ‘bua’ (maternal aunt), neighbor Palak, her mother and Gutthi, and servant Ramu. The roles are created to entertain us by cracking jokes that arise from our daily mundane lives.

So everything is great ‘till here. The only, and perhaps, the most important part that has been sadly overlooked by viewers, is that the punch lines are created generally by targeting women, and portraying them as mere objects of fun and mockery. Though Kapil’s on-screen wife heartily welcomes all the jokes made by a husband to his wife, but the message that gets circulated with this screenplay has serious repercussions. Not just his wife, but other female roles in the show which are played by men off-screen, happily portray Indian woman as a desperate, dumb, ingenuous being who knows nothing about politics, science, entertainment or aesthetics etc.

The fact that the show is liked by one and all, winning several awards in 2014, makes me wonder more and more that are we still living in a society where the husband tries to have affairs with beautiful women, fools around his wife, insults her in almost every matter, and wins the hearts of audience? We all talk about women empowerment these days, but at the same time we still love watching a show that mocks at the different roles women play in our lives. Can we please have some intelligent comedy content that are beyond husband-wife chemistry, and that instead focus on real issues that our society has been facing from infinity?
Can we please stop objectifying Indian women!