Hate wins? Comedian Vir Das’ show cancelled in city

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Stand-up comedian Vir Das’ show scheduled to be held here on Thursday was cancelled at the last minute following protests by Hindu right wing organisations. The fringe outfits protested against the show, alleging that it will hurt Hindu religious sentiments.

According to the information available, the show was scheduled to take place at 5.30 pm at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in Malleswaram. The organiser of the event YOSN Innovation said in a statement that the event has been cancelled.

“Due to unavoidable circumstances, the stand-up comedy show of Vir Das stands cancelled, which was scheduled on November 11, 2022 at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall,” YOSN Innovation said in its letter to the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall authorities. Das released a video after the show was cancelled. “I made this video after one of my shows, Just in Case.

I have no interest in media spectacles or being used for headlines. I’m an artist. I shouldn’t be on the news. Many assumptions are made about my content. I trust my art and my audience to speak for me. #TrustTheAudience,” Vir Das tweeted.

“So basically what happens is, a lot of times when a comedy show gets, you know, shutdown or... It’s because people make assumption about what happens at the show. And nobody ever checks with the audience what happened at the show. This is an audience that has just seen a show of mine,” he is heard saying in the video he relased shortly after the show was cancelled.

“Did we target any specific religion here tonight,” he asks in the video. “No”, says the audience emphatically and in unison. “Did we target any specific government or leader here tonight,” he asks again. The answer is the same again - no.

“Did this show defame India or make you feel ashamed to be Indian?” “No”, the audience replies energetically again. Welcoming the cancellation of show, Hindu Janajagruthi Samithi spokesperson Mohan Gowda said the comedian has insulted India, its women and the Hindu religion.

“We had lodged a complaint with the Vyalikawal police station against the show. Because of an agitation by the Hindu organisations, the show has been canceled. Wherever such people insult Hinduism in the name of comedy should be boycotted,” Gowda said in a statement.

His monologue ‘I come from two Indias’ had stirred quite a row in the country a year ago when he was criticised for allegedly defaming India.