The Mahatma, 2007 !

As hilarious as everything i say next is going to sound, it is not the surface that i want to touch. It is the deeper rot...

So about a week or 10 days ago, the Indian Government "banned" a video in the country. (Read, not allowed to watch). We will come later to the question of the ban really being effective, because i firmly beleive that nothing (NOTHING) stops information from flowing. Anyway, the video in question depicted a standup/clown/yoga teacher of Indian origin, Gautham Prasad, doing a 4 minute bit on Gandhi. The newspapers claimed that the video depicted Gandhi "doing things one can never imagine the Mahatma do". I dont know how many in India have really seen the clip, that depends on how effective the ban is. But i have seen it, and i will take the liberty to describe the video as well as the alleged perpetrator of the "crime".

So i watched the video here.
For those who cannot see it, well, Gandhi (played by Gautham Prasad) jumps around to a rather stupid song and is supposed to be doing a strip tease. Accordingly, he takes of his dhoti and is presently dressed in just a "langoti", and is rubbing himself up against a pole. For some strange reason, his nipples are pierced and he has gold chains hanging from them ! The pole then dislodges itself from its place and Gandhi is feeling quite embarassed. At this point of time he pulls up a lad from the audience and makes him do a pole dance. The audience by the way doesnt seem to be greatly amused, except for a couple of giggly girls who probably had a couple of drinks before watching the show.

Now, the clip apparently offended a lot of people and people sent a lot of hate mail to this guy. Personally, i was not offended at all. We have the capacity to see Bollywood actresses do all kinds of things with all kinds of equipment, as well as some item girls in skimpy clad clothes. But the moment we see Gandhi in a langoti, we're all offended, even if the langoti was made from swadeshi cotton !

On the other hand, i would still like to send hate mail to Prasad, because the clip was not even remotely funny. Come on buddy, when you mock someone, do a good job of it. If people like me are not offended, good for you. But atleast amuse us in the process !

I looked up this guy on the internet, and he's a struggling comedian. He means no harm, apparently, and frankly i wouldn't take him seriously for a minute. You can visit his website here. See the sample clip of his comedy, and you will realise that he fails to even make you smile. Such guys bring a bad name to humour and comedy, not to Gandhi.

Our stupid government needs to grow up. People make jokes on Gandhi (and many others) all the time. For goodness sake, i'm not an admirer of the man, or his principles. If that is what you call them. I'm not sure how relevent his principles are in the 21st century. But i'm often reminded of their irrelevance by examples all over the world. Look around us, the truth is often bitter, but that doesnt make it any less true !