I Am Offended

Comedy is a serious business. Ask the young Indian stand-up comics in Jaideep Varma’s I Am Offended, who have had to face backlash for finding humour in subjects both taboo and innocuous. "No jokes on religion, caste, politics or sex", they have been repeatedly told by event organisers. An ill-timed quip can invite public outrage or, worse, land you in trouble with the authorities.

A revealing anthology of clips and interviews with humourists in different media, I Am Offended surveys the landscape and limits of a popular art form taking its tentative baby steps in a country all too ready to trip it up. The performers reflect on the nuts and bolts of their craft, the opportunities and pitfalls facing Indian stand-up comedy, its genealogy and the disparities of language, gender and region that have shaped its evolution.

Emanating from the interviews is a sense of comedy as a force of resistance fundamental to a healthy democracy. Whether offering a space for dissent or serving as a safety valve to vent everyday frustrations, humour runs up against the established order, constantly seeking the right to provoke and embarrass. The regular arrest and cancellation of comics in India since Varma’s film only underscores its central point, revealing a nation increasingly eager to take offence.

– Srikanth Srinivasan