Gutthi defends Palak

The arrest of comic actor Kiku Sharda for allegedly hurting the sentiments of a godman and his followers, has put a question mark on the entire cult of stand-up comedy in this country.

Kiku’s colleague Sunil Grover (aka Gutthi) from Comedy Nights With Kapil recalls Kiku’s arrest with a  shudder. “Ironically, we were shooting the last episode of Comedy Nights before wrapping up on Wednesday night. Late in the night, when we wrapped up they came to take Kiku away. Frankly, he was petrified. We tried to reason with the cops. But they wouldn’t hear any of it.”

Apparently, the whole idea of doing a take-off on the particular godman was masterminded by the channel and the writers of Comedy Nights. Kiku was only putting across lines that were given to him.

Says Sunil, “We all know that religious sentiments must never be allowed to be hurt in any of the jokes. It’s one of the first rules of stand-up comedy. I don’t know how Kiku ended up doing what he did. All I can say is, he was made a scapegoat.”

Sunil feels the incident augurs badly for comedy in India.  “From now on, we comic actors need a lawyer on the sets every time we shoot an episode of a comedy show, to ensure the jokes are not liable to hurt anyone.The agony of his family as they waited for his release could have been my family’s agony, too.”

Another colleague, who doesn’t wish to be named, says, “They had to arrest Kiku to appease the godman’s fanatical devotees. They wanted revenge for the alleged insult. They got it.”