Sorabh Pant wears many hats. Quite literally. Jokes apart, the standup comic is also a writer. In his latest book, VOTE FOR PANT: But, Don’t, he has tried his hand at political satire.
By his own admission, in December 2019, Pant received many death threats for a “political” joke he made in 2017. That he went on to write a full book when a puny joke did so much damage makes me wonder if he’s as mad as a hatter.
When the comedians start talking politics, while the political leaders continue clowning around, sumjho ki Kalyug aa chuka hai (know that the age of downfall is here).
“Look at the circumstances this generation finds themselves in: there’s a global housing crisis, a global job crisis, a global climate crisis, a global war crisis, a globe-wide crisis from people believing these are not general global crises. And a large chunk of youngsters want the world to get better so that they can continue living in it.”
From the veracity and tenacity of WhatsApp forwards to the nepotism in Bollywood; from China’s dadagiri to the Indian media’s chamchagiri—he has a witty take to offer on all of the above, and more.
The book published by Rupa Publications is priced at ₹295 and runs a little over 180 pages. It’s a breezy read as Pant takes on the heaviest of topics (such as the lack of transparency in the funding of political parties) with his quirky sense of humour.
“We hold civilians, bloggers, social media users, performers, actors and comedians (notice how I shoved us in there) to higher journalistic standards than journalists.”
To illustrate this point, Pant mentions the case of retired Major Neelam Singh in the book. He writes about how an FIR was registered against Major Singh in Hyderabad, for tweeting an obviously fake news article which said: “Cyberabad Police bans the sale of oranges in the city [because the] saffron colour of oranges is hurting the sentiments of Muslims.”
While ordinary citizens and others have to think twice before saying something, lest they be charged or arrested; at the same time, many news channels continue spouting nonsense 24*7. Is this what freedom of speech has come down to?
“Everything now has to sound dramatic on news channels—they are not selling you news, but entertainment with political views in the background because you can’t fill up 24 hours of a news cycle with balanced opinions.
“Who would watch that? Even the balanced people want to watch imbalanced people so they can feel more balanced in comparison.”
I might not agree with everything Pant has to say, or in this case: write, but that’s the beauty of living in a democracy such as ours… We can agree to disagree!
For instance, he attempts to defend nepotism in Bollywood using the example of big, family-run businesses like the Ambanis at the helm of Reliance.
Not sure how defending one evil with a bigger one is going to help, but at least he tried? Please take his views with a pinch of salt. It’s spelt as “satire” and not as “set-him-on-fire”.