I Wasn’t Insulting Modi Ji; It’s Not Fair: Shyam Rangeela

The comedian talks about not being allowed to mimic Modi or Rahul Gandhi on ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’. Abira Dhar Shyam Rangeela during a performance. | (Photo courtesy: Facebook/ shyamrangeela) TV The comedian talks about not being allowed to mimic Modi or Rahul Gandhi on ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’.

Stand-up comedian Shyam Rangeela might have been eliminated from The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, but a video of his mimicry of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral. Though it is specifically this mimicry that landed him a place in the competition in the first place, Rangeela was not allowed to put up the skit at the last moment. In an interview with The Quint, Shyam Rangeela talks about why he was not allowed to mimic Modi, or for that matter Rahul Gandhi, on the show and how it has affected his career.

I prepared on the script around Modi ji for a month, but was told by the channel’s production guys that it might lead to a controversy, even riots. I was asked to drop it. Then I prepared one on Rahul Gandhi... that too was rejected. The script I actually performed on the show was done over just two days. Comedy can’t be done in a day and these constant changes left me very disturbed. Shyam Rangeela, Comedian

Clarifying he has never met Modi, Rangeela feels that the channel should have taken a call on whether a Modi skit would be controversial or not before asking him to join the show. There was nothing insulting about it, he insists.

I feel these decisions (not to run scripts around Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi) should have been taken before calling me to the show. It’s affecting my career... somewhere people are thinking that this person got eliminated in the first round of the show, so he’s not capable. It’s not fair. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the skits, I wasn’t insulting anyone. It was just comedy!

Rangeela however, feels that the controversy around Akshay Kumar-Mallika Dua has been somewhat blown out of proportion. Everyone says these things in fun on the sets, he says. When pushed for an opinion, he agrees that it wasn’t an appropriate thing to say to any woman.

Everyone does masti mazak on the sets. It has become controversial now, it should have been edited out... I wouldn’t have said such a thing, it’s not appropriate.

(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)