Stand-up comic Vir Das releases video after Bengaluru show cancelled. Watch
Vir Das released a video on social media after his show - which was scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on Thursday - was cancelled. Watch it here.
Stand-up comic Vir Das on Thursday shared a video on social media after his show in the Karnataka capital of Bengaluru was deferred. While Das said his show was being postponed due to "unavoidable circumstances", a right-wing group - the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti - earlier this week demanded to cancel the show and claimed that it hurts religious sentiments of Hindus".
READ | Vir Das's Bengaluru show deferred after receiving heat from right-wing group
Das's show in Bengaluru was set to take place on Thursday at the Chowdiah Memorial hall in Malleshwaram. After Das made an announcement - “We are pushing the Bengaluru show. New details and dates soon. Sorry for the inconvenience.” - on Instagram, he later posted that "many assumptions" are made about his content. “I made this video after one of my shows, Just in Case. I have no interest in media spectacles or being used for headlines. I’m an artist. I shouldn’t be on the news. Many assumptions are made about my content. I trust my art and my audience to speak for me. #TrustTheAudience,” he tweeted, along with the video.
He is seen asking the audience to answer his questions in unison with "yes" or "no'. “I have not paid anyone to do this. None of these people are terrorists or Pakistani agents,” he says.
“Did we target any specific religion here tonight? Did we target any specific government or leader here tonight? Did this show defame India or make you feel ashamed to be Indian?” are some of the questions he asks to all of which the audience answers in the negative.
“Did this show make you feel proud to be Indian?” he asks, to which the audience screams 'yes'. He finishes the video with a 'Just trust the audience." Watch:
“C'mon Bengaluru.. The city that gave India its stand up comedy scene is now cancelling shows?? You know who's responsible... Hope you can respond befittingly in 2023 and in 2024,” a Twitter user responded. Many others disagreed and said time is changing for the good as his show was cancelled.
This is not the first time a stand-up comic's show has been cancelled in the city. Munawar Faruqui's shows has been called off twice in the Karnataka capital.
