Kanan Gill's 'primer on acceptable subjects in India' must be seen

In a time when everything from beef to the name of a road — or a silly Snapchat video — can invite the wrath of the righteous upon you, how do you ensure that you don’t (unintentionally) stir up a controversy? [caption id=“attachment_2813284” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kanan Gill has come up with a ‘primer of acceptable subjects in India’. Image from YouTube[/caption] Kanan Gill — of the Pretentious Movie Reviews fame — has an answer. Kanan has presented an artfully packaged video, titled “A primer on acceptable subjects in India” which offers a helpful guide on what not to talk/joke/comment about in India. Beginning with a video clip of the infamous temper tantrum by Annu Kapoor ( some background: this was on the sets of a children’s talent show, where co-judge Kunal Kohli said that giving a contestant named Tanmay extra points for his song selection was probably unfair to the other kids. At this point, a deeply emotional Annu Kapoor yelled out, Iss cheez ke upar nai bolne ka, and then launched into a long tirade which ended with him singing a patriotic song, while the little contestants on the show marched around him on stage.) Kanan’s primer then goes on to show you ki kis cheez ke bare mein nai bolne ka. Cows/beef, cricketers, Kanhaiya, Gajendra Chauhan, Pahlaj Nihalani, Akbar Road, the national anthem, the national flag, India, the world, the galaxy! [caption id=“attachment_2813278” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Tanmay Bhat became the focus of a huge row after a Snapchat joke about Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar[/caption] What you can talk about, is of the LGBTQ community, in the most reprehensible way. To buttress his point, Kana provides a video clip of a Sunil Pal TV interview, in which he claims that stand-up comedians’ audiences comprise mostly “lesbians, gays”, “(jinko) samaj ko ganda hi karna hota hai”. Such brave words. Incidentally, the Annu Kapoor-Kunal Kohli video was one that Tanmay Bhat — yes, our man of the moment, him of the daring to make crass jokes about Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar notoriety — had dug up in 2012 and shared on Twitter, to refresh our memories (the coincidence of the child in the video, who the argument between Annu and Kohli brews over, also being called Tanmay is not lost on us!). Does anyone else think Kanan’s use of this particular clip has a trace of the meta about it? For a quick guide on surviving the times, check out Kanan’s primer. And then maybe watch it again. You know — just to be on the safe, non-controversial side.