Make way for India's answer to John Oliver: 'On Air with AIB' packs a humourous punch

When you want to complain about something happening around you, what is first piece of unsolicited advice that you are most likely to get? “Why don’t you do something about it, instead of uploading a status/tweet?” In On Air With AIB, Comedy outfit All India Bakchod have done exactly that. They’ve taken all the outrage that they feel about issues that surround us, and made a 10-episode series that serves as a humourous, political and social commentary. On Air With AIB is sort-of an Indian version of John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, and 10 seconds into the 23 minute pilot episode, you see why. The decibel levels are a notch higher, almost on par with their laughter track and they have managed to fuse one of the most serious issues to plague us (Vyapam scam) with a fair share of giggles. That’s no mean feat. [caption id=“attachment_2487872” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Snippets from the show.[/caption] The pilot episode has been shot in both Hindi and English and premiered on Hotstar on Thursday afternoon, both around 23 minutes long. It will also be shown on Star World on 1 November. In true AIB style, both the versions begin with making fun of their own platforms. “If you’re watching this on Hotstar, it’s probably still buffering,” says Rohan Joshi, who along with Ashish Shakya hosts the English version. “If you’re watching this on TV, and wondering why these two men aren’t wearing a salwar kameez, Kapil’s show on another channel,” says Tanmay Bhat, who hosts the hindi version with Gursimran Khamba. Called ‘Why be Good’ in English and ‘Zaban Sambhalke’ in Hindi, the pilot episodes discussed the various issues of the Vyapam Scam, from the “mysterious deaths” to Ashok Khemka’s multiple transfers. And justifying the tag line of the show’s title track ‘Tragedy mein comedy’, the issues raked up were punctured with funnier gags. For example, “Taking away anonymity from the whistleblowers is like taking away Maachis from Chandrachur Singh,” says Rohan Joshi. They then proceed to call Robert Vadra the Freddy Mercury of Gurgaon and even attach a snippet of the gloriously funny time when Rahul Gandhi used the word ‘Brashtachar’ (corruption) instead of ‘Baladkar’ (rape). Add to this a spoof video featuring Prakash Raj, and an interview conducted by Abish Matthew (the resident AIB guest) with the Limca Book world record holder Dr K Padmarajan (who has lost the most elections ever) and you have an eventful pilot episode. It has to be said that the Hindi version flows much better than the English version, not because of language but because Tanmay Bhat and Gursimran Khamba just seem more effortless on camera. Watch the Hindi version of On Air With AIB  here, and the English version here.