Will Smith’s slap has just made history at the Oscars

There are many reasons why Will Smith made history at the Oscars. He is the fifth Black American actor  to win an Oscar for best actor , after Sidney  Poitier  in  Lilies Of  The  Field, Denzel Washington in Rainy Day, Jamie  Foxx in Ray and  Forest Whittaker in The Last King Of Scotland. Some years ago Will Smith was sure he would get the Oscar for The Pursuit Of Happyness . But since the makers couldn’t spell the title correctly, no one took  the  film seriously.

Finally getting the Oscar was  the  moment he was waiting for. His moment of glory was, alas, eclipsed  by one of  the  ugliest and yet bravest  moments in  the history of  the Oscars when the host of  the evening Chris Rock  made a horribly improper  joke about Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair condition. Initially  Will  seemed to be  amused. But then  when he saw his  wife’s  enraged humiliated face he  got ,  walked up to the stage  and punched  Chris Rock in  the  face .He  also screamed at Chris  to “keep my wife out of  your fucking mouth.”

Most  would agree  Rock deserved the blow. The Oscars didn’t. It was  a glorious  evening celebrating  exceptional talent, darkened by this necessary act of violence,  necessary because any man  would do the same  in Smith’s place.  Except maybe Chris Rock who would keep laughing even if someone  insulted his  loved one. That’s what stand-up comedians do, don’t they? They make  a joke  of everything and think it’s funny to  ridicule physical disabilities, debilitating  health conditions, etc. Just like  Vir Das  thought  it was  funny to  talk about “two Indias”  in  the US  while  enlightened Indians  clapped as  if he had just hit on the magic formula for  making desh bhakti seem  infra dig. Why didn’t someone do a Smith on  Das?

Nearer  home Kapil Sharma constantly  makes fun of  overweight members  of  the audience specially their paunches, little realizing that his own protruding  midriff makes all tondu   jokes  a befitting  illustration  of the pot(belly)  calling the kettle black. It must have taken Will  Smith  a whole lot of guts to walk up to that stage and  make  a statement:   it’s not funny to make jokes about illnesses and deficiencies. I  think henceforth standup comics and other heroes of hilarity would think twice before  mocking the  audience.

I  remember  filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker had  shut up our  self-appointed wag Sajid Khan at an  awards  function some years  ago.  Ashutosh  didn’t actually  slap  Sajid. Maybe he should have. Maybe then Sajid Khan’s career wouldn’t have hit  rock-bottom.

(Opinions expressed are personal)

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .