Vir Das show cancelled after right-wing protests: Another day, another controversy for comedian

Vir Das has found himself embroiled in controversy yet again. On Thursday, his show in Bengaluru was cancelled following protests by right-wing groups. The show, slated to take occur at 5.30 pm at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall in Malleswaram, was called off by organisers after fringe groups alleged it would hurt religious sentiments “Due to unavoidable circumstances, the stand-up comedy show of Vir Das stands cancelled, which was scheduled on November 11, 2022 at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall,” YOSN Innovation, the organiser of the show, said in its letter to the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall authorities. Welcoming the cancellation of show, Hindu Janajagruthi Samithi spokesperson Mohan Gowda said the comedian has insulted India, its women and the Hindu religion. “We had lodged a complaint with the Vyalikawal police station against the show. Because of an agitation by the Hindu organisations, the show has been canceled. Wherever such people insult Hinduism in the name of comedy should be boycotted,” Gowda said in a statement. Das on Thursday evening tweeted:

Das also put up this post on Instagram:

Let’s take a look at some previous rows the comedian has found himself embroiled in: FIR over copyright complaint The Mumbai Police just days ago registered an FIR against Das, two other persons and online streaming platform Netflix on charges of copyright rules violation after a complaint from Ashvin Gidwani. Gidwani, a noted theatre producer, alleged that in October 2010 his company signed a contract with Das to produce a show. Gidwani in his plaint alleged that in January 2020, when he saw a promo of a new show of Das on Netflix, he said he realised that some content was allegedly copied from that show with just a few changes. Based on Gidwani’s complaint, officials registered a case was registered on 4 November against Das, two other persons and Netflix service under relevant provisions of the Copyright Act, the official said. No arrest has been made so far, he said, adding that an investigation is on into the case. ‘I come from two Indias’ In November 2021, Das hit the headlines over his stand-up at the Washington DC’s Kennedy Center – at the end of which he narrated a poem entitled come from two Indias Das had posted a seven-minute clip of the poem on YouTube where he talked about the duality of India and addressed topical subjects such as COVID-19, rapes, crackdown against comedians and farmers’ protests. [caption id=“attachment_10143841” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Vir Das at the Kennedy Centre where he performed the ‘I come from two Indias’ poem. Image Courtesy: Vir Das/Instagram[/caption] Das in his monologue said, “I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night.” Many users on social media, posting this specific part of the clip, slammed Das. However, others praised him. A Delhi BJP leader then filed a complaint against Das for ‘maligning India’s image’. Das then issued a statement saying his comments were not meant to insult the country and that India is ‘still great’.

“The video is a satire about the duality of two very separate India’s that do different things. Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret. The video appeals for us to never forget that we are great. To never stop focusing on what makes us great. “It ends in a gigantic patriotic round of applause for a country we all love, believe in, and are proud of. That there is more to our country than the headlines, a deep beauty. That’s the point of the video and the reason for the applause,” his statement read. Das wrote that people cheer for the country with hope and not “hate” and asked his followers to not be misled by edited clips. However, high court lawyer Ashutosh Dubey also filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police. Spat with neighbour Das in May 2020 was in a spat with his neighbour over social distancing norms. Das shared a video where a man, whom he identified as his neighbour, is seen threatening him and sneezing on him for reportedly not following social distancing norms. Das posted a three-minute video on Twitter which showed the man charging at the comedian, asking him to wear a mask, step inside his house and even forcefully sneezing on him. The man in the video also comes close to the actor to hit him, saying “Don’t laugh I’ll give you one bl**dy slap” and that he wishes his dead parents would “haunt” Das. Explaining his side, the actor said he was helping his friend, who lives three houses away from him, by providing him dinner during the lockdown when the incident happened. He said the duo waited for the dinner to get cooked 15 feet away from each other, with Das being on his doorstep and his friend being outside. “I live on the ground floor. We’ve got a little sit out. At 10pm a neighbour came by, because we had cooked dinner for them too. We do that with them and also some of the others within the complex. We gave him a chair fifteen feet away, fully socially distanced. My neighbour had a can of coke from his house, a mask on, which he had pulled down to have a smoke. " “I was on the outdoor sit out area of my house, neighbour was in the complex, fully socially distanced. Five minutes later, this happens. This man is not my landlord, he lives on the first floor of the annex building. He is upset because my landlord inherited the house I live in and he didn’t,” the Hasmukhactor said in the statement. Das said the man in the video does not own his doorstep, sit-out, or his house and he wondered if what the man did would qualify as harassment. [caption id=“attachment_10144131” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Vir Das in May 2020 got in a spat with his neighbour. Image Courtesy: Vir Das/Instagram[/caption] “I’m not sure if an old man threatening to assault me, or sneezing on me, or asking his dead parent to haunt me qualifies as harassment. But this is a little ridiculous. “And before this turns into him going to the media, as he has done before, and I’ve sat through it quietly… I’m not normally one for drama.. I’m sorry but this crossed the line. How’s your lockdown going?” he added. Das days later released another statement “after a crazy night of zero sleep” to express his gratitude and an apology to the people concerned. “Thank you for all your support. Family and I are safe. In fact all our neighbours came by to make sure of it…” he began

Das apologised to his followers that his “personal drama” showed up on their screens

Dismissing the incident as “lockdown behaviour”, the actor claimed that the man in question has been harassing him, his wife, his staff and many people in his housing society for “eight months” “We have tried polite conversation, legal notices, regarding these episodes before, telling him categorically we would post it, letting it go, everything. I finally posted it on my social media because if not, I knew he would do it yet again. “Truthfully, I was just really angry last night. We took it quietly for eight months, and something different was needed,” he said. Trouble over Hasmukh series on Netflix In May 2020, a lawyer filed a plea against Netflix asking for an interim stay on Das’ show Hasmukh. The plea claimed the fictional series maligned the reputation of advocates and sought directions to the web series producers, directors, and writer to “tender unconditional apology online for maligning the image of the lawyers’ community, which includes judges too as they too had been lawyers at one point of time.” Netflix, represented by advocate Saikrishna Rajagopal, said in the court that an injunction on the show would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution. It has argued that there are several judgments that say lawyers as a class cannot be defamed.

The Delhi High Court then declined to grant an interim stay.

Complaint for film Mastizade In 2016, a case was filed against Das, Sunny Leone and Tusshar Kapoor for ‘spreading vulgarity’ in their sex-comedy film Mastizaade. The case, registered at the Adarsh Nagar police station in Delhi, claimed Leone and her co-stars were ‘promoting condoms inside the temple in a very vulgar manner.’ As per India Today, advocate Gaurav Gulati had filed the complaint over a scene between Leone and Das. Gulati had previously also filed a complaint against Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan for entering a temple on the set of Bigg Boss 9 with their shoes on. UnbelievabLISH row In 2015, Das, performing his show UnbelievabLISH at New Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium found himself interrupted by an audience member. As per IBN Live, Das said he was interrupted by a gentleman who asked him to stop talking about former president Dr Abdul Kalam. Das claimed this individual entered Das’ green room during the show’s interval and said, “Excuse me….you cannot talk about Kalam.” Das then responded that he  could not have this conversation at that time as the show was slated to begin shortly. Halfway into the latter part of the show, policemen entered the venue, questioned the crew and event managers and recorded the show on their phones for “investigation” purposes, Das said.

A distressed Das then published an open letter on Facebook urging the rich and powerful to ‘stay away’ from his shows in the future.

“My new show UnbelievabLISH is a show about truth & outrageous fiction. In one bit, I tell a story about how I performed for the man I consider to be India’s coolest president ever Dr. Abdul Kalam. … It’s stupid, immature, I take full ownership of it and I think it is funny. Musicians write songs, artists paint, I parody,” Das wrote. “Here’s the kicker: The gentleman who filed the complaint is nowhere to be found. He just left, called someone with influence, filed a police complaint over the phone, and went home leaving us to deal with this messy situation. It was that easy. This is my problem. The fact that you can use influence to shut down or intimidate any artist or art form that you may not personally agree with is scary,” he added. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .