The Kapil Sharma show goes off air — and it may not be badly missed

Kapil Sharma fans enjoy his style of speaking. When he plays a comic character like Inspector Shamsher Singh, they cannot take their eyes off their television screens. Even if he says something mildly offensive, his fan cannot resist a smile despite knowing that the comedian has sacrificed decency to produce cheap humour. Created by Kapil himself, The Kapil Sharma Show’s latest season came to an end recently. The comedy variety show continued to attract those who like to watch sketch comedy, stand-up comedy and celebrities who respond to all kinds of questions in light-hearted chat shows. By the time the season ended, however, many Kapil fans would have felt that his ability to spring gut-busting surprises had diminished considerably. Kapil is weak in English, and he has converted this shortcoming into a device for generating laughter. It is possible that his English may be less terrible in real life. On the show, however, he stops, fumbles, and frequently fails to understand what a guest is saying when the latter communicates in that language. [caption id=“attachment_10323431” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Still from Kapil Sharma: I’m Not Done Yet[/caption] The Amritsar-born funnyman’s attempts to speak in English and how he responds when someone speaks the language have entertained his fans for a long time. The problem is that he is becoming increasingly predictable as TKSS proved more than once. Moreover, Kapil does not need to have an expression of wide-eyed amazement when someone speaks in good English on a Hindi TV show. Putting English on a pedestal and suggesting that someone who doesn’t know it well enough is ‘inferior’ is both unnecessary and undesirable. Repetition guillotines surprise. Kapil was guilty of that when SS Rajamouli, who helmed the two Baahubali films, visited the sets of TKSS along with Ram Charan and NT Rama Rao Jr. to promote RRR. Kapil asked Rajamouli: “Katappa ney Bahubali ko kyon maara?” (Why did Katappa kill Bahubali?) He had asked Tamannaah, the actress in the two Baahubali films, the same question when she had come to promote Tutak Tutak Tutiya on TKSS in 2016! Kapil flirts with many women who appear on his show. That’s his way of entertaining the viewer, and nobody takes him seriously anyway. His so-called soft corner for Deepika Padukone is well-known. When Deepika came to promote Gehraiyaan, he said: “Aap sach main itni pyaari lagti hain ki main aapko bata nahin sakta ki….” (“You are actually so pretty that I don’t know how to tell you….”). He paused for a split second before singing: “Humey tumsey pyaar kitna….” When Rakul Preet Singh visited TKSS sets to promote Runway 34, he sang a different song for her: “Aisey na mujhey tum dekho….” The comedian sings well for someone who is not a professional, but the creation of opportunities to show off his voice is a bad idea. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the permanent guest earlier, hurled his self-manufactured shayari at the slightest opportunity. Archana Puran Singh, his replacement, burst into loud laughter even when jokes made zero impact. Much more irritating was an overdose of silly jokes about her physical appearance. Singh, who is both talented and funny, could have been presented to the viewer somewhat differently since the day she replaced Sidhu on the show. Sadly, nothing of that sort happened. The show did have its share of laughter-inducing moments. At times, Kapil’s interactions with the audience brought out the best in him. Sharp-tongued and expressive, his questions and responses revealed his well-known presence of mind. Besides, he and several of his fellow comedians showed up as different characters as usual, which resulted in funny sketch comedy from time to time. When Kapil as Chappu played the proprietor of Chappu Airlines, the first-rate writing was proof that the third season could have been much better. Fellow comedian Krushna Abhishek, an outstanding mimic of stars, appeared as Dharam Singh Nakli dressed in a costume reminding of Dharmendra in Dharam Veer. When he mimicked the veteran actor’s voice and mistook Abhishek Bachchan for his father Amitabh, it was difficult not to laugh. On one occasion, the often-brilliant Kiku Sharda appeared as lawyer Damodar Jethamalani and suggested that people should not look at the outer layer of his fat body. After he explained that he had got an X-Ray done and seen nothing more than a skeleton inside, spontaneous laughter jettisoned political correctness for a while. Chandan Prabhakar played with a straight bat and did well without being spectacular. Akshay Kumar has had the maximum number of releases among heroes recently. Predictably, he made the maximum number of appearances on the show. Kapil’s conversations with Akshay often drifted towards the star’s fitness, property, wealth, and obsession with waking up and going to sleep early. Akshay did not spare Kapil either. He also referred to his property and earnings from his work on television. Repetitiveness notwithstanding, their interactions were fun to watch, which cannot be said about many others. While the writers of the show cannot escape criticism for the season that ended recently, Kapil, the creator, could have devised many more innovative ways to entertain his viewers. That did not happen until the curtain came down. The writer is a freelance journalist. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.