I’m Not Done Yet Web Review: Read between Kapil’s lines

Im Not Done YetOn: NetflixGenre: Stand-up SpecialPerformer: Kapil SharmaRating: 3/5 When was the last time you saw an audience being asked to give a round of applause, with all seriousness, to a former head of state, at a stand-up comedy special? Kapil Sharma does precisely thatfor his fellow, famous man from Amritsar, Dr Manmohan Singh, in his Netflix debut, Im Not Done Yet. This might please another former two-time MP from Amritsar, Navjyot Singh Sidhu, currently Congress president in Punjab, who lost his TV job as the resident Laughing Sikh on Sharmas sketch + chat showthanks to a mob apparently offended by a random public statement he made once on Pakistan. Watch Video Sharma precedes and follows up his love for Dr Singh with low-key jibes on Prime Minister Narendra Modislyly placing references to Mann Ki Baat and demonetisation. Digs so gentle, subtle and self-aware of clear and present danger, that it will bounce over heads of PM Modis die-hard fans, permanently looking to take offense. Unlikely any of them will go, So not done. Yet. Which is rather well-played, Sharma Ji! Who, Im told, doesnt give many press interviews. Which is a loss. Infinitely worse is the fact that ever since he started Comedy Nights with Kapil, later The Kapil Sharma Show, on network television, the three to four top, traditional film stars in Bollywood began giving fewer one-on-one press interviews themselvesleading up to usual release of movies. Knowing that showing up on Sharmas show, besides other dance-music reality stuff, was enough to spread the word. This is, of course, tragic for committed beat reporters, who I know take entertainment more seriously than serious journalists delivering to your homes Indias politics as gossip/entertainment instead. In that sense, Sharmas stand-up, without the obvious set-ups and punchlines on occasion, feels like a full-length interview, delivered almost as is. Shining a light, from his fathers death, pitfalls of fame, to private issues, such as depression and alcohol addiction. This is quite in line with wider trend, where the stand-up comedian plays the confessional messengerhis personal mess, being the message. Hannah Gadsbys Netflix special, Nanette (2018), I reckon, was the high point of this kinda comedy. Ethnically, closer home, so to say, Hasan Minhajs Homecoming King (2017) couldve made some comic purists dub it a TED talk instead. This is outside the wider net of opinion pieces that stand-in for stand-up comedyfeaturing the likes of Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, even Minhaj for that matter. Geographically, closer home, Vir Dass Two Indias short clip that metaphorically shook the establishment in 2020, is what I mean. Since nobodys taking politics as seriously, may as well comedians then. This genre is yet to evolve in India beyond Kunal Kamra. Reasons are obvious. Make no mistake, its not like Sharma is going far out on a limb in the service of politically subservice material. What he leaves behind to be read between the lines in his 54-minute special is commendable still. Anything further would entail his own evolution from when he debuted as a competing comedian in the Great Indian Laughter Challenge in 2007. Otherwise, Kapil Sharma is so ‘desi mainstream that even the rando who produces his TV show is Salman Khan! Hes so mainstream that I find fellow desis on Twitter claiming, almost with a sense of pride, that theyve never watched his TV show, thats strangely obsessed with crossdressing men in female parts. It is evening weekend staple for uncles, aunties and grandparents at North Indian homes. Could be wrong but as a stand-up comic act, where Sharma has been a departure from great desis of the past, is in ‘crowd worktalking to a live audience and adlibbing jokes from that conversation. Its perhaps more a thing of western/English comedy. Others before him, say Raju Shrivastav, even Johnny Lever, have been overtly reverential to patrons before them in a hallMeri agli peshkash hai… Next item, aapke liye… Sharma roasts live spectators of The Kapil Sharma Showoccasionally making fun of their mannerisms or appearancemaking it seem like ragging sometimes. Whether youre roasting or ragging, I guess, depends on ‘punching up, or ‘punching down. Although context is supremely paramountthe subject of a joke neednt be its target, as Ricky Gervais brilliantly, patiently explains in his Netflix special, Humanity (2018). There is no crowd work in Sharmas special. And no punching down as well. What remains are his pet tropes such as poking fun at the Indian lower middle-class life. There is a peculiar way hes always done it that makes being gareeb (poor) as almost a thing worth FOMO. And there is obviously the self-deprecating humour on his lack of command over Englishan act of tremendous confidence thats always stood him out. Only once you appreciate how much an irreversible marker for class, speaking fluent English in India, still is. Sharma ends his stand-up act singing in English. The rest of it is in Hindi, of course. With novels/films, the more authentic/specific you go, the more universal it gets. I wonder if jokes work in the opposite direction. Sharma himself talks about his ‘poor-Indian-people, Hindi jokes bombing before Nita Ambani once. That said, hes so ‘desi mainstream that the global Netflix would approach him to acquire a proper, desi street-cred straightaway. It is the most locally relevant piece of content theyve produced lately in India for sure.