Bhatti, seriously though
The 1980s were a time when systemic corruption in India had not acquired its current critical mass nor had the nation known the high dudgeon of activists, but venality was ubiquitous and one face was all over thanks to the spread of television.
That face was Jaspal Bhatti who regaled us week after week holding up the mirror to our ulta-pulta world. He never ranted, nor relented in poking intelligent fun at our foibles. Bribery, corruption and India’s public “disservices”, its systemic ills and social evils, you name it and Jaspal Bhatti’s ready wit would ensure a show, be it on TV or round the street corner with a garland of vegetables round his neck.
The credit for India’s first joke factory and school of comedy — MAD Arts School in Mohali — goes to this irrepressible sardar of serious comedy. But the serious engagement of satire with society is what suggests itself when we remember this cult purveyor on the small screen. Bhatti ribbed and regaled, sensitising society when social media was yet to be born to spread reformist wildfire.
Bhatti, who is no more with us, was a natural when it came to satire. His was an umbrella genre of spoof that critiqued India for well over two decades through malleable performing skills that required not much theatrics but yielded hearty laughter every time. With the passing of this one-man carnival, India needs someone that can make it laugh, and think.
Post new comment