Vir Das Opens Up On The 'Two Indias' Monologue, Censorship, And His Emmy Nomination

Stand-up comedian, Vir Das' show, 'Vir Das: For India', has been nominated for an International Emmy in 2021, and he is ecstatic.  

In an interview with India Today, the comedian talked about his kind of comedy, censorship, and more; only days after making waves for his 'Two Indias' monologue, which many criticised for "insulting" India while others praised for being "brave."

"I am here to do my job and will continue. I won’t stop. My job is to make people laugh and if you don’t find it funny, don’t laugh,” says Das.

Speaking about his 'Two India' monologue, he says, "I was just doing a show. We were full, and it was my audience and I wrote a piece...I don't think you ever hope to start a conversation. I think you just hope to make people laugh in the room. Any Indian with a sense of humour, who enjoys satire, and watches my entire video will know that's what happened in my video and will feel love and feel amazing."

Coming to the challenges faced by comedians, he comments that "Comedians face challenges anywhere right now. For me the challenge is everything changes so fast, how do you write the new joke. Attention span changes so fast, news changes so fast. How do keep writing jokes to keep up with it? It doesn't matter if I am at Madison Square Garden, Wankhede Stadium, or at your dining table, the expectation is the same from a comedian, make me laugh, make me feel good. It doesn't matter if he's a big or small comedian."

Coming to censorship, Das says "I hope no one ever has to think so much about cracking jokes. They are just jokes. I have tremendous respect for everyone and all kinds of feedback. If you find my jokes funny, I appreciate you, if you don't find my jokes funny, I appreciate you. If you don't find my jokes funny, I hope you find something (else) so funny that you fall off your chair laughing. And I hope that you post about the things you love, so we all can watch it. I have been fortunate enough to not experience it [censorship]. I have done three comedy specials with Netflix and the only conversation we had is 'go make people laugh' and I am like 'okay'."

On the Emmy front, Das says "I don't expect to be served dinner on most nights. So I am very excited to be nominated for Indian comedy. We did one Netflix show with one guy sitting in front of a blue door and then to get an Emmy nomination along with these other shows that have a $2-3 million budget! Apna darwaza toh Rs 10,000 ka that."

The 49th International Emmy Awards were held on Monday, November 22 in New York City.