Some in India find it not so funny.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
A new video posted by Indian stand-up comedian Tanmay Bhat on his Facebook and Snapchat has caused outrage for some in India as the actor mocked cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and singer Lata Mangeshkar.
In the video posted on May 26, Bhat appears as Tendulkar and Mangeshkar using Snapchat’s face-swap feature and throwing abusive words against both.
Lata Mangeshkar is seen as saying Sachin Tendulkar is not as good as Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and Tendulkar replies that Mangeshkar is too old.
The video titled ‘Sachin vs Lata Civil War’ has been shared widely and triggered a controversy with people across the country including celebrities coming down hard on Bhat who is the co-founder of comedy sketch group All India Bakchod (AIB).
The Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have filed a complaint against the actor and urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take strong action against him.
Mumbai police have approached Google and YouTube for blocking the video. They are also approached legal experts for expert opinion on registering a First Information Report (FIR) against Bhat.
“I am 9 times winner of #BestComicActor. Have a great sense of humor. But This’s NOT humor. #Disgusting&Disrespectful,†actor Anupam Kher tweeted.
“Am absolutely shocked. Disrespect is not cool and neither is it funny,†another Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh tweeted.
“Tanmay Bhat is a repeat offender, he deserves no freedom. He has insulted the mother of music,” Pehlaj Nihalani, the Censor Board Chief, was quoted as saying by NDTV.
“Firstly, we have written to Google and YouTube administrators to block the controversial video on their social Orkut and have sought a legal opinion on whether any case can be made out against Tanmay,” Sangramsingh Nishandar, Mumbai police spokesperson, told The Times of India.
The police are translating the video as part of the investigation. While the police are going ahead with the investigation, MNS has threatened to beat up Bhat who refused to apologize for his act.
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