On November 14, Vir Das released a video on YouTube, titled I come from two Indias. It was a part of his recent performance at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC. Soon after the video went live, a major controversy sparked off. Vir was criticised for his monologue in which he used statements like, "I come from an India where we worship women during the day and gang-rape them during the night."
In a recent interview post the controversy, Vir told a news portal, "I think laughter is a celebration and when laughter and applause fill up a room... that's a moment of pride. I think that any Indian who has a sense of humour, or understands satire, or watches my entire video, knows that that's what happened in that room. As an artiste you receive all kinds of feedback. But millions of people ... they have given me love for my show."
When asked if he was expecting this sort of response while writing the monologue, Vir shared, "A comedian puts out satire and if it's the good of the country and the bad of the country ending in the good of the country... I think that's something that you should want to come together in - I can't expect what happens when I put out a piece of content... It's jokes. It's not in my hands."
Vir, who has been nominated for an international Emmy for his Netflix show Vir Das: For India, further indicated that he will not allow the controversy to affect him and his work. "I have made my country laugh for 10 years now. I have devoted my life to writing about my country. We are here at the Emmys because I wrote a love letter to my country. As long as I am able to do my comedy I want to keep writing love letters to my country," he added.
(Source: NDTV)
