FLAIR TALK Magazine - July 2016

In this issue

It’s Not Funny Anymore! Not long ago, almost every other Indian movie featured several characters with a comic attribute given to specific personalities as a dwarf, a dark person, a fat man/woman or a Sikh, upon whom insults would be thrown, just for humour sake and no one bated an eye. The fine line between insult and humour was as much there at that time as it stands today. But a lot has changed now. Almost every humorous situation or even factual depiction, is an invitation for attack, as the same takes religious, casteist or political colour in no time. With wide spread use of electronic mode of communication like smartphones and easy dissemination of information, a single offended individual is capable of kicking up a storm in a matter of hours. There have been instances, when the Governments had to resort to cutting off digital connectivity of certain areas to avoid flare-up of communal tensions. Not a single big budget movie these days is released without a case being filed to stop its release for petty reasons. Sense of humour is fading away! Is this what the framers of our Constitution envisioned when they conferred the status of
fundamental right on freedom of speech and expression? Have we become so sensitive and averse to laughter that nothing can be taken in a lighter vein? I guess it is time for the Courts to assess the worthiness of the freedom of humour versus freedom of speech and expression before right to life goes bereft of sense of humour. Our cover story by Advocate Vedchetan Patil on the occasion of International Joke Day (1 July) ventures into the world of humour, which has courted trouble in the recent time.