It Was Just Not Ready da!
Discussing Liveness While Reviewing Aravind SA’s Amazon Prime Video Special
Aravind SA is the guy who had unencumbered and succinct commentary on caste and diet in his previous Amazon special Madrasi Da released in 2017. That’s more to remind myself of the kind of comic that SA is and not to particularly inform the reader; because my perceptions shifted after I watched his second special I was not ready da. I was expecting a fine evolution of the comic and its refined reflection in his content.
The title sequence of I was not ready da had screenshots of a few social media comments he has received for his previous works. It celebrates the comic as a person who stands in opposition to the status quo, which he expresses in this show too when he says “For you to be funny, you’ve to fundamentally be a chut (an asshole)”. There was a screenshot of a comment that read “You are a anti Indian”. That piqued my interest in the show. Of course I read between the lines. It was a sharp thu (diss) on the people in the comments section: questioning the quality of their education, their involvement while consuming content or while giving “feedback”. Much to my dismay, a few minutes into the show, he says “I don’t read Youtube comments section and all”. I whole-heartedly gave him the benefit of doubt and continued watching. But the show kept dragging, it was painstakingly long and extremely tiring, it got stale and predictable despite my best intentions to laugh.
Anecdotal comedy seems like the perfect genre for the storyteller that Aravind SA is. His strength is in the performative aspect of his piece. Yes, there are glimpses of that relatable endearing on-stage persona that SA carries. All the same, in this show he mostly introduces a topic and spends time with it but doesn’t provide any relevant insight as a social critic. Case in point is when he hints at the idea of shame and his vulnerability as a South Indian walking the street in guilt after having had a one-night stand. The audience is not looking for chronological coherence which he anyway doesn’t provide but is definitely looking for a distinct take on that shame that he awkwardly leaves hanging in the air. This unfinished, raw, undercooked affair recurs throughout those 90+ minutes of the special.
Undercooked and unready at his 100th show? Is there a larger problem here? Is this the problem with live performances that are recorded? Does the problem lie in the reception of a recorded show because the audience of the OTT platform can never come alive so to speak? Has the moment already died? Is liveness key to the performance-oriented Aravind SA that we know?
I’m not going to comment on what he’s wearing for the show at the risk of sounding frivolous and bougie especially while sipping my chamomile tea. It was only while teaching my Popular Culture class at the University, did I realise the importance of historicising recorded and liveness of shows. Excluding the obvious observations of increased audience reach and the advantage of revisiting the audio-visual text, the important thing to note here lies in treating the recorded show as only “the next best thing” to a live show.
I grew up in an extremely traditional Tamil-brahminical school which stressed on liveness during our co-curricular activities. In my years in school, as I recall there was never a performance that was accompanied with recorded music or sound. There was a sort of madivantige (in kannada) or sacredness/orthodoxy attached to live sound. We often announced our choice of live over recorded sound during our school annual day celebrations and it always received an astounding response from the parents gathered because their kids seemingly had been guided to respect the traditional “Indian” value system.
Recorded shows are obviously highly mediated, but as an extension are they also dead? Does the artist’s truth get tampered with and corrupt before it reaches the audience? There’s an old belief that exists even today amongst people who don’t like temple idols to be photographed because they believe that the divinity, the truth and the beauty of God’s presence will be lost and therefore said to corrupt the sanctity of the idol as well.
Such deliberations don’t gather such seriousness while discussing “live recordings” in sports. Because the secret resides in the live-effect that the screen is able to create. The comedian need not run after creating a similar live-effect. The recording should ideally be treated as a text in itself and not a close copy of the live show. I don’t watch Hannah Gadsby or even Nimesh Patel expecting to once witness them live. Their recorded shows feel complete; but this Amazon special under scrutiny was just not ready for a release da. The fact that it was SA’s final edited version was a little too disappointing. I understand that retiring material once it’s out as a recorded special is the norm, but I would like to see him take this further.
It’s no secret that comedy presents truths and makes space for an open dialogue. I believe that SA’s insights have that potential. I was waiting to watch the show the day it was released. SA is one of the comics I look forward to and invest my time in (quite clearly). There’s always an undercurrent of unregistered protest in his works. But I was not ready da was simply below par. We live in an age of brilliantly curated content. It’s cute that he supports Leeds United, it reflects his personality, but his narrative landed nowhere. You can’t possibly name-drop Inzamam-ul-Haq or mention growing up in an RSS school and not do anything with it. Don’t undermine the intelligence of the audience. The audience is ready for more wholesome content da.
I write this because I am his quintessential target audience da (randomly inserting da wherever possible for the purposes of authenticity). I am a middle class South Indian woman in the age group of 25–30. As a Kannadiga, I promise there’s no resentment for this comic who celebrates his Tamil-ness, although I wish there were a similar comedic persona treating Kannada in a similar fashion. Well, here’s hoping Aravind SA’s next special to be more nuanced than this one!
Can someone also please tell SA that the onus is not on the comic to justify their cultural context? Okay I’m done ranting! Thanks, bye!
