Kunal Kamra

Kunal Kamra is an observational comedian known for his political commentary.[1]

Kunal Kamra
Birth nameKunal Kamra
Born (1988-10-03) 3 October 1988
NationalityIndian
Notable works and rolesShut up Ya Kunal, Fresh Thoughts
Websitekunalkamra.in

In 2020, after an incident on IndiGo airlines where he allegedly "heckled" the Indian news anchor Arnab Goswami, he was banned by five Indian Airlines.[2][3][4]

Career

Kunal Kamra was born on 3 October 1988, in Mahim,[5] Mumbai, India. Kamra grew up in Mumbai, and joined Jai Hind College for a degree in commerce. He dropped in second year to start working as a production assistant in Prasoon Pandey’s ad film production house Corcoise Films, where he stayed for eleven years.[6][7]

He started performing as a standup comedian in 2013, with a gig at the Canvas Laugh Club in Mumbai. A clip of one of his gigs, uploaded on YouTube in 2017, lead to him receiving death threats for his satirical take on Indian hyper-nationalism.[7] He started his eponymous titled web-series Shut Up Ya Kunal in July 2017 along with Ramit Verma.[8] The episodes typically feature a conversation with one or more invited guests, interposed with clips of news segments or debates, edited for humour.[9]

On 1 March 2017, he released a comedy video titled "Patriotism and the Government" on YouTube mocking demonetization, government and the attitude of Indians towards the army.[10] He received several death threats for uploading the video.[11] In 2018, he shared that he was asked by his landlady to vacate the premise due to "political issues".[12]

Incident on Indigo flight

On 28 January, Kamra, while travelling on an IndiGo flight, he confronted the news anchor Arnab Goswami, inviting him to debate with him. Kamra had raised questions about Arnab's coverage of issues on national affairs and the suicide of Rohith Vemula.[13] Kamra later released a 1.51-minute long video of the incident on Twitter, which showed a non responsive Arnab while being questioned by Kamra.[14][15] Arnab did not ask the airline crew to intervene nor did he file a formal complaint over the incident, however the next day, Indigo banned Kamra from boarding its flight for a period of six months.[16]

The same day, government-owned airline Air India banned him indefinitely. Indian aviation minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, tweeted that other airlines should follow suit and ban Kamra to ensure that an example was set.[17][18] Next day, low cost airlines SpiceJet and GoAir also banned him indefinitely. AirAsia and Vistara have not banned him yet and stated that they will wait for a written directive issued by the government before taking any action. The ban was criticized for being excessive for the incident and against the existing rules of DGCA.[19] The pilot of the flight in which the incident occurred, later in an internal email, stated that Kamra was not unruly and expressed disappointment that IndiGo took action without consulting with the pilot-in-command.[18]

Film maker Anurag Kashyap refused to fly in the IndiGo airlines due to their decision to ban Kamra.[13] Two passengers of IndiGo also protested and displayed placards in the plane, in support of Kamra.[20]

Kamra has issued a legal notice to IndiGo against the travel ban demanding a compensation of ₹25 lakh (US$35,000).[16] Kamra stated that a legal firm had taken up his case as a special case.[21]

Shut Up Ya Kunal

In 2017, Kunal launched a YouTube podcast titled Shut Up Ya Kunal along with his friend Ramit Verma. The show features Kamra engaged in an informal discussion with politicians and activists from both ends of the spectrum.[8][22][23][24] The videos are interspersed with news clips of the guests contradicting their own statements to comic effect.[23][22] Ramit Verma of the satirical Facebook page PeeingHuman is the show's creative director and editor.[10][25] The first episode aired on July 20, 2017 and featured Madhukeshwar Desai, vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing.[8] The episode featuring the JNU Students Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid reached around a million views within hours of release.

Apart from his show, Kamra also performs live.[22]

List of Shut Up Ya Kunal Episodes
No. Guests
1 Madhukeshwar Desai, (Vice-president of the BJP Youth Wing)
2 Priyanka Chaturvedi, (ex National Spokesperson, Congress)[26]
3 Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid (JNU students)
4 Karuna Nundy (Supreme Court Lawyer) and Siddharth Varadarajan (Co-founder, The Wire)
5 Shehla Rashid (ex Vice President, JNU) and Jignesh Mevani (MLA Vadgam, Gujarat)
6 Ravish Kumar (NDTV)
7 Kavita Krishnan, Politburo Member, CPI-ML and Secretary, All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA).
8 Ravish Kumar (NDTV Journalist) [Part 2]
9 Asaduddin Owaisi, MP and President, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)
10 Atishi (Aam Aadmi Party) and Shweta Shalini (Bharatiya Janata Party)
11 Javed Akhtar (poet, lyricist, and screenwriter) and Yogendra Yadav (politician, psephologist, and President of Swaraj India)
12 Milind Deora (ex MP and President of Congress Mumbai) and Sachin Pilot (Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan)
13 Arvind Kejriwal (CM, Delhi)
14 Javed Akhtar (poet, lyricist, and screenwriter) and Yogendra Yadav (politician, psephologist, and President of Swaraj India) (Part 2)
15 Anubhav Sinha (Director) and Anand Gandhi
16 Manish Sisodia (Deputy CM, Delhi) and Sanjay Singh (Rajyasabha MP) (Aam Aadmi Party)
17 Tejasvi Surya (MP, Bangalore South)[27]

Web series
Name Year Genre Channel Notes
Canvas Laugh Club[28] 2013 Comedy YouTube
Shut up Ya Kunal[29] 2017 Podcast YouTube

References
  1. "Kunal Kamra chance encounter with stand up comedy". Archived from the original on 2019-03-21.
  2. "Comedian put on no-fly list for heckling right-wing journalist on plane". The Independent. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  3. Sharma, Niharika. "A comedian heckles a "nationalist" news anchor—and riles the Indian government". Quartz India. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  4. "Vistara bans comedian Kunal Kamra till April 27 for 'heckling' Arnab Goswami on IndiGo flight". cnbctv18.com. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  5. "Kunal Kamra birth place - Mahim". Archived from the original on 2019-03-21.
  6. "Murthy, Neeraja (2017-07-17). "Bring your brains along". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 May 2018". Archived from the original on 15 October 2018.
  7. Chatterjee, Suprateek (2018-03-16). "Kunal Kamra: The accidental revolutionary". Livemint. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  8. Merelli, Annalisa. "Ultra right-wing versus ultra spineless—Kunal Kamra sums up Indian politics in 2019". Quartz India. Archived from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  9. "D'souza, Dipti Nagpaul (11 March 2018). "Don't Get Mad, Get Funny: Kunal Kamra on why his standup comedy is edgy, funny but completely safe". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 May 2018". Archived from the original on 21 March 2019.
  10. "'Nobody Buys a Ticket to Put You on a Pedestal of Wokeness': Kunal Kamra, on the Potential & Limitations of Political Comedy in India". Dead Ant. 2019-05-22. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  11. "Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra receives death threats for his sketch on patriotism- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 16 March 2017. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  12. "Kunal Kamra asked to vacate his house: 'As a comedian having a political opinion comes at a cost'- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  13. "Anurag Kashyap refuses to fly IndiGo to support comedian Kunal Kamra". gulfnews.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  14. "Kunal Kamra barred from flying Indigo, Air India". The Hindu. 28 January 2020. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  15. "SpiceJet bans Kunal Kamra, Twitter reminds the airline of Pragya Thakur incident". Bangalore Mirror. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  16. NETWORK, LIVELAW NEWS (1 February 2020). "Kunal Kamra Issues Legal Notice To Indigo Airlines Against Travel Ban; Demands Rs. 25L Compensation [Read Notice]". livelaw.in. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  17. Chowdhury, Anirban (2020-02-02). "Is Kunal Kamra right in seeking damages from IndiGo for flying ban? Here's what experts say". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  18. Chandra, Jagriti (30 January 2020). "Kunal Kamra was not unruly, says IndiGo pilot who flew the comedian". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  19. Mishra, Mihir; Chowdhury, Anirban (31 January 2020). "And the joke's on… Kunal Kamra flight bans". The Economic Times. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  20. Staff, Scroll. "Watch: Passengers onboard an IndiGo flight protest against flying ban on comedian Kunal Kamra". Scroll.in. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  21. @kunalkamra88 (31 January 2020). "You're love & support is helping me go legal against @IndiGo6EAlso Lawmen & White have taken this fight to court for me as special case,To all artists out there don't fear there are enough good people in society to always support the constitution...www.livelaw.in/top-stories/kunal-kamra-issues-legal-notice-to-indigo-airlines-152242 …" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020 – via Twitter.
  22. "Kunal Kamra - Artist Profile". eventseeker.com. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  23. Rao, Soumya. "A new Indian comedy podcast is finally making politicians laugh. How many will say Shut Up Ya Kunal?". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  24. "Kunal Kamra - Artist Profile". eventseeker.com. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  25. "Modi & Goswami 'Have Done More Damage To Indian Media Than Anyone': PeeingHuman Creator Ramit Verma". Dead Ant. 2019-02-18. Archived from the original on 2019-10-20. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  26. ""Please Don't 'Shut Up Ya Kunal': Enjoying Politics Through Comedy". The Quint. Retrieved 27 May 2018". Archived from the original on 15 October 2018.
  27. Shut Up Ya Kunal - Episode 17 : Tejasvi Surya, retrieved 2020-04-03
  28. "Kunal Kamra shows". Archived from the original on 2019-03-21.
  29. "Shut Ya Kunal - Ravish Kumar". Archived from the original on 2019-03-21.
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