Moral Police Now Targets AIB

Moral police now targets AIB:
India still not ready for the roast
Table of contents
What the AIB Roast is all about

All India Bakchod strips Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor
down in hilarious roast
Knockout moments: Deepika, Alia, Sonakshi flash their smiles as
AIB roasts Ranveer, Arjun
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi gay: Not Arjun or Ranveer, the real roast on
AIB Knockout was Karan Johar
AIB Knockout roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor was brave
but not scandalous enough
04
05
07
09
No one in the audience was offfended but authorities,

state govt found it filthy
Police to probe filthy AIB Knockout: Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and
Arjun Kapoor roasted off stage too
Moral policing or national shame? Twitter divided over #AIBRoast
after Maha govts FIR
AIB Roast row: MNS demands apology, says will ban Karan,
Ranveer and Arjuns films
AIB Roast panelist Aditi Mittals show cancelled after political parties protest
13
14
20
21
The FP verdict
If politicians and babas can get away with hate speeches, then AIB should be safe 23
AIB Knockout: FIR against Karan, Arjun and Ranveer for filthy
language is *%$@#^%^
25
No sex jokes please! Ashoke Pandit Incs outrage over AIB Roast is just hypocrisy 27
Bollywood, other comedians come out in support

Bollywood isnt as uptight as you think: Sonakshi, Alia come out in support
of AIB Knockout
Karan Johar took lid off volcano of lies and hypocrisy: Ram Gopal
Varma on AIB Knockout
Sir, what about Santa Banta jokes? Comedians react to outrage over
filthy AIB roast
31
34
37
Despite mass support, AIB gives in to political pressure

AIB removes filthy roast video after Maharashtra govt goes after actors,
ticket sellers and venue
In a secure culture this Knockout wouldnt matter: AIB breaks silence
on filthy Roast
40
43
Copyright 2012 Firstpost
What the AIB Roast is all about
All India Bakchod strips Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh
and Arjun Kapoor down in hilarious roast

FP Staff Jan 29, 2015
oasts of celebrities like Charlie Sheen

and Pamela Anderson became memorable for the comedy but importantly, for
the uninhibited way in which insult humour was
portrayed to the world.
As 'roastmaster' Karan Johar himself said, "Let

the filth begin." The show, like all other roasts,
has some of the best AIB comedians making fun
of Bollywood actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer
Singh. And 'making fun of' is an understatement.
From sex lives to dirtly toilet humour to digs at
the failed aspects of the two actors' careers, the
comedians left absolutely no stone unturned to
make this roast as explicit as possible.
A good thing to see, however, is that no one was
spared on the show. From host Karan Johar,
the comedians themselves to even stars in the
audience like Deepika Padukone, everyone was
insulted on the show.
Taking inspiration, All India Bakchod, in a first

of its kind comedy show in India, released AIB
Knockout The Roast of Arjun Kapoor and
Ranveer Singh on YouTube on Wednesday.
Although it did seem sometimes that the people

on the show, taking inspiration from the God
of fake laughter Navjot Singh Sidhu, were fake
laughing a lot of times. This show is definitely
a milestone for comedy in India which would
probably give a censor board member a cardiac
arrest.
Knockout moments: Deepika, Alia, Sonakshi flash
their smiles as AIB roasts Ranveer, Arjun

FP Staff Jan 29, 2015
inally All India Bakchod unveiled the

video of AIB Knockout, a live event in
which actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun
Kapoor were "roasted". Almost an hour long,
the event has been divided into three videos and
they are everything that the trailer promised.
While it does get a bit repetitive by the end,
with Rajeev Masand, Raghu Ram and Abish
Mathew proving to be quite a snooze fest, there
were few moments of brilliance in the show. A
lot of them came from roastmaster Karan Johar
(if only his films were as cool and fun), while
others are from Rohan Joshi and Gursimran
Khamba. Within 12 hours of the video's release
on YouTube, AIB Knockout had more than
one million hits, which means you've probably
already seen it. But have you picked your favourite moments from the show? Here's a look
at ours.
Karan Johar's introduction

The filmmaker, who is known for his sappy romances, was introduced as someone who would
happily f**k a pilot, a sailor, a model, an actor
and an architect. While there has always been a
nudge-nudge-wink-wink indication that Johar
swings the other way, no one has ever drove the
point home so pointedly, especially with Hiroo
Johar (Johar's mom) sitting in the front row.
Alia Bhatt can giggle, and how
Without the video that Alia Bhatt did with AIB

about her going from bimbo to brainy, chances
are there wouldn't have been any of this Bollywood fame for the comedy collective. No wonder then that Bhatt was in the front row, but
what really made her deserving of that seat was
how she laughed uproariously at all the jokes
were cracked at her expense. We're sure that her
jaws are still hurting, but we're glad Khamba
has cleared up any confusion she might have
had over ISI markings and ISIS. "Alia," Khamba
told her, "just to clarify, the products in your
kitchen has an ISI mark, that's different. ISIS is
a terrorist organization."
Girlfriend, take one for your man
While the panelists roasted Ranveer Singh on
stage, his girlfriend Deepika Padukone sat in
the first row and didn't let her red-lipsticked
smile slip. Not even when comedian Aditi Mittal
said to Padukone, "Thank you for keeping him
(Singh) off the streets." She also kept her smile
in place when Abish Mathew said to Singh,
"How does it feel to be the only sad person
every time Virat Kohli scores a century?" Joshi
didn't spare Singh either. The comedian told the
audiences that Singh is such a pervert, that the
photograph of Deepika Padukone in Times of
India was taken by him.
Sonakshi Sinha was told that Arjun Kapoor
shouldn't be dating her because he's not supposed to touch carbs. Sinha's laughter matched
Bhatt's for its giggliness and that's particularly
commendable since this joke was cracked by
Abish Matthew who (according to Johar) needs
an introduction but doesn't get one because he's
so obscure.
The other Kapoor dynasty
Rohan Joshi pointed out to Arjun Kapoor, "It
takes a special person to be the least talented
person in a family that has Sonam and Sanjay
Kapoor." Full points to Sanjay Kapoor for grinCopyright 2012 Firstpost
ning widely and standing up to cheer for that

joke. Joshi also told roast master Karan Johar
that "Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham is the worst
thing that Amitabh Bachchan has ever been
in. And Amitabh Bachchan has even been in a
f***ing coma."
Revenge of the film reviewer
Rajeev Masand had his moment, thanks to AIB,
when he was able to turn to Johar and say that
if Johar paid for a scriptwriter then he wouldn't
have to pay reviewers for good reviews. The
film critic also told Kapoor and Singh that the
show was great fun and added, " also, this is the
only time I am using the word 'great fun' about
anything in which you two are involved." We're
not sure if that goes very far in terms of making
up for being called a sellout and the love child of

a hobbit and the Pilsbury mascot.
Floor shows
Last but not the least, Johar is always funny but
he was a great sport when Singh knelt on the
floor and offered his butt to Johar. Instead of
laughing the gesture off, Karan quipped, Thats
my position, Ranveer. While we know that all
the jokes were supposed to be at Johar's sexual
preferences, we couldn't help but note that
Singh was the one who both smooched Johar
and offered himself to the producer-director.
We are doing our best to not waggle our eyebrows. On a side note, whether or not an ambulance was needed for Hiroo Johar by the end of
the show cannot be confirmed.
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi gay: Not Arjun or Ranveer,

the real roast on AIB Knockout was Karan Johar
Sandip Roy, January 30, 2015
nce upon a time you could come out

by sitting the parents down and saying
Mother, father I dont want to marry.
Or you could come out by being Ashok Row

Kavi and having your picture in yet another
cookie-cutter story about Indias hidden gay
community since everyone else in the story only
wanted to appear in silhouette.
come to the stage Karan Johar.

And then he was promptly smooched by Ranveer Singh who said to the crowd Dont be
shocked. Ive been doing more than that to him
for 4 years. He still wont cast me in a fucking
movie.
Sooner or later every comedian on that show
doubled back to the gay joke.
Id like to thank the entire panel for coming out
today. And Karan for not.
Aditi, all your jokes are male bashing. You are
sort of like Karan Johar after a breakup.
Karan is a director, producer, writer, actor. You
are like 4 guys in one - exactly how you like it.
Parineeti Chopra is not here because we told
her she would get fucked by 10 dudes in front
of 4000 people. (Mild gasp and titters from
the audience) Karan is here tonight because we
told him hed get fucked by 10 dudes in front of
4000 people. (Wild cheers)
But now you can appear on All India Bakchod.

The All India Bakchod roast was supposed to
be about Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. And
there were digs at Simi Garewal's dildo and
Raghu Ram's mother. But it was really Karan
Johar being rotiserried. Gaily.
Karan Johar has had a long career in Bollywood. Hes gifted us with many films well worth
roasting. Hes hosted a chatty television show
that can be spoofed to queendom come. Hes
acted. Hes directed. Hes produced. Hes more
roast-worthy than most of the other turkeys
running around Bollywood.
But pretty much the only thing the AIB gang
finds funny about Karan Johar seems to be his
sexuality. He was introduced as the gay clich.
A pilot, a sailor, an actor, a model, an architect
are all men he would happily fuck . Please wel-
Weve come a long way from the nudge-nudge

wink-wink Kanta-behn jokes, baby.
Karan Johar could have been offended and
refused to play along. Rituparno Ghosh once
famously ripped into the comedian Mir for his
caricatures of him.
When you mimic me are you mimicking me or
are you mimicking an effeminate man? asked
Rituparno. When Mir replied he was just imitating Rituparno Ghosh and only Rituparno
Ghosh, Ghosh refused to let him off the hook.
But what is the message? asked Rituparno.
Are people seeing Rituparno Ghosh or a naarishulabh purush (effeminate man)?...Have you
ever thought that whenever you mimic me, so
many effeminate men in Kolkata, in Bengal feel
ashamed, feel humiliated?
Could gay men have been offended with FamCopyright 2012 Firstpost
ily Guy filmmaker Karan Johar being reduced

to the Family Gay? Possibly. Could AIB have
dared to out a top notch Bollywood hero in the
same way? Probably not. Would it have been as
funny if two avowedly hetero men like Anurag
Kashyap and Vishal Dadlani were camping it up
with feather boas and corsets as they did in that
sex tape in Happy New Year? No.
What worked was instead of laughing at gays
or our feather-boa-ed idea about gays, this was
potty humor where gay sex and straight sex
finally got equal billing. Someone could stand
on the same stage and joke to gasps that the last
good thing Ranveer Singh was in was Deepika
Padukone AND that Karan Johars films have
big openings just like him!
Pow! You can call it a race to the bottom when
it comes to taste but KJo came out on top and
proved to be quite versatile giving as good as
he got.
When Ranveer Singh knelt on the floor offering his butt to Karan for a role, Karan sashayed
off to the mic and sniffed Thats my position,
Ranveer.
This might have been all fun and games and not
meant to be taken seriously but its a sea change
from the parlour games around sexuality KJo
usually plays like on that famous chat with Simi
Garewal where he was alleged to be clearing up
the air about those gay rumours.
Gay finally stopped being another three-letter

synonym for coy thanks to AIB.
Karan Johar has still never said whether hes
gay or not. And he should never have to. Or
as someone put it on the roast the only way
he would ever come out if Jaya Bachhan was
standing outside the closet with a thali. But at
this point it does not matter anymore.
Life does not have to be about coming out. And
if the angst spilling out of that short film he did
for Bombay Talkies is any indication, Karan
Johar as the celebrity activist spokesperson for
the LGBT cause would probably be insufferably
tedious. He probably did the cause more good
by his risque turn on All India Bakchod than
any sermon he could give at a Pride March. As
Nandini Ramnath points out on Scroll "The
event proves that all comedy is, at the end of the
day, deadly serious."
As he laughed as he was roasted, Karan Johar
seems to have finally realized that he can actually be kabhi khushi, kabhi gay and no one
effing cares. And he did it all with his mother in
the front row. AIB might have been roasting two
hot young stars but it's Karan Johar who came
out as Special K.
KJO: You think I am up to tricks when I travel?

SG: I think you have your relationships abroad.
KJO: You think I have my relationships abroad?
Ok, so should I give you a straight face?
SG: Hainaa? I think this Gemini twin that you
talk about. One twin is abroad and one is here...
AIB Knockout roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun

Kapoor was brave but not scandalous enough
Deepanjana, January 30, 2015
ne not-so-cold night in December last

year, 4,000 people filled a stadium
in Mumbai to watch a live show that
featured Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Karan
Johar and others. The tickets for this live event
were priced in thousands and the profits would
be donated to charity. All this sounds standard,
but AIB Knockout was anything but a regular
Bollywood event. It was the first honest-togoodness "roast" that we've had in India.
First done in 1949, the roast is an American
comedy tradition. A guest of honour is invited
to sit centrestage while a clutch of comedians
cracks jokes at the guest's expense. Back in the
1950s, the jokes may have been good natured,
but roasts today are offensive, politically incorrect, exaggerated and filled with foul language.
A roast is open season - if you're on that stage,
you can say anything to one another. The whole
point of the evening is that it's savage.
Writing about a roast is difficult, particularly for
fuddy-duddies like me who find abusive language eye-roll-inducingly juvenile. Anything I
write about a roast is in danger of turning into
a game of Fill in the Blanks or Guess What The
Asterisk Stands For. Here's an example. During

Comedy Central's roast of Hugh Hefner in 2001,
Drew Carey said that the channel had told him
that he couldn't call Osama bin Laden a "towel
head". So Carey called him "c***s***er" and
said, "Osama bin Laden looks like a bearded
c*** with a turban on top."
Is Arjun Kapoor yelling "bh*****ke" or Ranveer
Singh making gestures that suggest he's performing fellatio really that scandalous in comparison?
AIB Knockout's guests of honour were Kapoor
and Singh. The "roastmaster" (or master of
ceremonies) was Karan Johar. The roasters
were All India Bakchod (Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya),
television host Raghu Ram, film critic Rajeev
Masand, as well as comedians Aditi Mittal and
Abish Matthew. The show began with this introduction for Johar: "A pilot, a sailor, an actor, a
model, an architect, are all men he would happily f**k. Please welcome to the stage, Karan
Johar." Johar retaliated by describing the roasters as "the who the f**k is who of Mumbai".
Over the course of the next two hours, the roasters savaged Kapoor for having failed class 12,
belonging to a Bollywood family and being a
bad actor. Singh's supposedly uncontrollable
libido was the butt of many jokes as was his
previous relationship with Anushka Sharma.
Collateral damage for the show were Kapoor
and Singh's current girlfriends, Sonakshi Sinha
and Deepika Padukone who gamely giggled and
guffawed at every joked cracked at their and
their loved ones' expense. Alia Bhatt got picked
on as did Boney, Sanjay and Anil Kapoor. After
the roasters were done roasting each other and
the two actors, Kapoor and Singh took the mic
and gave it right back to AIB and gang.
ular film industry with its nepotism, tackiness,

hypocrisy and blatant disregard for quality.
What's interesting about AIB Knockout is that

in a culture like ours - which adores Bollywood
to the point that it is virtually the only cultural
industry that is thriving - so many people want
to see stars cut down to size. Not one person in
the audience walked out or was offended. They
laughed and cheered as abuse was flung and
their heroes were belittled. Films and actors are
big business everywhere in the world. Look at
the way Hollywood has charmed people across
the globe. The difference between our love for
movies and that of most other countries is that
Bollywood has managed to crowd out everything else. Elsewhere in the world, fashion
magazines like Vogue and GQ use models for
its covers and only occasionally feature actors.
In India, actors are standard cover models for
practically every publication whether it's target
area is tech or fashion. Music, literature, art,
theatre -- every other cultural industry has been
left to languish and decay. Nothing is cherished
as much as popular cinema in general and Bollywood in particular. Nothing else is as glamorous; nothing else's appeal cuts across classes in
the same way.
As someone who considers some of the people

on that stage friends, what disappointed me was
not the fact that roast was tasteless, but that
most of the jokes were hackneyed. They would
soon become repetitive. Surely after the fourth
person observes Joshi is "generic", Bhat is fat
and Shakya is not fair, it gets boring? (Apparently not, if you're young and/or from Bollywood, if the number of hits the AIB Knockout
video has got is any indication.) Bhat, Khamba,
Joshi, Shakya and Mittal are all cleverer, funnier and more insightful than the worn out
"you're so fat/ dark/ gay/ slutty" jokes. From
this crew - and Johar, for that matter - I expect
more delicious jibes, proper provocation and
less cliches. Still, even for humourless, old fogies like me, there are quite a few good punchlines in AIB Knockout, provided you can wade
past the juvenile cussing to appreciate them.
Yet for all this staggering popularity, what AIB

Knockout shows is that fans are hungry to see
their heroes stripped of their privileges. The
stars think they know the pulse of the "masses"
and make films in which their heroic images are
always intact because they believe that is how
audiences see them. News flash: more than a
million people want to see Bollywood stars be
bludgeoned and bullied. Because it wasn't specifically Kapoor, Singh or Johar being attacked
in AIB Knockout. They stood for the entire pop-
Everyone on the AIB Knockout stage was a

placeholder for a certain group of people. Kapoor and Singh embodied all Bollywood actors. Johar had a double role as the Bollywood
producer and the gay man, both characterised
by a voracious lust. He wasn't the only person
reduced to being a sex object. Mittal was there
to facilitate the slut-themed jokes. Bhat was
there for the fat guy jokes; Shakya for the black
guy jokes. Masand sat and took many hits for
all film reviewers. They all knew what parts they
were playing and they played them to the hilt.
As Johar says right at the start of AIB Knockout,

this show wasn't for those easily or difficultly
offended. The publicity for the show centred
around warnings that it was going to be filthy,
and just the promise of stars getting roasted
was enough to make 4,000 people cough up as
much as Rs 4,000 for a ticket to watch this happen. That's some serious bloodlust. Bollywood,
if I were you, I'd be worried.
Just for the fact that AIB Knockout brought
celebrities who live in ivory towers, surrounded
by fawning (and often false) praise, into the real
world, everyone involved in the show deserves
a round of applause. Few at the top of their
game have the confidence to take part in a roast
and even fewer have the courage to roast them.
Those who took part in AIB Knockout displayed

both, and at significant risk.
Because now, the chauvinists, homophobes and
general douchebags among the million-plus
people who have seen the video of AIB Knockout figure they're well within their rights to
make crass and offensive comments about gay,
fat, dark people and women. This means Johar,
Bhat, Shakya and Mittal (who are more than capable of handling such attacks, whether or not
they're affected by them) as much as nameless,
everyday people. The border between politically
incorrect joke and hate speech is worryingly porous, particularly in a country that's hungering
to cut the powerful down to size.
However, the fact that chauvinists, homophobes

and general douchebags have those traits in
them to begin with is not AIB's fault. Jokes
don't have the magical ability to transform
reasonable people into obnoxious nincompoops.
Does the fact that they wrote those jokes mean
AIB are chauvinists, homophobes and general
douchebags? See their other videos and decide
for yourself. (Simpler answer: no, they're not.)
If you're offended by AIB Knockout, just find
another YouTube video to watch. Everyone else:
remember, those are jokes, not news reports.
No one in the audience was offfended but

authorities, state govt found it filthy
Police to probe filthy AIB Knockout: Karan Johar,

Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor roasted off stage too
PTI, February 2, 2015
umbai: Police have initiated an inquiry into a complaint against filmmaker Karan Johar, actor Arjun
Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, which alleged that
the trio had used "filthy and abusive language"
at a comedy show in Mumbai.
According to the written complaint by Akhilesh

Tiwari, President of Brahman Ekta Seva Sanstha in Mumbai, filed at Sakinaka police station
on Monday, the trio, along with other performers allegedly passed abusive and offensive
remarks against one another and even at the
audience during an episode of the AIB Knockout, police said.
The episode, which was uploaded on YouTube
and other websites last week, has gone viral.
In his four-page complaint at Sakinaka police
station, Tiwari sought a criminal complaint
against Johar, Kapoor and Singh as well as the
show organiser, among others.

"I have handed over a letter to Sakinaka police
demanding a criminal complaint be lodged
against these so-called youth icons Karan Johar,
Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. The show,
which can be seen on YouTube and other websites, was extremely abusive and it is not only
ruining the clean image of the Indian culture &
women, but is also misleading today's youth,"
said Tiwari.
The 43-year-old complainant claimed that the
programme was organised in south Mumbai on
December 20 and was uploaded on websites last
week. "I sought action against the event organisers and other performers as well, who passed
dirty comments with such audacity. The police
action would be a deterrent to them so that they
would not dare to do such acts publicly in future," he said.
Prasanna More, senior inspector at Sakinaka
police station, told PTI, "We have received the
written complaint. We are inquiring into the
matter. Once we reach a conclusion, appropriate action would be initiated, if required."
The show started off with Karan Johar announcing, "Let the filth begin."
Other performers had cracked jokes at audience
that included actors Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha and Alia Bhatt, the complaint said.
Moral policing or national shame?
Twitter divided over #AIBRoast after Maha govts FIR

FP Staff Feb 3, 2015
he Maharashtra government has deemed

the AIB knockout "vulgar" and has decided to investigate if the roast of actors
Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor are guilty of
obscene language and content.
an audience of 4,000 in January. An edited version of the show has garnered more than eight
million views after being released just last week
on YouTube.
In response to feedback on Twitter about some
of the jokes exceeding the limits of decency,
AIB co-founder Tanmay Bhat tweeted, "All the
roasts I've seen online have all been equal opportunity offending."
Though many expressed outrage on Twitter
after an FIR was launched against AIB, many
called them the 'national shame'.
The three trending topics are "AIB National
Shame", #AIBRoast and "We Stand by AIB
Knockout".
The All India Bakchod roast, the first of its kind

seen in India, showcased a panel of eight along
with the 'Roastmaster' of the night Karan Johar, putting the Bollywood celebs through a
profanity-laced 90 minutes of jokes about their
personal and professional lives.
However, some of them supported the stand up

comedy group by trending, 'We Stand By AIB
Knockout'
Author Chetan Bhagat was one of the first to
make a very poignant point on Twitter.
The show was filmed in a Mumbai stadium with
Others wondered why the Maharashtra government was not focusing on other more important
things, like rape and murder.
Mumbai citizens had more problem with Mumbai's potholes than the "vulgar" roast.
There were other who were not so happy with the roast criticising actress Deepika Padukone and
Sonakshi Sinha for laughing at their own expense.
Some users expressed outrage at the fact that Sonakshi and Deepika were not aghast at the jokes
on them.
One user wondered why rape, child marriage and dowry didn't intise the same response from the
Maharashtra government.
Some ever tried to point out the meaning of a "roast" but to no avail.
And pointed out that we do indeed live in a country that has multiple identities.
AIB Roast row: MNS demands apology,

says will ban Karan, Ranveer and Arjuns films
fter announcing an inquiry into AIB

Knockout, a comedy show featuring
filmmaker Karan Johar, Arjun Kapoor
and Ranveer Singh, to investigate allegations
of obscenity, the Maharashtra government has
said that it will only check if AIB had secured
appropriate clearances.
The state's Culture Minister Vinod Tawde said
the government does not intend to do any
"moral policing."
However, this decision of Maharashtra government has not gone down well with Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena (MNS). The party has asked
for an apology from the participants of AIB
Knockout and threatened to ban the release of
Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor's
films. Not just MNS, according to reports, even
the Nationalist Congress party has threatened
to take action against AIB.
Ameya Khopkar, president, Maharashtra
Navnirman Chitrapat Sena, the film wing of the
MNS, told The Hindu We will not let any film
featuring the actors present at the AIB com-
edy show to be released in Mumbai, until they

apologise for their actions." (You can read the
full article here) It's worth noting that if we are
to take Khopkar at his word, this would mean
MNS will also be opposing the release of films
by stars like Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha
and Alia Bhatt who were in the audience, since
they were "present" at AIB Knockout.
Yesterday, Tawde had told reporters that "officials of the Culture Department will examine
the (AIB show) videos for the content. If found
vulgar, an action will be initiated."
The minister had announced the inquiry following a police probe into a complaint against
the participants for allegedly using "filthy and
abusive language" during AIB Knockout. According to the written complaint by Akhilesh
Tiwari, president of Brahman Ekta Seva Sanstha in Mumbai, filed at Sakinaka police station
yesterday, Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and
Arjun Kapoor, along with other performers, had
allegedly passed abusive and offensive remarks
against one another and at the audience present
there.
AIB Roast panelist Aditi Mittals
show cancelled after political parties protest

hile All India Bakchod issued a

statement saying that they had not
received any threats from political
parties or had not been asked to take down the
Roast video, Aditi Mittal, who was also a part of
the AIB Knockout has been facing the irk of a
political group.
Mittal's participation in the AIB Roast.

Cheval wrote on their Facebook wall, "We're sad
to announce that tonight's edition of Wednesday Wisecrackers with Aditi Mittal is cancelled.
You can still drop by for a fun night with drinks
though. We'll share updates on next week's edition shortly."
Earlier today, in an 720-word open letter posted
on Twitter, the AIB team Gursimran Khamba,
Tanmay Bhat, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya
via its @AllIndiaBakchod handle, said: "Dear
everyone, Let's just all take a deep breath.
They're just jokes. Unfunny, crass or whatever
you want to call them, they're still just jokes."
Reportedly, a show featuring the comedian that

was suppose to be held at Cheval, a bar and restaurant in Mumbai, got cancelled after a political party held a protest against her outside the
venue.
DNA quoted a member of the management saying that the show was cancelled because of Aditi
Explaining what they do, they wrote: "People

who've been following our work will know that
we've always tried to experiment with content,
be it on Youtube or a live comedy show, with
the sole intent of making people laugh and/or
think."
"AIB Knockout was another such attempt to try
something new and bring the roast format to a
country where celebrities aren't often known to
laugh at themselves."
You can read the full letter here.
The FP verdict
If politicians and babas can get away with
hate speeches, then AIB should be safe

Deepanjana Pal Feb 4, 2015
pare a thought for Akhilesh Tiwari

of Brahman Ekta Seva Sanstha. The
YouTube videos of mata ki chowkis
organised by his organisation last year have
had 21, six and eight views respectively. And
then there's AIB Knockout, with a million views
in about 12 hours. It's got to hurt. Yesterday,
Tiwari emerged out of obscurity when he filed
a written complaint against Karan Johar, Arjun
Kapoor and Ranveer Singh for their performance in AIB Knockout. (It seems Tiwari missed
the detail that the show was scripted and Johar,
Kapoor and Singh were not the scriptwriters.)
"The show, which can be seen on YouTube and
other websites, was extremely abusive and it is
not only ruining the clean image of the Indian
culture & women but is also misleading today's
youth," complained Tiwari.
Let's face it. The nation's image is no laughing matter and arguably, Tiwari is doing his
bit for the nation much like the Bengali gent in
PVR Mumbai's social service ad, who collects
discarded Indian flags and sounds like he was
dropped on his head as a baby. Coming back to
our national image, last month it was reported
that the number of foreign tourists coming to
India grew by only four percent. Why? Because
women tourists don't feel it's safe to travel in
India after the growing incidents of rape and
molestation against locals as well as foreigners.
It appears approximately 30 percent of total
foreign tourists are women, and this significant

percentage seems to be skipping India entirely.
Now what if the few foreign women who are
planning to visit India end up watching AIB
Knockout? Some may want to see if they can
catch an AIB show during their holiday, but
surely the truly good women will feel outraged
by the sexist humour and cancel their tickets? And yes, of course it would be far more
constructive to actually raise awareness about
women's issues and help improve the law and
order situation so that everyone feels and actually is more secure, but that's hard work and
takes time. Outrage is so much easier and it's
good for the soul with one written complaint, you feel like you're doing something, for
women, the nation, our millenia-old culture, the
universe. And then you can go back to organising the next mata ki chowki.
Considering the fact that Tiwari is acting in national interest, I think the rest of us should take
the torch from him and continue his campaign
against those who say offensive rubbish. For
instance, there's Baba Ramdev, India's bearded
motormouth, best known for possessing a
stomach that can roil like a waterbed and making millions out of people's ignorance. According to Ramdev, homosexuality is a disease for
which he has a yoga-flavoured fix and AIDS is
curable. All it takes is some deep breathing and
"herbal medicine" manufactured and sold by
properties owned by Ramdev. This is not a joke.
It's a serious claim made by a man who was
nominated for the third highest civilian award
in India. One of the pills being sold at Ramdev's
outlets is a fertility pill named Putrajeevak Beej,
which translates to "the seed that creates a son".
For reasons best known to Ramdev, the pill
isn't called Santanjeevak Beej (santan meaning child) or Putrijeevak Beej (putri meaning
daughter).
Perhaps it's the beard and squinty-eyed stare
that lends gravitas to his utterances, but that
Baba Ramdev, with his distasteful and unscientific claims, numerous criminal cases and hateful opinions, is considered worthy of the Padma
Bhushan is infinitely more damaging to India's
image than any comedic routine.
As far as saying outrageous things in public,
AIB have a long way to go before they can even
hope to give competition to our politicians.
Remember the former deputy chief minister Ajit
Pawar? His response to a drought-hit farmer
going on hunger strike and demanding water
was, "He has been fasting for the last 55 days. If
there is no water in the dam, how can we release
it? Should we urinate into it? If there is no water
to drink, even urination is not possible." That,
incidentally, was Pawar cracking a joke. Suddenly, AIB Knockout, abuse-flecked as it may
be, seems almost comfortingly good-natured,
doesn't it? While on the subject of farmers in
Maharashtra, the current state government
has cleared field trials for genetically modified
crops. If you want a joke about helping Indian
farmers, this move is it. GM seeds are expensive, destroy the soil and effectively shackle the
farmer to the big corporation, but that's ok. The
national image is intact, so presumably we're
not supposed to care.
If you're really looking for statements made in
public that damage the clean image of India,
there's much, much more. Here's a sample. In a
bid to make people feel protected, TMC's Tapas
Pal said at a rally that the party's "boys" will go
and rape women at his command. Speaking of

which, who can forget Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav dismissing rape as a "boys
will be boys" mistake? Or Pravin Togadia of the
VHP, who recommended forcibly evicting Muslims and taking over their property. "Go with
stones, tyres and tomatoes to his office," urged
Togadia. "There is nothing wrong in it. Killers of
Rajiv Gandhi have not been hanged ... there is
nothing to fear and the case will go on."
As far as Brahman Ekta Seva Sanstha vs Karan
Johar, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and AIB is
concerned, the good news is that the state government of Maharashtra appears be aware that
there are more pressing matters on its agenda
than English stand up comedy. In an interview
to Mumbai Mirror, the cultural affairs minister
Vinod Tawde made it quite clear that he doesn't
really care what was said in the roast as long
as the event had all the necessary permissions.
However, this probe into whether AIB Knockout
had its paperwork in order is separate from the
inquiry that the police is required to undertake
since Tiwari has lodged a formal complaint with
them.
Still, if the likes of Amit Shah can get away with
an apology after being accused of hate speech
and Niranjana Jyoti can become a minister after
calling non-Hindus "haramzaadon" (bastards),
the targets of Tiwari's outrage should be fine. To
quote Togadia, "there is nothing to fear and the
case will go on."
AIB Knockout: FIR against Karan,
Arjun and Ranveer for filthy language is *%$@#^%^

Sandip Roy Feb 4, 2015
n a country where being offended is pretty

much a statutory right across the board,
the All India Bakchod roast bravely goes in
where noone has gone before.
Actually thats not quite true, the infamous Arjun Kapoor-Ranveer-Singh-Karan Johar roast
merely dressed up a lot of toilet humor, college
dirty jokes and guys-will-be-guys insults and
played it out to an audience many of whom had
shelled out a lot of money for it. And then uploaded it with great fanfare on Youtube. It was
designed to offend. And designed to go viral.
against the filth.

Yes, the show was vulgar, raunchy, salted and
peppered with obscenities. It begins by warning
the viewers about the filth to come. It could also
be accused of racism, misogyny, homophobia. It
was designed to elicit that gasp of I cant believe they just said that. Much of the humour
left me cold or even queasy. It was not about
witty banter. Some of it was more mean than
funny.
Endless jokes about someones dark skin, someones sexuality, someone flunking his school
leaving exam in the end start to wear thin. A
fusillade of F-words can have a numbing effect.
Rape jokes especially gang rape jokes are usually apt to misfire. But thats never the point of a
roast. Its called a roast not a light stir fry.
A roast has to leave burn marks. A roast has to
be cooked at high temperature. You have to feel
the burn. A roast is not well-behaved, a genteel
visit to a punnery. Roasts go close to the edge
and often over it.
What was unique about the roast was it dared

to take what happens in private and present it
in public. It unlocked locker room humour and
uploaded it as performance. If they are going to
probe AIB roast for abusive language, they will
also need to probe every college hostel in this
country, tweeted Chetan Bhagat adding that
the potholes on Mumbais roads offended him
more.
The Maharashtra culture minister clearly is not
amused. Vinod Tawde has deemed the video
vulgar and said an FIR would be lodged. And
since nothing unites religious groups as much
as sniff of lewdness (remember their coming
together against the case to repeal Section 377)
the Brahmin Ekta Seva Sanstha and the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum have filed FIRs
The adult-rated roast is making news because it

involves stars, stars who are usually careful to
present a far more manicured, acceptable, PRairbrushed image to the public at large. If you
went by the interviews given by our stars theres
no premarital sex, no extramarital sex of course
and moving in together is something best keep
a hush-hush secret. After Priyanka Chopra did
her Reddit Ask Me Anything chat it was clear
that the title was a misnomer.
The cozy relationship between PR, press and
star means you can ask about anything thats
already on the press release. But on the big bad
world of the Internet she was bombarded with
question about shilling for fairness products,
a road named after her father, the social influence of beauty pageants. Looking at her nonresponse to many of the questions, Tanusree
Bhasin writes on Scroll:
"Ill equipped to handle questions that matter,

celebrities have been spoilt as a result of the
mainstream medias reluctance to do their job.
Television and print media have succumbed
to the tempting option of passing off giggling,
scripted interviews as film news. Questions revolve around the celebrity's celebrity-hood, tip
toeing cautiously around what are considered
delicate areas, such as politics or plagiarism,
while plunging with merry abandon into questions regarding love lives and pets."
In short our film stars have been turned into pin
up puff pieces who never say anything controversial and rarely step out of line and if they
ever do thats quickly hushed up as well. And its
amazing for us to see stand up comics actually
dare to insult our screen gods. Not that screen
gods dont have thin skins. Bollywood Life reports Anil Kapoor was upset that they made fun
of his accent and even more upset that Sanjay
Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor laughed at the jokes.
What the roast actually highlighted was our
double standards when it comes to the our
stars. What was more shocking than the F-word
being bandied around was that it was the likes
of Karan Johar bandying it around. It was like
watching Mary Poppins and finding instead of a
mouthful of sugar a mouthful of swear words.
In a country where even fairly unobjectionable
films routinely have cases filed against them (remember the barbers upset with Billo Barber?)
its hardly surprising that the AIBC roast has
raised the hackles of the nanny state. But whats
worth remembering is that as Tanmay Bhat of
All India Bakchod points according to Medianama that what we saw on the internet is really
only 60 percent of what went down that night.
Forty percent was edited out because as Bhat
puts it 10% because jokes weren't as strong on
video, 10% because jail / pretty sure it is illegal
to say that.
And therein lies the rub. Whats more interesting than the Tawdes of the world getting into a
predictable lather about the vulgarity and the
obscenity, is what even an allegedly no-holdsbarred AIB knockout thinks is beyond the pale.
The Quint has made a handy list of that. It
includes the following:
Actual smooching whether its Ranveer and Karan or Ranveer and Deepika. The same sex one
got the bumble bee treatment, the opposite-sex
one was completely edited out.
Jokes about Salman Khans sister (though tasteless jokes about MTVs bad boy roadies Raghus
mother made the cut). But Salman has more of
a temper and far more clout.
Boney Kapoor and Sridevi jokes.
Chetan Bhagat jokes not because they would
have upset Chetan Bhagat because Quint says
NOONE really cared.
And Narendra Modi jokes.
Bollywood obviously has to figure out the lines
within the community that it cannot cross
(there were no Amitabh Bachchan jokes either)
because it must eat lunch in the same town
tomorrow. But the Modi omission is telling because political figures are traditionally a comedians favourite and low hanging fruit when it
comes to lampooning. But clearly the AIB team
felt that they would get into far more hot water
for making the PM the butt of their jokes as
opposed to making bottom jokes about Karan
Johar.
Section 294 of the Indian Penal code which
cracks down on obscene acts in public has been
used by the moral police to harass someone
kissing in public. But its quite another thing
when its used against a show that from the getgo is meant to be offensive. But then in India
the right to be offended routinely trumps the
right to offend.
No sex jokes please! Ashoke Pandit Incs

outrage over AIB Roast is just hypocrisy
Piyasree Dasgupta Feb 4, 2015
an you believe what these folks at All India Bakchod did? They told the entire world that we
Indians have sex.
(Now take your two minutes to gasp, shudder, imagine the ceiling crashing on your bed and Arvind
Kejriwal singing 'Tu mera hero' to Narendra Modi, before we proceed.)
Us... sex....wha... really? Such a big, fat lie, right?
Okay, now calm down. The world isn't going to end yet and for that, you have to thank just one
gentleman. His name is Ashoke Pandit and he is a member of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), colloquially referred to as the Censor Board.
While a lot of people are pretending to bristle at the stand-up comic group's generous use of expletives in their 'roast', Pandit swiftly got to the heart of the matter yesterday. He pointed out why
every Indian who wept when Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi ended, is now blinded with anger.
In a series of tweets yesterday, he illustrated out how AIB, along with Karan Johar, have suggested
that people - mostly participants in the show - have sex and then cracked jokes about it.
Since the expletives that were the used on the show could be picked up by unsuspecting people sitting in a traffic snarl in Delhi or while trying to get into a Mumbai local in the peak hours, Pandit
pointed out what was really objectionable about the show - that it talked, joked and made fun of
people having sex on a public platform. And while doing it, they made it clear that in India, people
have sex. Those are not things that India likes to be told really.
Because, like Pandit explained, in India, sex is equal to pornography. Whoever has watched the
comic group's show, before it was pulled down yesterday, knows that most of their jokes were
aimed at the sex lives of their participants - the comedians and the actors who participated in the
show.
So, Karan Johar said, "The last good thing Ranveer Singh was in was Deepika Padukone."
And Tanmay Bhatt said, "Ranveer Singh is such a slut that if he fucked a chick with Ebola, she
would die of AIDS."
Also, the show introduced Karan Johar as follows: "A pilot, a sailor, an actor, a model, an architect are all men he would happily fuck . Please welcome to the stage Karan Johar."
Aditi Mittal told fellow comedian Abish Matthew: "If you fucked a woman, she would become a
virgin once again."
Seriously, if that doesn't scare the daylights out of a good Ashtha channel loving Indian, what
could? After all, sex was to the show, what 'baba' is to Ramdev.
How does one fix this 'bigda hua' bunch then. The answer lay in Pandit's primary accused Karan
Johar's films. Given that he is a great fan of Johar's films by his own admission, he must have
thought that striking a blow on the 'mere paas Maa hai' sentiment will show wayward Johar the
right path. So he suggested that he goes and shows his 'sex position' to his mother, angrily tagging
the post with a hashtag #porn, thereby implying that his mother should be treated to a horror such
as this, as punishment for not bringing up her child the adarsh bharatiya way.
When Twitter woke up to the horror that awaits the Indian film industry in the form of Pandit in
the censor board, they tried to school him. But that was not to happen. Pandit promptly re-tweeted
following such tweets in his defence:
Now, if you have not already stood up applauding this gentleman yet, you must be one of those
who are googling the meaning of pornography to make sure you knew what is was all this while.
Jokes apart, one cannot contest the fact that Pandit is entitled to his opinion on the AIB Roast. You
can also understand that he found it offensive and lacking in taste. However, what is disturbing is
his step to single out Johar and attack him personally, in the crudest way possible. Now, like Pandit's defenders have pointed out, we shouldn't be bristling at Pandit if we are okay with AIB's own
tasteless jokes. But here in comes the matter of consent.
The content of the show, which was scripted by the comic group, had passed though all its participants who in turn had agreed to the mock abuse coming their way. They participated in the show
voluntarily and lobbed the crudest, sexual jokes at each other. They laughed over it together and
basically asked the live audience and the ones watching them on YouTube to laugh at them.
If you, like me, got tired of their jokes after a point of time, you had an option to stop watching it.
Pandit, on the other hand, was vicious and humourless. And his grouse seems to the sexual nature
of the content of the show. His outrage, therefore, stems from the same kind of anxiety that has
made sex education a strict no-no in schools. His anger contributes to the pool of voices that makes
sex a taboo in the country in the 21st century.
It's okay to scoff at the silly and the un-funny. But to employ a government machinery to hunt
them down is ridiculous. As if there aren't enough dengue mosquitoes and potholes that need shutting down by the government.
Bollywood, other comedians

come out in support
Bollywood isnt as uptight as you think:

Sonakshi, Alia come out in support of AIB Knockout
fter the Maharashtra police initiated an inquiry into a complaint against filmmaker Karan
Johar, actor Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, which alleged that the trio had used "filthy
and abusive language" in the comedy show AIB Knockout held in Mumbai, the All India
Bakchod decided to pull down the video from YouTube.
However, despite all the backlash that the AIB Roast has faced, Bollywood actors and actresses
who were ridiculed the most during the show have come out in support of AIB.
From Alia Bhatt to Sonakshi Sinha and Deepika Padukone, many took to Twitter to say how Indians needs a lesson in "not taking life so seriously".
Karan Johar, who is being repeatedly slammed by many for his performance during the show also
broke his silence but the biggest support came from Ram Gopal Verma with whom Johar was involved in a tasty Twitter feud last year.
Here are some of the Bollywood reactions that will tell you that the industry isn't as up-tight and
traditionalist as we always believed it to be.
Karan Johar took lid off volcano of lies
and hypocrisy: Ram Gopal Varma on AIB Knockout

IANS Feb 4, 2015
umbai: After the controversial AIB Roast video was taken down from video sharing website YouTube, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has sent out a message of appreciation to his
fellow filmmaker Karan Johar for taking part in the show.
"The AIB show is final proof that India has finally come of age and I truly appreciate Karan for
taking the plunge or more correctly the leap," Varma, who shares a love-hate relationship with the
"Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" maker, posted on micro-blogging website Twitter.
"Anyone who condemns Karan's AIB Show whether from government or various organisations are
just the figureheads of repressive regressions. The sheer popularity of the AIB also shud b a call to
the censor board to wake up smell the coffee nd look out the window at a new India.
"Karan took the lid off a volcano of lies nd hypocrisies and history will remember him as the guy
who invented a new india," the Satya director added.
The video, which went viral on the video sharing platform since being posted on 28 January, was
pulled out Tuesday night.
The 'Roast', titled AIB Knockout was organised by a group of stand-up comedians called All India
Bakchod (AIB). It poked fun at the roastees -- Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor's
personal and professional lives.
The controversy surrounding the programme is the alleged use of "abusive and filthy" language in
it, which the Maharashtra government is probing following Education and Culture Minister Vinod
Tawade's orders Monday evening.
"The culture department officials will examine the videos' content and if found vulgar, action
would be initiated," Tawade said.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena also demanded an apology from all the persons involved in the
programme and said it would not allow Johar, Arjun and Ranveer's movies to be screened if they
do not apologise.
The AIB Knockout was organised as a charity event which took place here in December 2014. A
sum of over Rs 4 million was raised via the two-hour comic event, the edited version of which was
posted on AIB's YouTube page.
The AIB Roast also saw leading female Bollywood actors like Sonakshi Sinha, Deepika Padukone
and Alia Bhatt in the audience.
Sir, what about Santa Banta jokes?

Comedians react to outrage over filthy AIB roast
ollowing an FIR and after facing a government probe for allegedly using vulgar language
during their show AIB Roast in Mumbai, comedy group All India Bakchod was forced to
pull out the series of videos from YouTube. This has predictably sparked a massive debate
on the threats to freedom of expression challenging artists in India.
The AIB Knockout, a roast featuring actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, hosted by filmmaker
Karan Johar and organised by AIB in December 2014 in Mumbai went viral after the group released three videos on YouTube.
Political parties in Maharashtra also threatened to stop the films of Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh
and Arjun Kapoor and said that the government should file FIR against them too.
So, what's the future of stand up comedy after this AIB fiasco?
Here's what comedians have to say:
Joke on politics? No. Joke on Bollywood? No. Oh..dear!
Sir, what about Santa Banta jokes?
Do you have something to say too?

Shoot a video of yourself and mail us at firstpostin@gmail.com via wetransfer.com/ Dropbox etc.
Despite mass support,

AIB gives in to political pressure
AIB removes filthy roast video after Maharashtra govt
goes after actors, ticket sellers and venue

fter the Maharashtra police initiated an

inquiry into a complaint against filmmaker Karan Johar, actor Arjun Kapoor
and Ranveer Singh, which alleged that the trio
had used "filthy and abusive language" in the
comedy show AIB Knockout held in Mumbai,
the All India Bakchod decided to pull down the
video from YouTube.
The move came after the Maharashtra Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the
government will take action against AIB, if the
show was found to be vulgar. "If the AIB roast
was vulgar and not in accordance with the law,
then we will act."
The roast, the first of its kind in India, featured
a panel of eight and 'Roastmaster' Karan Johar, 'roasted' actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun
Kapoor, subjecting them to jokes about their
on-screen and off-screen lives.
According to reports, 4,000 people attended
the show last week in Mumbai and later it was
uploaded on YouTube, which went viral.
The Maharashtra culture department also issued a notice to the NSCI (National Sports Club
of India) club, where the AIB roast was held,
asking whether a censor certificate had been
sought to stage the event. Ranjit Patil, the state
minister for home, said websites selling the AIB
Roast tickets would also come under the scanner, reported Hindustan Times.
Political parties in Maharashtra also threatened
to stop the films of Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh
and Arjun Kapoor and said that the government
should file FIR against them too.
Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Waikar said that the
show was 'vulgar and derogatory'. "The government should file an FIR against not just the
organisers, but also the participants, he said.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnir-
man Sena (MNS) threatened to stop films of

director-producer Karan Johar and actors Arjun
Kapoor and Ranveer Singh from releasing in the
state unless they tendered an "unconditional
apology".
According to the written complaint by Akhilesh
Tiwari, President of Brahman Ekta Seva Sanstha in Mumbai, filed at Sakinaka police station
on Monday, the trio, along with other performers allegedly passed abusive and offensive
remarks against one another and even at the
audience during an episode of the AIB Knockout, police said.
In his four-page complaint at Sakinaka police
station, Tiwari sought a criminal complaint
against Johar, Kapoor and Singh as well as the
show organiser, among others.
"I have handed over a letter to the Sakinaka police demanding a criminal complaint be lodged
against these so-called youth icons Karan Johar,
Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. The show,
which can be seen on YouTube and other websites, was extremely abusive and it is not only
ruining the clean image of the Indian culture &
women, but is also misleading today's youth,"
said Tiwari.
The 43-year-old complainant said he sought
action against the event organisers and other
performers as well, who passed 'dirty comments
with such audacity.'
"The police action would be a deterrent to them
so that they would not dare to do such acts publicly in future," he said.
The statements of various Christian organisations have also been recorded by the Mumbai
police as these groups have taken offence to the
participants mockery of Catholic priests.
Many took to Twitter to express outrage at the
'moral policing' and to support AIB.
In a secure culture this Knockout wouldnt matter:
AIB breaks silence on filthy Roast

thing thats happened because of a 3 am phonecall or a morcha at our front door or a gunman
on a grassy knoll. Under the circumstances,
this is us being pragmatic. Allow us to explain.
While they didn't offer any explanation right

away, they did assure their fans that they would
address they issue soon. As promised, they
released a statement on Facebook today talking
about what their intentions were behind organising the show and why they decided to take
down the video.
People whove been following our work will

know that weve always tried to experiment
with content be it on Youtube or a live comedy
show, with the sole intent of making people
laugh and/or think. AIB Knockout was another
such attempt to try something new and bring
the roast format to a country where celebrities
arent often known to laugh at themselves. To
our pleasant surprise, we managed to bring
together consenting adults who were willing
to be made fun of by other consenting adults in
a crowd full of (wait for it) consenting adults.
And if were honest, it was a phenomenally entertaining evening. Were the jokes repetitive?
Crass? It didnt matter because they happened
in the spirit of irony and good humour. It was
just liberating to be able to say those things,
things that people have thought in one form or
another privately for years. A lot of the laughter that night came from that spirit (theres
your answer, people who wondered why everyone was laughing at terrible jokes).
fter the Maharashtra police initiated an

inquiry into a complaint against filmmaker Karan Johar, actor Arjun Kapoor
and Ranveer Singh, which alleged that the trio
had used "filthy and abusive language" in the
comedy show AIB Knockout held in Mumbai,
the All India Bakchod decided to pull down the
video from YouTube.
You can read the full text here:

I may not agree with you, but I will defend to
death my right to get offended. How dare you?
Baahar mil. Desi Voltaire
Dear everyone,
Lets just all take a deep breath. Theyre just
jokes. Unfunny, crass or whatever you want
to call them, theyre still just jokes. The AIB
Knockout video has been taken down. While
wed love to claim that its because so many
people watched it that it broke YouTube, the
truths a little sadder.
First things first; no one person or force forced
us to take this video down. This is not some-
The video came with a clear disclaimer with

several age and content warnings. No one was
forced to watch it, we didnt buy airtime on
every single TV channel on Earth to broadcast
it. YouTube videos do not magically auto-play
in front of you. And yet the videos got over 8
million views. Far more importantly, on the
video page, the people who liked them outnumbered the people who disliked them by ten
times to one. Yes, ten times.
The format was the same as any international
roast i.e. insult comedy, delivered in the form
of one-liners designed to be as rude as possible.
It is performed with the understanding that
none of the material is to be taken seriously
none of the performers actually mean the
offensive things they say to each other on the
night. We clarify this simply to provide context.
importantly as citizens of this country.
With the Knockout, in our own juvenile, idiotic way, we wanted to push the envelope of
comedy in this country. But then the envelope
pushed back. Things got to a point where people who have supported us, people who work
hard to make what we do come to life, were
put in a position where things could get deeply
unpleasant for them. And thats a problem. We
can live with abuse, hate, anger, fury, rage,
ignorance, bigotry and perhaps even bullying.
But we dont want anybody to get hurt because
of us. And we do mean anybody.
Theres a larger cultural conversation going on

here, where were at the very edges of what its
okay to say. And its a conversation we need to
have now because the world we live in is entirely too complicated to be run by silences. We
still stand by our belief in the right to absolute
freedom of expression for us and for anyone
who has anything to say about anything at
all. We hope to be part of an environment that
supports that sort of expression without fear of
persecution, intimidation and most importantly, annoyance. As always, in our own AIB way
well continue to strive towards creating that
very environment.
We hope its clear by now that we never write

with the aim of hurting people. Thats not our
goal and we daresay that no comedian ever
does that. We dont go to work and say, Hmm,
lets offend XYZ people from XYZ community
today. If we really wanted to piss off people
and hurt them, wed be selling credit cards over
the phone.
Our job is to raid the newspapers, pop culture
and life for observations and analogies and its
okay if you think were juvenile or unfunny. We
respect arguments that are critical, and as for
the arguments we dont, we respect your right
to make them without impediment. It is a courtesy we wish worked both ways.
Over the last few days, weve found ourselves
subject to more scrutiny, judgment and opinion than were worth. This Knockout shouldnt
matter. In a secure culture it wouldnt matter.
Were lucky to have support pouring in from
all quarters. First up, from our fans, just the
greatest people in the world, who have nothing
but good cheer and encouragement and positive thoughts. We were pleasantly surprised
that people in power who we have made fun
of in the past, including people from both the
so-called right wing and left-wing, went out of
their way to convey support to us. It was fantastic to know that they stand for free speech as
much as us. Friends in the media have told us
to stay our course, pledging their support for
our right to say anything, no matter how ridiculous. Thank you to anyone who has stated
in the last few days that we have the right to
say what we want, not as comedians but more
In the meantime, wed like to say thank you

to our fans and everyone else who is standing by us. You guys make the struggle worth
it. To everyone railing against us and against
the stars that were present, to everyone whos
decided were destroying the fabric of our
culture, to everyone whos called us seditious
pornographers while plotting the downfall of
Indian Values And Civilization As We Know
It, we would like to reiterate that we are just
a bunch of comedians who work, and have
always worked, without any malicious intent
whatsoever.
We encourage any and all conversation on the
subject of freedom of expression, for our own
silly selves, and for people better, smarter and
more courageous than us. For hundreds and
thousands of artists, commentators and any
and all citizens that do not have the privilege of
social platforms and reach that we do.
We are also cooperating with the authorities
and hope to resume normal service soon. Wed
like some sort of cheerful resolution to this so
we can focus on more important national issues, like the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
P.S. Best of luck Virat Kohli. Sorry for the jokes.
We
P.P.S. Its a good thing nobodys downloaded
the file and put it on a torrent website or anything.
Scan or click to download our Android, iPad/ iPhone apps
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Copyright 2011-12 Firstpost All rights reserved

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Moral Police Now Targets AIB

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Moral Police Now Targets AIB

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Moral police now targets AIB:

India still not ready for the roast

What the AIB Roast is all about

No one in the audience was offfended but authorities,

Bollywood, other comedians come out in support

Despite mass support, AIB gives in to political pressure

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

What the AIB Roast is all about

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

All India Bakchod strips Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh

and Arjun Kapoor down in hilarious roast

oasts of celebrities like Charlie Sheen

As 'roastmaster' Karan Johar himself said, "Let

Taking inspiration, All India Bakchod, in a first

Although it did seem sometimes that the people

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Knockout moments: Deepika, Alia, Sonakshi flash

their smiles as AIB roasts Ranveer, Arjun

inally All India Bakchod unveiled the

Karan Johar's introduction

Without the video that Alia Bhatt did with AIB

ning widely and standing up to cheer for that

up for being called a sellout and the love child of

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi gay: Not Arjun or Ranveer,

nce upon a time you could come out

Or you could come out by being Ashok Row

come to the stage Karan Johar.

But now you can appear on All India Bakchod.

Weve come a long way from the nudge-nudge

ily Guy filmmaker Karan Johar being reduced

Gay finally stopped being another three-letter

KJO: You think I am up to tricks when I travel?

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

AIB Knockout roast of Ranveer Singh and Arjun

ne not-so-cold night in December last

Asterisk Stands For. Here's an example. During

ular film industry with its nepotism, tackiness,

What's interesting about AIB Knockout is that

As someone who considers some of the people

Yet for all this staggering popularity, what AIB

Everyone on the AIB Knockout stage was a

As Johar says right at the start of AIB Knockout,

Those who took part in AIB Knockout displayed

However, the fact that chauvinists, homophobes

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

No one in the audience was offfended but

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Police to probe filthy AIB Knockout: Karan Johar,

According to the written complaint by Akhilesh

show organiser, among others.

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Moral policing or national shame?

Twitter divided over #AIBRoast after Maha govts FIR

he Maharashtra government has deemed

The All India Bakchod roast, the first of its kind

However, some of them supported the stand up

The show was filmed in a Mumbai stadium with

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost

Copyright 2012 Firstpost