Vir Das breaks silence on aftermath of Two Indias controversy
Actor-comedian Vir Das faced the brunt of his stand-up in 2021 after his special ‘I Come From Two Indias’ stirred outrage for allegedly criticising India’s political landscape and its handling of women’s safety. The alleged controversial statements made in his performance, including the line “In India, we worship women in the day and rape them at night”, led to two separate police complaints against him. In an exclusive conversation on mid-day`s Sit With Hitlist, he opens up about the fiasco and its aftermath.
Vir Das on the aftermath of two Indias controversy
That very year, Das’ Netflix comedy special Vir Das: For India was nominated in the comedy segment at the Emmys. Revealing how he was stopped from giving interviews. He shared, “I had to give three exclusives that day and my lawyer was screaming from India, `Don’t do any interviews. Please shut up and disappear. You’re not supposed to be on the news right now."
He further shared, “Netflix doesn’t know what hit them — it’s their first comedy nomination for an Emmy, and the dude’s a terrorist. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was also there, and he was being nominated for Best Actor, and I felt so bad because this kind of tarnished everybody’s experience for all the wrong reasons.”
Vir on losing projects after the controversy
The actor recounts how he avoided addressing controversy in the interviews and lost the awards due to the issue. He then shared how the people in India reacted upon his arrival in Mumbai. He recalls, “It was a very weird arrival in Mumbai because the big fallacy with the Two Indias thing is —I have the data. It’s just one of the videos on my YouTube channel and over 95% of the views on that video came domestically. Nobody abroad saw that video as such. So the whole thing is, it was shared in India and it was watched in India. That’s what made it go viral.”
He continues. “After that, when I landed in Mumbai, there’s paparazzi outside. They just followed us as Shivani and I held hands and we walked to the car, and they followed us to the parking. And then we boarded our connecting flight to Goa and I put my phone off for 4 months. And then you put it on in 9 days, you realize how you’re not the centre of the universe, and it’s just another thing.”
He further states that he lost projects because of the controversy. “The realistic implications of that start to hit you, which is — three projects go away, 20 brands go away, you can’t tour for the foreseeable future. Then I was like, the only thing I have is to write a show about it. So 4 months in, I wrote a show. And I had a contract with Netflix for one more special. And I found out my special is not happening. So now I’m pissed.”
He further says, “Then I called the Netflix head and assured her that I’m going to write a show that is going to make everybody feel love for their country. And in a desperate moment of bluster, I was like, “You and me go get nominated for an Emmy together.” And she’s like, “All right, give me 2 weeks.” Two weeks later she called me to the office and things worked out. We even won an Emmy together. When the special came out, everything just flipped. And when I put a show on tour after that, suddenly people were coming in with like this connection that I’d not experienced as a comic before. I have always been accused of being a comic without any depth.”
Vir on learning from the incident
The actor admits helping out those in need when caught up in such situations. He further revealed, “There is an underground support system available for all comedians. There’s a WhatsApp group. We all send each other money. We’ve all paid each other’s legal fees at some point, not a higher level of comic, but for a younger level of comic. We all do that for each other.”
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