Kiku Sharda hasn’t had a pleasant January. His show Comedy Nights With Kapil is ending its run on Color Channel, and his act on Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh got him in jail! After an agonizing time behind bars, the actor is finally out on jail. Here are excerpts from his interview to Bombay Times.
Whatever happened was unfortunate. It hasn’t been easy for me. I was in another state where I had no family or acquaintances. I was put behind bars for a few hours. There were angry supporters waiting for me outside the court when I went to get anticipatory bail. There was an uproar when I reached there and it was scary. The cops shielded me as I walked in and out of the court. Singh’s supporters came charging towards me, but the cops escorted me towards my vehicle and helped me leave the spot. What happened to me was harsh and unexpected. I underwent this ordeal because I mimicked him. I hope that others booked won’t have to go through the same trauma. I appeal to people to look at such gags from our (the artist’s) perspective.
While Kiku takes responsibility of what happened, he also believed that the channel could have supported him during this ordeal, but no help from their end was forthcoming.
I do what I am told to by the channel and the creative team. I was expecting some support from the channel but that didn’t happen. It is unfortunate that I wasn’t aware of this particular sect. I am sorry for hurting their religious sentiments, but it wasn’t intentional. My only intention is to entertain people. After this episode, I would say that yes, we shouldn’t have done something that would offend a particular sect.I have a career spanning 13 years; I am not here to hurt anyone. All of that should be taken into consideration. There are all kinds of humour and I have largely indulged in clean comedy. I won’t attempt something that could be potentially offensive. 80% of comedy can happen without hurting anyone’s sentiments. Only a few people can’t take it in the right spirit.
And finally, he had a very sensible thing to say after all that he went through –
Mimicry is the greatest form of flattery. It will be too drastic a step to refrain from it. Let’s be comfortable about it and indulge in it for entertainment. I am not the only one who has been through this unfortunate incident. A lot of people have been subjected to it because of their gags in the past. But we should continue doing our work to the best of our ability.