A TALE OF TWO INDIAS: KAPIL SHARMA VS KARAN JOHAR

The big story of change is how an India long ignored is steadily gaining control of the national narrative EPISODE #30

Dear Reader,

A very Happy Monday to you.

Call it luck by chance. Last week I stumbled upon the Kapil Sharma comedy show. I must be in the ignorant minority who have missed out on this brand of entertainment. A subsequent chance conversation with Haseeb Drabu, the former finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir and among the most insightful people I know, led me to a comparison with the popular English-medium chat show hosted by Bollywood producer/director Karan Johar.

What emerged is the topic of my column this week. It is my argument that these two shows actually hold up a mirror to the two Indias. And it is the play-off between these two avatars that is determining the new polity. It will be interesting to see how this resonates with you.

This week’s picture is the labour of love from my morning walk routine. Everyday is like a never ending URL search—constant discovery.

A big shoutout to Nimesh, Vivek, Gautam, Vandana, Premasundaran, Mr Kelkar, Aashish and Rahul for your informed responses, appreciation and amplification. Gratitude also to all those who responded on Twitter and LinkedIn. It is key to growing this newsletter community. And, many thanks to readers who hit the like button 😊.

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THE NEW IDEA OF INDIA

Call it serendipity.

Last week a friend flagged a new series on Netflix: Ray. The hook was Manoj Bajpayee, who to me is the best example representing the sudden and welcome explosion in Indian acting talent. I am still savouring Family Man and hence very much in awe of the actor. My enthusiasm in turn led me to seek out the online trove of interviews by Bajpayee.

In the process I stumbled upon one in which he featured on a Kapil Sharma show. To be sure this was the first time I was actually watching a show hosted by this stand-up comic. Was blown away by the rawness of the content and how it offered me a slice of India outside my bubble.

Coincidentally I mentioned this to Haseeb Drabu, who regularly tunes into the Kapil Sharma show. More importantly, with his typical insight he pointed to the stunning contrast with the carefully manicured and English-medium chat show hosted by Bollywood producer and director Karan Johar: Koffee with Karan. Having already seen a few episodes previously I caught the drift.

Drabu is spot on. These two entertainment offerings hold up the mirror to India: Reflecting the past and present.

One which is exemplified by the Indian elites and gated communities and the disenfranchised other who are slowly and steadily claiming their spot. This playoff between the two Indias is disturbing status quo. One manifestation of this churn is the bitterly contested political and cultural space—where the friction between these different Indias is shaping a new dynamic.

Previously I referred to it as the story of Bharat vs India. This is too simple a distinction. A temptation to cast this profound transformation in a binary. The differences are far too nuanced and often overlap.

Instead it is a story about a fundamental shift in status quo. Of how an existing regime dominated by an elite cabal is slowly and surely getting replaced by those rapidly moving up from the ranks of the previously disenfranchised.

No doubt this empowerment comes with consequences and also the promise of commercial gain—exactly why India is under such close international scrutiny; it is as if everyone wants a share of this massive market potential.

At this stage it is difficult to assess whether this transformation of India is good or bad—history is always written in the past tense. But for now we should be content that change—the only thing constant in the world—is underway. Because if there is one single factor which has denied India its potential in all these years it is the carefully preserved status quo.

The New Lexicon

Going back to my example, in terms of eyeballs there is absolutely no comparison between television viewing in English and the regional medium. Data released by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the body promoted by industry, reveals that Hindi-GEC (General Entertainment Channel) viewership for the 15+ category in the first four weeks of 2021 was 16,675 AMA’000s (average minute audience) while for English GEC it was 8 AMA’000s. Clearly regional is the mainstream.

Further as Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, among the most insightful writers on media, points out that the rural bias in viewership is only growing stronger. In her column published in Business Standard on 21 April she cites latest BARC numbers to say:

“It shows that the number of Indians watching television rose from 836 million (in 197 million homes) to 892 million (in 210 million homes). Of these, over 508 million viewers in 119 million homes are rural against 384 million in 91 million city homes.

A closer look at the numbers for 2016, 2018 and 2020, shows that just over half of TV viewers and homes have always been in rural India.”

Connect the dots and what you discover is that the new market for eyeballs is one that is outside the traditional preserve. Yes, at the moment they are not monetised to their potential. But that doesn’t mean they won’t in the future, especially as economic action continues to shift out of the top metros.

Even a cursory glance at the quarterly earnings data or information about the growing number of unicorns, especially in education, ecommerce and fintech, suggest that the big monetisation bets are being made on the non-English speaking and non-metro environment. One that is represented by a genre like the Kapil Sharma comedy show.

New Priorities

This makeover is not happening overnight. It has long been in the making.

Beginning in 2004, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) took charge, the focus has gradually pivoted towards ensuring deliverables for an India beyond the metros. Taking development to them as it were.

In this the most high profile programme was the rural employment guarantee scheme and the Food Security Act. It coincided with a global commodity super cycle. Together they spelt a good era for rural India till 2008—when the global economic collapse led to an abrupt end to the commodity super cycle—and provided a great opportunity to rebalance the Indian economy. However, the UPA lost its way, particularly in its second tenure, and dialled down its priorities—to correct past wrongs and provide for electricity, drinking water, directed subsidies through the use of Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries and so on.

Exactly where the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance started. In the last seven years they have ramped up state spending on all these priority areas with fantastic success—the latest being the priority accorded to providing drinking water access through a tap. The graph below says it all.

Accessing basic amenities as I have pointed out in a previous column also leads to an incredible amount of social empowerment.

Additionally by incrementally restoring the credibility of the public delivery system the government is creating a trust quotient—which can be harvested as electoral social capital and in justifying charging for a public service.

The onset of the covid-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, has only reinforced the priority of state spending in protecting the other 99%. From saving lives to livelihood, the other half of India has become the central focus of public policy for the last 18 months. And given that the economic scarring is so severe—especially the impetus it has given to economic inequality—this focus is likely to remain for a long time to come.

Frankly nothing wrong with this pivot. If anything it has been too long in coming. We are at that point where both the union and state governments have to walk their talk. It will pave the way for an eventual convergence of the two Indias.

Recommended Reading/Viewing

On the weekend the Indian Railways did a successful trial run between Silchar in Assam and Vaingaichunpao in Manipur. It will be another two years though before the railway line reaches the state capital Imphal. Another (but unfortunately familiar) story is that it has taken 74 years for the ‘Train to Manipur’ to go from an idea to execution!

This is a big breakthrough in the plan to provide connectivity between the North East and mainland India. Sharing a video below from the Press Information Bureau archives which reveals that the entire project includes a tunnel of 10 km in length!

Till we meet again next week. Stay safe.