New Delhi: The great Indian laughter challenge: how to make everyone roll on the floor laughing but not at the expense of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
When STAR TV Network's The Great Indian Laughter Challenge was recorded on September 1, stand-up comedian Shyam Rangeela did bring the house, including actor Akshay Kumar, down by mimicking the maximum leader who used to intone "mitron".
Shyam squeezed in an act of Rahul Gandhi, too, complete with the rolling up of the kurta sleeves.
But when the episode was aired on September 30, the rib-tickling item was missing.
Shyam said that a few days before the scheduled telecast, he was told to record again after omitting Modi. He got the impression that Rahul was easy game but eventually that also was apparently discouraged.
Shyam then performed another act. "I had little time to prepare, and as a result lost out in the challenge," Shyam told The Telegraph.
"They called me and they knew what my USP was. I became popular because of my mimicry of the Prime Minister and the producers were aware of that. They offered to take me on the show without an audition because of my reputation but clearly developed cold feet somewhere along the way."
He said no explanation was given to him for pulling out his act. “I think they feared repercussions if they let my mimicry of the Prime Minister run the way it was. And, then as a balancing act, they must have decided to stop my act on Rahul Gandhi also so that they are seen as being even-handed,” Shyam added.
STAR was unavailable for comment till Thursday evening
.
But the clip reached social media and went viral, posing a greater challenge to those who stand to get offended.
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