Vir Das: ‘As artists, we are taught to accept feedback humbly’

Vir Das: ‘As artists, we are taught to accept feedback humbly’

After the Delhi High Court refused to grant an interim stay on the streaming of Hasmukh on the OTT platform Netflix, Vir Das who has co-created, co-produced and acted in the series has thanked the Delhi High Court for their support. 

“Yesterday, in the Delhi High Court, in the middle of the pandemic, there was a hearing. A hearing about my show where a fictitious comedian does jokes about a fictitious lawyer. Close to 10 legal notices, a suit for ‘defaming the reputation of lawyers’, political pages organising to down-vote it on IMDb,” he wrote on Instagram.

He added, “Fair Game. As artists we are taught to accept feedback humbly, and I do so knowing that my work always has, and will polarise people. But since these actions go a little beyond feedback, I hope I’ve earned the right to respectfully respond. I have spent a decade of my life trying to make this country laugh, I certainly haven’t always succeeded, but I have heard enough laughter and seen enough happy people to know that comedy, of all genres, does more good than harm, Offence is taken, not given. I humbly thank the High Court for their support,” he wrote. 

“The very essence of democracy is that a creative artist is given the liberty to project the picture of the society in a manner he perceives. One of the prime forms of exposing the ills of the society is by portraying a satirical picture of the same. Stand-up comedians perform that very purpose. In their portrayal they use satire and exaggerate the ills to an extent that it becomes a ridicule. In the humorous of the ills of the society the stand-up comedians use satire. Delhi High Court. Thank You, With respect, Vir,” he further wrote. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A statement of thanks to the High Court.

A post shared by Vir Das (@virdas) on

The stay had come on May 5 after allegations that the series makes derogatory comments against lawyers. While dismissing the application, the court stated that the “plaintiff has not been able to show that the impugned comment in any manner refers to the plaintiff or refers to a definite group of individuals or lawyers out of the entire class of lawyers to which the plaintiff belongs”. 

The plea filed by Advocate Ashutosh Dubey sought the court’s directions to the web series producers, directors and writer to submit unconditional apology online, saying that the web series had “maligned the image of the lawyers” community, which includes judges as they too had been lawyers at one point of time.

Hasmukh, co-produced by Nikkhil Advani, also stars Ranvir Shorey, Manoj Pahwa, Ravi Kishan and Amrita Bagchi.

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