“When people say you are one of the top female comedians in the country, I want to say, ‘Shut up dude, ‘female’ is not a genre’,” says stand-up artiste Aditi Mittal. When stand-up comedy, an art form that is supposed to be irreverential, is taken up by a woman, who in most cultures is expected to not be so, one gets the bold and loud Aditi Mittal.
Nothing is too big or small to be made fun of — from pondering on the purpose of intricate designs on sanitary napkins to making observations about the world of bad airplane food, Aditi manages to find humour in just about everything. “What can I say, I’ve always been a professional nautanki ,” chuckles chirpy Aditi, whoeffortlessly folds in humour into her observations on everyday life.
After a degree in communication from Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, and a media production job that she lost to the recession, Aditi relocated to Mumbai in 2010 due to, “lack of hope in life” ( grins ).
The same year, she started frequenting open mic nights. “Making people laugh has always been a survival mechanism. Getting people to laugh is also something that has driven me; laughter is the sound of agreement and approval. But now, I get work out of it and I’m blown by the odds of that every day,” says Aditi.
But of course, when she started out, she had no way of knowing the boom the stand-up comedy market was going to experience. “Even last year, after a show in Dubai with Atul Khatri, Nitin Mirani and Sandeep Rao, when people were hounding us for autographs, I was like, ‘What is with you people, you need to have better standards for celebrities’,” laughs Mittal. In the year since, what with the AIB Knockout Roast creating a stir and videos of comic performances going viral, stand-up comedy as an art form has really taken the spotlight. And, it is no surprise that Aditi, as the lone woman iconoclast in most comic line-ups, is grabbing eyeballs. “You just need to brace yourself to deal with your own insecurities, and that of others,” says Aditi.
So, what’s it like being a woman doing stand-up comedy? “Honestly, it’s the oldest question in the book, and frankly, quite annoying. But, it is my reality.” When she started off, she didn’t think it made any difference. But today, she has a collection of black pants and formal shirts. “I desexualised myself on stage. I wanted to be seen as a person and not a ‘sexy woman’. I was told my clothes shouldn’t distract from my jokes.” Now, however, she’s realised, people will say what they want to anyway. “Being a performer, you become the landing place for people’s misconceptions about comedy, comedians and women. But like any other profession, as a woman, you need to work harder to prove yourself and always make sure you have a safe ride back home.” Because, she explains, making a joke in front of a hundred people is different from being cornered by one person who wants to abuse you. And abuse, advice and annoy they do, because, “I have done shows where some people are just shocked to death. You just don’t know what’s going to trigger which crowd off. Humour, however, is just so heavily loaded with context. So, if you can say anything in a way that people will listen, you can get away with saying anything.”
Her comedy, however, she says, is not about changing society; it’s about getting laughs. “When you talk about something, you attempt to give it life from your end. If it also elicits a thought, nothing like it. But if nobody sees the humour in what you are saying and everyone is nodding thoughtfully, then it’s just a talk.”
Even though the path seems strewn with hindrances and stereotypes, Aditi is blissfully unconcerned. Ask her what’s the downside of her job, and she says, “Nothing. In which other profession do you get to write, direct and perform your experiences from living life?”
With a flair for acting, directing and writing, and with a tag as a rising stand-up star to watch out for, Aditi’s life is full of interesting experiences. She got a show on BBC for radio — A Beginners Guide to India — lined up, is working on a book, creating more character-based content for the Internet (she plays sex therapist Dr. Mrs. Lutchuke and “thinking” Bollywood starlet Dolly Khurana) and hesitantly auditioning for roles in films without having “to be the heroine’s fat, funny friend”. Aditi also has travel plans to perform — at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Soho Theatre in London, New York, South East Asia — and was recently in the city to stage her solo, Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say.
Apart from all this, she also stares into the distance often, constantly trying to write comedy. “The stand-up scene is growing, and soon, anyone with a mic and a joke is going to call himself a comic. So, I feel now is the time to collect myself and focus, because this isn’t a passing fad for me. I do this not because I’m really good at it, but because this is what I truly want to.”
