The second episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show was about Rohit Sharma, the captain of the Indian cricket team, who left no stone unturned in making fun of himself and his team. He was joined by his electrifying teammate, one of the best batsmen in the country, Shreyas Iyer. They spent a lot of time taking potshots at their teammates and themselves, which was the only highlight of the show. The rest of the gags were forgettable and repetitive.
The brand-new episode of the show features the cast and crew of the new Netflix India original film Amar Singh Chamkila. The movie has been in the making for a while now and was released on April 12, 2024, with a stupendous response from critics and viewers. The new episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show not only celebrates the film but also the legendary Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila and his wife Amarjot Kaur, who were tragically killed in the year 1988. The biggest selling point of the episode has to be Diljit Dosanjh making an appearance on the show after having had an amazing run as a recording artist in India and abroad for the past few years. What Diljit has achieved for himself and as a cultural representative of our country is something not many have been able to do. Being the only Punjabi artist to have performed at Coachella is a big deal, and his trajectory ever since has gone up with no signs of slowing down. Performing as Amar Singh Chamkila, Diljit has added another feather to his cap.
Parineeti Chopra and Imtiaz Ali are the other two guests who are an integral part of the movie. There is a lot of discussion on why this film was a subject of intrigue for Imtiaz and his brother, Sajid Ali, who co-wrote the film. It was exciting to watch Kapil Sharma become comfortable with his fellow Punjabis and speak openly about the quirks of their brethren. Humor-wise, this show is a hit because a lot of the jokes written by Kapil himself worked and generated good laughs. The several puns using “AAP,” the political party, worked and did not create a sense of cringe amongst the guests. To anyone wondering what the “AAP” reference is, Parineeti Chopra is married to Raghav Chadha, who is one of the senior members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The fact is that the said political party has a huge stronghold in Punjab.
Political jokes aside, many of the one-liners worked in favor of the host which is a huge upgrade from the last two episodes. Diljit himself is an effortlessly funny person, if anyone has witnessed his Instagram vlogs. Kapil Sharma probably had to keep up with Diljit’s sensibilities and humor, which is why we got to hear some improvement in his jokes. The highlight of the show has to be Parineeti Chopra and Diljit Dosanjh singing one of their songs from the film live on stage. It is endearing to watch them be proud of the work they did. The exhilarating performance shows the amount of work was done to make their singing perfect and on par with the people the movie is based on.
There are questions asked about Parineeti’s weight gain for the film and why it was important to do that. The sad part about such questions is that even male actors are subjected to such scrutiny, as if it is some kind of awful thing to gain weight. As actors working in the Hindi film industry, there is so much emphasis on them having to remain in shape and healthy to project a certain image. This obsession is highly addictive, as many get influenced by them and believe they can be just like them. Parineeti, however, quickly spoke about wanting to look like the character who performed during her pregnancy as well.
The letdown of the show must be the gags that had Krushna Abhishek as Donald Trump and Kiku Sharda as Kim Jong Un. This gag felt like it just dragged on and on as the writing was bad and borderline racist, which generated nothing but cringe-induced smiles from the guests themselves. They deserved a lot better than the atrocities they were subjected to too. Again, with Netflix being a global platform, the humor needed to be a lot better.
Sunil Grover’s elaborate gag as “Dafli” was a repetition of what was done on television. The Netflix version of Kapil Sharma, as stated before has not seen any elevation to what was done on his previous reboots. The show had an unexpected ending where Diljit brought on stage his videographer, who shoots his vlogs, and one last time the audience got to see a charming blockbuster artist doing what he does best, making people smile. Viewers are now looking forward to the next episode, which features the supremely talented Vicky Kaushal and his brother Sunny Kaushal. Hopefully, we will get to some more nuanced Punjabi humor, keeping in mind how Vicky feels deeply connected to his roots.
