One where people dare to address the elephant in the room,
another where people get offended if someone does so.
I personally didn’t find anything wrong with the video that Vir Das released. Yes, he mentioned a few bad points about India, but that doesn’t make him anti-national; none of those points was false either.
The overall controversy seems to be the classic case of selective listening, ostrich behavior, and jumping to conclusions.
Three phycological phenomena that most of us Indian are going through, personally as well as professionally.
Selective listing:
The format Das has chosen wasn’t just putting derogatory remarks about India. With every sentence, his writing mentions what is great about the nation and what is not. Most of those who got offended only paid attention to the latter part and didn’t notice the good things he said.
Ostrich behavior:
Being patriotic and nationalist doesn’t mean not looking at our shortcomings at all. I remember a scene from the film “Swades” where Mohan Bhargav (played by SRK) expressed why he doesn’t believe that India is a great nation. We are still fighting with a lot of issues, and keeping a blind eye will not help us anyway. In perspective, the whole Vir Das controversy designates the same thing.
(Watch the scene at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIbZkGcbiEY)
Jumping to a conclusion:
Those who believe it was defaming need to google about Das for a minute. He is an internationally recognized comic who represented the nation on several platforms through his art form. The show was filmed at John F Kennedy Center (Washington DC), and it was a sold-out show.
Most of the outraged people haven’t seen the video completely; otherwise, they would have seen the end too, where Das impressed the whole audience with a monologue speaking that despite all the flaws, he is still proud of the nation and everyone gave him a standing ovation.
If some people believe that reputation of India as a nation can be distorted by a standup comic in an 8-minute video or by an actress in a media interview, they really need to strengthen their belief by learning a bit more about the nation.