Stand-up comedian Pant has audience in splits

Nagpur: Counted among the top three comedians who launched stand-up acts in the country, Mumbai-based Sorabh Pant was much at ease at his show for Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana, held at Vasantrao Deshpande Hall on Sunday.
Expectations and audience packed the auditorium as the well heeled occupied their seats for some lighthearted entertainment. Pant on his part matched his dress with the attitude which remained casual.

Taking upon the community which was playing host to him, Pant’s opening lines were digs at Parsis. He played around with the way he spells his name and joked about the story of Rustam and Sohrab, evoking plenty of laughs.

Leaning on known tropes and hard-pressed to remain politically correct, Pant’s act was more generic as he relied on the time-tested topics of sex with heavily punctuated cuss words and abuses. Padding up the otherwise flimsy premises with anecdotes drawn from his family, his act remained devoid of the much-anticipated punchlines though he remained on stage for close to two hours, touching upon subjects as varied as WhatsApp, cricket, marriage and family.

Comedians are often looked up to for giving a credible commentary on the prevailing political situation. But he laid bare his helplessness with, “Joking about political parties does not make me anti-national, for my country can take jokes. I am not anti-national, you are anti-rational,” was all he had to say about those who come down on criticism and his fears on taking digs at the existing political conundrum.

But there were bright moments in the act especially when he spoke about the scenario in the neighbouring country. “India has 4,000 comedians, Pakistan has only three — democracy, secularism and ISI.”

Describing it as an hilarious act, Khurshid Dalal, one of the organizers, said, “Sorabh Pant gave us a rocking time. He was expressive, his content was varied and we got what we had been looking for.”

The young and old alike went with the flow, felt entrepreneur Tauby Bhagwagar. “Though the youngsters were laughing and whistling, people in their fifties and above too were totally in synch with the act which was amazing.”