She is funny, witty, bold, a go-getter with a no non-sense attitude. 29 year-old comedian Aditi Mittal speaks her mind and can have you in splits narrating stereotypical and hypocritical views about women and the society. From becoming one of the first five Indians to be featured in an Indians only stand-up show — local Heroes to her first solo show Things They Wouldn’t let Me Say and her recently launched Bad Girl web-series, Mittal has done it all with much élan.
“My masi always says ‘when will you get an actual jobIJ’ I tell her laughter is my job,” Mittal laughs.
While pursuing her undergrad in the US, Mittal took up odd jobs like giving pedicure-manicure, work as a bartender, baby sit and even worked in a production house. Comedy became a part of her life when she came back to India after the 2009 recession. She stayed jobless for months. It was then she got to know about open mics and tried her luck at it.
“The function of comedy for me is a about people coming together. That people in the crowd instantly laugh and think ‘Oh I never thought of this that way’, or ‘I know exactly what she is talking about’. For me the sound of laughter is the sound of unity. It’s amazing when the audience react in the same way, to the same thought at the same time,” Mittal says who is one of winners of Women of Pure Wonder Awards by Vodafone Foundation.
For a woman, to get into the business of comedy was no cake-walk. like in any other fields, men had an upper hand in Stand-up Comedy. “It’s been a journey of standing up for what I believe in. The comedy industry for women has a sticky feet and a glass ceiling. For the longest time, we have seen disapproval, been asked to shut up and mansplaining ( to comment on or explain something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate way by a man) or man being the main narrative. For instance, if you are sitting in a room full of men, you will not be allowed to talk or you will be told to shut up. As if I don’t count and my point of view is immaterial,” Mittal says.
Though she faced a lot of failure, she never stopped trying. “Failure is the most important element for a person to succeed especially in comedy. Comedy teaches you how insignificant you are in the larger scheme of things. One should not be ashamed of one’s failure. When you fail, you work harder,” Mittal opines.
Her stand-up act on underwear was not received well. She was trolled on social media and people hurled abuses and questioned her character. “My idea to do comedy has been to make fun of things that are more powerful than you are. That way, comedy makes an impact. In the first two years of my stand-up, I went through a tough time. It made me question my decision to pursue this line. I thought I was the stupid person here. It was overwhelming for me to deal with everything thing then. Now, I don’t think. My masi gets horrified. She tells me: ‘Aditi tu khandaan ke samne kya kya baat kerti rehti hai’. And I tell her that mujhe farak nahi padta. The price of being a feminist woman is much higher than if you are a feminist man. The feminist men get praise and money and the feminist women get to hear that you are too loud,” Mittal tells you.
Self-sufficiency is what Mittal aims for and considers it important. “I want to be self-sufficient. It gets rid of sticky feet. It’s about you saying I am capable of doing something and I will do this because this is what I want to do. No matter what field you are in, self-sufficiency, whether it is economic, health, mental or emotional, is very important for a woman,” Mittal explains.
For most people, comedy is about making fun of women and propagating sexism and one such incident left Mittal horrified. “I was doing a parody award show and we were asked to write a joke on supporting actress. The men come up with an idea to display the picture of the actor’s boobs and write their name below with nominations. I was aghast and told them that you aren’t just making a statement but propagating sexism. I refused to stand on the stage with a projector at the back with someone’s boobs on it and people making awful jokes about it. I fought with them and came up with 40 other things that we could do. The idea was dropped, but I knew if I had not been there in the room, the men would have felt proud to come up with this idea. When you hear comedians propagate old ideology on a progressive platform like comedy, it irks me. Would you joke about disable peopleIJ Yes. But not of them, but of the society,” Mittal says, who gets her strong-headedness from her masi.
“My mother passed away when I was very young. It is my masi, (I call her mom), who brought my brother and me like her own children. Being a single woman in1980s and to bring up two children and manager her life was a brave step. The way she has taught and encouraged us has made me what I am today. I learnt to laugh even the worst of situations because of her,” Mittal says.
looking at women doing comedy, many started treating it as a separate genre and called it woman humour. “When I started doing comedy people would come and say ‘arrey wah, you are doing woman humour’. I’m not doing woman humour. I am doing humour. The understanding that woman is a genre is rubbish to me. I tell everyone that women constitute almost 50 per cent of the population. We need to stand up and be counted,” Mittal says.
It was not surprising that her web-series Bad Girl become viral. “Facing all the bashing and criticism that made me contemplate on many things, I started feeling lonely and started Bad Girl with another comedian Nidhi Goyal who is visually disabled. I wanted to showcase women who are doing unconventional work. It is said that well-behaved women rarely make history. So let’s be bad,” Mittal says.
Her advise to other comediennes: “Get on stage as many times as you can. Remember your audience will be your final boss. If you are good you will get work. Be quick and think on your feet. I have realised that comedians never make fun of anything unless we love it secretly or it mean something to us. Otherwise why would we spend time thinking about itIJ It is very easy to be in the system and smile and never disagree. That’s how 80 per cent of women survive. You diminish yourself in order to be accepted by the people which I am not ready to do. If you see other women who are doing something that you may aspire to do, then just stand-up for yourself. You have women in every field today who are doing brilliant work. You can do it too.”