Manoj Bajpayee Recalls Being Called “Bihari” in Delhi, Defends Regional Humor

MUMBAI-Actor Manoj Bajpayee has reacted to the ongoing debate over humor involving immigrants and people’s roots on comedian Samay Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’, saying people should be able to laugh at themselves and each other while maintaining respect.

Asked about an incident on Raina’s show in which the comedian and Sharon Verma engaged in light-hearted banter while joking about each other’s roots, Bajpayee said he did not mind such humor when it was genuinely in jest.

“If it is all in jest, I actually don’t mind it. We should learn to laugh at ourselves and laugh together, laugh at each other and still not be hurt and offended. So, this is what we should learn. We should have humor about ourselves but at the same time we should have respect, not only for ourselves but also for the person that you are sitting with and where that person comes from. It’s very very important. If two people are very easy with each other, they always laugh at each other.”

The actor then recalled an incident from his early days in New Delhi, when a bus driver spoke to him harshly after he tried to board a bus through the front door.

He said, “When I was in Delhi, I was 18, and I was trying to get into a bus from the front door because this was my first time. So, I didn’t know the rules of the city. So, the driver looked at me, and shouted, ‘Aye Bihari board from the back gate’. So, he didn’t know that I was from Bihar but actually I’m from Bihar. So, for him, every person who was doing that kind of a foolish mistake was from Bihar. I didn’t mind it because first, he was right that I was from Bihar. Second, I was not wrong because I was new to the city and I was completely unfamiliar. But when I made friends with people from different states, we used to laugh at each other.”

“We never got offended or hurt. But yes, there is a problem if somebody coming from somewhere becomes a problem for you or becomes a problem for the community. Then there is a problem. Till then it’s, we should be able to laugh at each other, laugh at ourselves. That’s a sign of a very healthy society,” he added. (IANS)