Laugh-a-thon this May:Great Indian Laughter Challenge 3

Star One's newest tagline for The Great Indian Laughter Challenge-3 (TGILC-3) 'Seriously Funny' claims that original funny bones are going to be back in business. In the third season of this stand-up comic talent in India; humour will have a new face. It won't be filled with the usual cheeky, sleazy, sexist, below the belt or vulgar jokes but promises to floor viewers with humour that wasn't heard before! What made them arrive at this 'no-mindless-comedy- please' conclusion? We suppose it was the second season on Laughter Challenge that was not appreciated by viewers even though it was laden with personalities in galore. Many felt that the humour was quite under handed, offensive and not funny at all! Shekhar muses about the same, "Yes, and I am happy I wasn't present at all during that phase of the show. I am seriously averse to comedy that has no soul or conscience, and I don't take slapstick that well. Mindless laughter is no laughter at all." How does he plan to grill the contestants in this season? "We are only looking at original talent and not off-the-shelf humour; it has to be unheard and witty: good is our prime word. So the agenda is clear- no bedroom, back handed or toilet jokes!" This season Shekhar is going to have fun as 'his' kind of humour will be displayed on stage- witty political satire, so is the king of satire prepared for it? "Bring it on! I enjoy satire because it is a part of my responsibility towards the country: we have put our celebrities and politicians on a pedestal, we can pull them down! However it is important to keep it crisp, I am on a look for the contestants who can time their act well." Sunil Pal the winner of the 1st Laughter Challenge has another say to offer, "Comedy this season will be more difficult as we have exhausted all the jokes and their variations from the book and other known sources- this is going to be a real talent hunt for them! Original humour is most difficult to create and to maintain it through the rounds is a tricky task." Sunil is often used by the show and the channel to intervene and help in the promotional acts, what are the ways in which he is going to be associated with season three? "Well, I won't be present all the time but now and then we will be called on the show to either present a gig or increase the tempo." To garner TRPs TGILC-2 introduced an across the border segment of comedians, this season will continue to do the same in an attempt to bride the gap and "collectively laugh on the politicians of the two countries" says Hanif Raja, a contestant from Karachi. This season there are two women bringing in the laughing raid for us, kudos to equality! However, there are some points to be noted, Shekhar Suman who was missing in parts from the TGILC-2 is back with a bang and we forecast that he will over-shadow Navjyot Singh Sidhu despite his sidhuisms this season as the focus will be on sense of the joke and not sensational gab. What has also been noticed is that Star One has promoted TGILC better than any other show on the channel as TGILC is in its third season, isn't that partial? Ajay Vidyasagar, President Content and New Media, Star One says, "No ways, we were clear from day one that our shows will not go on endlessly; they will have a definite beginning and an end! TGILC has been given a time period, 36 episodes 18 weeks." Now for the masala, Sidhu wasn't present for the launch of the show, apparently he was sorting out some 'parliament stuff' in Chandigarh. A source maintained that the channel was really annoyed with him as the dates of promotion were finalised after his consent and availability and the women were not even given that liberty. hence one failed to see Sonali Nagrani of Popcorn fame who joins Parizaad Kolah this season.The ladies are travelling abroad on various shows that they host. In the bargain the channel missed out on three spokespersons, but their loss was compensated by Sunil Pal doing his standard Ratan Noora act and poking fun at the director of the show Pankaj Saraswat; Naveen Prabhakar and Bhagwant Mann kept the laughter rolling in. TGILC-3 promises to be different and we hope it is, as the show proves to a great platform for stand-up comedy to flower in India.