People are fond of asking Syama Harini if her stand-up comedy is about “women’s issues”, she recently shared on Amazon Prime’s Comicstaan Semma Comedy Pa. To that question, her answer is that her comedy is about her own problems, and that she does stand-up not because there aren’t enough women participating but because there are so many men.
Syama, 25, is a sort of everywoman for urban millennials, with her musings on periods, dating, body image, and the like. What sets her apart is that she chooses to speak, resolutely, in Tamil, thus directly addressing an audience that hasn’t been exposed to a woman entertainer quite like her. And people are taking notice: her first stand-up solo special, Vada Poche (‘Oh, Man’), released as a Zoom show in September and has been sold out three times in a row.
What does she feel about being the first woman to have her own hour-long show in Tamil? “It’s a dream come true,” she told HuffPost India via a video call, her expressive face breaking into a grin. “I never imagined I’d end up becoming a comic.” Yet, she brushed aside the suggestion that she is something of a pioneer in Tamil comedy. “This fuss about my show feels like too much sometimes. There have been so many female comedians before me,” she said.
She is partly right.
While there are women giving their irreverent takes on everyday issues in the Hindi and English-language comedy circuits in India, the space had been largely unoccupied in the Tamil stand-up scene until Syama came along. One of her most popular sets, she told HuffPost India, entails her brandishing a whiskey bottle in one hand and a pack of sanitary pads in the other, and then holding forth about which one onlookers find more shocking. In relatively conservative Chennai, it seems like path-breaking material.
But, it is also true that women have always been a part of comedic entertainment in Tamil Nadu — right from drama troupes and ‘pattimandram’ (a form of debate, often with a strong satirical flavour) to black-and-white films from the first half of the last century. While their representation has always been minuscule, some women comedians have made a lasting mark.
The laughing ladies of Tamil cinema
The earliest women actors to make a mark in mainstream Tamil comedy were often presented as a package deal with their respective husbands. One of the earliest and most prominent examples is T.A. Mathuram, who acted from the 1930s through the ’50s in around 122 movies with her comedy-partner and husband, N.S. Krishnan. However, she was much more than a prop for him and played a variety of roles, including some that addressed social issues. Another actor making her mark in comedy during the same era (and beyond) was C.T. Rajakantham, who was also paired with her husband ‘Kali’ N Rathnam until he passed away in 1950. She too earned a name in her own right, last appearing on the TV screen in the late 1990s.
In the ’50s and ’60s, M. Saroja, T.P. Muthulakshmi, and Kumari Sachu were among the prominent women actors who got their big cinema breaks from comedy. In addition, some top heroines of that era, including the late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, made some comedy blockbusters.
But if one must name the comedy doyenne of Tamil cinema, it can be none other than Manorama, fondly known as ‘Aachi’.
“Manorama Aachi brought such power to her characters, even while being funny,” actor Devadarshini — acclaimed for her own comedic talents in the TV show Ramani Vs Ramani and movies such as Kanchana — told HuffPost India. “She is an inspiration to every Tamil actor, not just comedians.” There was a time when Manorama seemed ubiquitous, and she even entered the Guinness World Records for acting in more than 1,000 movies by 1985. Volume aside, her work earned her accolades for its quality and nuance, and Manorama won the Padma Shri Award in 2002 for her contribution to cinema.
Over the years, Tamil cinema has seen many women comedians of merit, including (but of course not limited to) Urvashi, Kalpana, and the inimitable Kovai Sarala. It’s a point that Syama Harini cannot emphasise enough. “There has never been a lack of female talent in comedy. Have you watched Soundarya and Rambha in the movie Kaathala Kaathala (1998)? Or Sneha and Simran in Pammal K Sambandam (2002)? Oh, and how about Laila in Pithamagan (2003)? They’re epic. The ‘women aren’t funny’ trope just isn’t true. All they need is the right chance and the right direction,” Syama said.
An evolving comedy landscape
According to Devadarshini, Tamil comedy has evolved over the past few decades. In the ’90s, comedy meant a small track in the movies where male comedians did their schtick, sometimes accompanied by either a funny or glamorous woman actor in a supporting role. In the last few years, said Devadarshini, things are improving on this front, with comedy being incorporated in storylines and new genres being pursued.
But she also pointed out that many directors and writers simply don’t etch out characters for women comedians, and that she has had to fight for meaningful lines. “It’s not enough to just cast an artist. You need to form a character, know what the character does, how funny the character is. Our job is to improvise on this and deliver. Take my role in ’96 (2018), for instance. I was briefed about my character for about three hours, and it showed in the way I emoted. The audience picked up on it and I landed the right laughs. There are women who deliver these days — all you have to do is write for them,” Devadarshini said.
And this is exactly what Syama wants to do — write. Since her popularity skyrocketed as the runner-up in Amazon Prime’s stand-up comedy reality show Comicstaan Semma Comedy Pa, people have been inquiring if she’s planning to make her debut in the film industry. Her response to that is clear: “I don’t want to act. I’d much rather write.”
It’s an endeavour that barely a handful of women — such as V. Priya of Kanda Naal Mudhal (2005) fame — have undertaken in Tamil Nadu’s comedy scene. This has meant that most jokes delivered by women in TV shows and movies have been written by men. Comedy in mainstream cinema often lacks depth and both Manorama and Kovai Sarala have spoken about the increase in the number of double entendres in their lines. Go-to punchlines are even today centred on body- or skin-colour-shaming. Just recently, comedian Vidyullekha Raman spoke of how she was discouraged from losing weight if she wanted to be cast in more films.
Syama is keen to change the status quo. “Just saying ‘hey, fatso’ isn’t comedy. It’s a fact,” she said. “You need to create a situation that leads to a punchline, not be the punchline.”
Setting the stage
There has been a steady (albeit slow) increase in women performing their own content in Tamil Nadu. Some, such as the Pori Urundai collective, have found their niche on YouTube. Then there is Arangathi Nisha, whose career took off with a comedy reality show (she also has a YouTube channel) and who became a household name after participating in Bigg Boss Tamil this year. On Zee Tamil, Comedy Khiladis is a reality show that aims to make the comedy landscape more diverse; as one of the judges, Devadarshini said she saw a couple of women slay with their solo acts.
Prior to these new platforms, too, women displayed their wit in debates known as pattimandram, which can be viewed as precursors to stand-up comedy. Pattimandram shows appeared in mainstream TV in the early ’90s, and dealt with topics ranging from caste issues to the effects of watching too many soap operas. ‘Humour’ debates are a subgenre of this form, where women such as Parveen Sultana and Bharathi Baskar distinguished themselves. Devadarshini recalled how noted stand-up comic Madurai Muthu made a concerted attempt to involve more women from the pattimandram circles in comedy. “Sunday Galatta was a comedy show where I worked with Madurai Muthu. Since he was active in the pattimandram circuit, he discovered a lot of talented women who worked their own content in smaller towns. He used to convince some of these girls’ conservative families to bring them on the show,” she recalled.
Breaking the mould
The appeal of Syama Harini isn’t just that she talks about periods or hints at sexual yearning — that’s something that woman comedians such as Sumukhi Suresh have been doing for a while now — but that she does it mostly in Tamil. There is catharsis in watching someone perform relatable content in your own regional language. But there can also be resistance from some sections of the audience, mostly men.
“Stand-up comedy is meant to echo the sentiments of the local people and in some fashion, tell their truth,” said Karthik Kumar, or KK, a stand-up comedian and the co-founder of Evam Stand-up Tamasha, which touts itself as South India’s largest “stand-up comedy movement”. According to him, women comedians must frequently contend with audiences that are not ready for them, and which thus come across as hostile. “A lot of times women tend to back off because the audience did not laugh. But we don’t know if they didn’t laugh because they didn’t find the joke funny or if they were just astounded that a woman was talking,” KK said.
Syama was aware of this reality, but was inspired to try her hand at stand-up after watching a few now-famous comics perform in Evam Stand-up Tamasha, where she was an intern.
“Just saying ‘hey, fatso’ isn’t comedy. It’s a fact. You need to create a situation that leads to a punchline, not be the punchline”
- Syama Harini
The turning point for her was attending a free stand-up comedy workshop for women that KK conducted in 2017. In the week-long workshop, which only five women attended, KK broke down the mechanics of the art form and even gave the participants an open mic night to test out their material. Out of these five women, only two, including Syama, are still performing.
“Karthik Kumar sir told us during that workshop that we were sitting on gold. We had potential jokes that were fresh for the audience. This applies to everybody. Imagine if your grandmother walked on stage and spoke about Tinder, or child marriage in her generation. Or if your mom did a set about how her kids turned out to be total losers, as opposed to kids complaining about their parents. We need varied perspectives,” Syama said.
Still, there is still some stigma attached to women performing on stage. Women are expected to occupy less space and draw little attention to themselves. Going up on the podium and baring personal truths defies these cultural expectations. “When a male comedian performs adult-rated content, the audience laughs, but when a woman does it the knee-jerk reaction is to cringe,” Devadarshini pointed out. Or as KK explained it — men are a convenient medium, because they don’t interfere with the message by virtue of their gender.
Another possible reason why women shy away from stand-up comedy is the logistics of performing. Most shows happen between 7pm and 10pm in pubs and cafes. The timing as well as the venues are widely regarded as ‘unsafe’ or ‘inappropriate’ for women.
So, how can more women be brought on board? “It’s our job to find them,” KK said. “As a veteran, I need to create that safe space and ecosystem for more women to come forward. What exactly that is, we will figure out soon.”
He is thinking of holding another workshop, this time on Zoom with Syama’s help. He hopes that Syama’s success and the far reach of an online session will bring in more people and create more opportunities. He also says comedians need to be more creative about their venues, and could consider ideas such as performing for condominium associations.
“The Tamil audience has evolved,” Devadarshini noted. “They are ready to laugh now. New genres such as horror-comedy, which was unheard of before, have a cult following now.”
Does this mean that people in Tamil Nadu are ready to hear women comedians perform their own material as well? What would work with the audience?
“It doesn’t matter,” Syama said, with her characteristic smile. “If you think you are the ‘comedy piece’ in your gang, come up on stage and give it a try. You don’t have to tackle deep, feminist content. You just have to be you. We (the Tamil stand-up community) will support you.”