Biswa Kalyan Rath’s full sentence is “All humour is inherently political. All humour is about power and the correct usage of it.” The headline shortens it. In his 2017 interview with Scroll, Rath was not arguing that comedians should stay away from politics. He was arguing that every joke involves power, so the real question is how a comedian uses it.
What the full statement claims
Rath made the remark in a conversation with Devarsi Ghosh, published by Scroll on October 13, 2017. He was describing his own view of humour and its political impact, not offering a formal definition. In his framing, humour always takes a position on who holds power, who is laughed at, and who is protected. A comedian can use that position carelessly or deliberately, and Rath’s point is that the choice matters.
Two kinds of political humour
Rath separates topical political comedy, which responds to current affairs, from humour that is political in a wider sense. He is blunt about the first kind when it stops at naming an actor. In his words, “To say that this minister has done this is a very superficial political joke.” The joke identifies who did something but leaves the audience with nothing further to think about.
The alternative he describes is a personal story that shows the conditions behind a problem. The audience then notices the structure around the individual, not only the individual. The table below sets out his distinction. It is his own framework, not a settled taxonomy used by critics or scholars.
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| Feature | Topical political joke (Rath’s term: “superficial”) | Personal narrative (Rath’s preferred approach) |
|---|---|---|
| Main target | A named minister, politician or current event | The conditions and power relationships that produce a problem |
| What the audience learns | That a specific person did something | What the actual problems are, beyond the person causing them |
| Shelf life | Tied to the news cycle | Not stated in the interview |
| Rath’s example | “This minister has done this” | A child without proper sports equipment |
The basketball example
To illustrate the second approach, Rath recalled a childhood inter-school basketball competition. Students from small-town state boards faced students from the Central Board of Secondary Education, and the state-board students lacked proper facilities. He says a story built around a child without proper sports equipment can make an audience aware of the broader inequality, not just a villain. The example is a personal memory he shared in 2017, not a documented study of the schools involved.
Rath’s theory of influence
Rath also suggested that changing one person may affect a society’s values. He presented this as his own theory rather than an established finding about comedy, and he said he wished he could put even 10% of it into his work. Treat that figure as an aspiration he stated in 2017, not a measure of what his shows achieve.
Rank #2
From personal experience to a screen character
Rath has said that a good story mattered more to him than an autobiographical show. The first draft of Laakhon Mein Ek drew on his own experience of getting into IIT. Stories from friends were added in later drafts. The lead character, Aakash, could be placed in different circumstances and go through larger changes, as long as the experiences he carries still felt true to what Rath recognised. Rath has said he did not try to recreate his life on screen.
The contrast between the two is the clearest way to see that gap. The figures below come from the 2017 sources and describe different things, so they should not be read as a comparison of ability.
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Rank #3
- Used Book in Good Condition
| Detail | Biswa Kalyan Rath (real life, per 2017 Scroll interview) | Aakash Gupta (fictional, per 2017 India Today coverage) |
|---|---|---|
| Tenth-standard board score | 90% | 55% |
| Path into higher education | Studied at IIT Kharagpur; described a more favourable experience | Enrolled in an IIT entrance coaching institute |
| Played by | Not applicable | Ritvik Sahore |
Rath’s path to the series
According to the 2017 Scroll profile, Rath moved from IIT Kharagpur into advertising and graphic design before becoming involved in open-mic events in Bengaluru. There he met Kanan Gill in 2013. His stand-up tours were Biswa in Your Face (2015) and Biswa Mast Aadmi (2017), and the latter was released as a stand-up special on Amazon Prime Video. These are details as reported at the time, not updated biography.
Season two: a different profession, the same method
An Indian Express interview by Sana Farzeen, published April 19, 2019, describes season two as an eight-episode story about a young doctor, Dr. Shreya Pathare, who is asked to run a cataract surgery camp in a small village. Rath said the team moved away from an engineering-training story toward a medical student’s first job. That change required research, because medicine lay outside his own experience.
Rank #4
- Used Book in Good Condition
Rath gave the season’s theme as “It’s about ordinary people fighting extraordinarily.” He credited writer Abhishek Sengupta with substantial contributions and pointed to Sengupta’s father, a doctor, as an inspiration. The approach is the same one Rath describes in the 2017 interview: a personal, character-led story that shows the conditions around its protagonist.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where the series streams
India Today’s coverage, published in November 2017, describes Laakhon Mein Ek as an Amazon Prime original that asks difficult questions. The 2017 and 2019 sources name Amazon Prime Video as the platform at those times. They do not establish current streaming rights, availability by country or subscription terms, so check the platform directly before watching.
The quotations and dates here are drawn from three interviews and articles: the Scroll interview by Devarsi Ghosh (October 13, 2017), the India Today piece by Suhani Singh (November 2017), and the Indian Express interview by Sana Farzeen (April 19, 2019). Audio of the original conversations was not reviewed; the wording follows the published reports.
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