Looking at Political and Feminist Resistance Through Frames of Space-Time in Indian Stand-Up Comedies

This chapter examines Indian stand-up comedy with a focus on political humour and how it serves as a form of resistance. The rise of political comedy in India has been driven by a growing desire for social and political change, with comedians using satire and parody as rhetorical tools to challenge authority and hold politicians accountable. Another particularly noteworthy aspect of this trend is the increasing representation of women in Indian stand-up comedy, as female comedians are using this platform to engage in a complex interplay of self-deprecation and celebration of their bodies to enact subversion. Quite interestingly, both men and women are contesting for women’s rights, verbalizing the abject reality of gender politics, sometimes woven within larger cultural or national political scenarios. Through Bakhtin’s notion of chronotope, we have attempted to analyse 50 Indian stand-up comedy performances by both male and female artists. The objective is to understand how time and space within a chronotopic analysis are marked by temporal and spatial elements as tools for political and gender-based resistance. The chapter argues that the notion of chronotope is a crucial site for the production and negotiation of contextual meaning, as it offers a unique perspective on the ways in which comedy can function as a means of social critique and political commentary. This chapter further proposes the notion of ‘hybridization of space-space’ configuration within the same comic moment, examining how these comedians are using humour to challenge societal norms and push for change.