Kiku Sharda responds to plagiarism charges on The Kapil Sharma Show

By Subhash K. Jha -

April 26, 2017 - 9:28 AM IST

On Monday when comedian Abijit Ganguly came forward to accuse the team of the Kapil Sharma Show of stealing one of his jokes, it was Kapil’s team-member Kiku Sharda who had to take the brunt of the barbs as he was the one told the joke on the show.

Kiku Sharda responds to plagiarism charges on The Kapil Sharma Show

But Kiku is quick to defend himself and his team. He protests, “Every stand-up comedian who has worked on television knows that the jokes said by an actor on stage are not his. On the Kapil Sharma Show we have a team of 7-8 writers. We all sit together mulling over ideas, throwing jokes at one another, while one person collects and stores all our ideas on a laptop. It was during one such jamming session that someone came up with a joke about how all fast bowlers are younger siblings because their elder brothers never allow them to bat. I loved the joke and we decided to use it on the show. How was I to know that someone had cracked that joke already?”

Kiku pertinently points out that there are only that many topics on which jokes can be told. “Our humour doesn’t originate in outer space. It has to do with everyday life and situations. Sibling overshadowing is a common sociological phenomenon. Every household has siblings who have differences. A gag about bowlers spun from the theme of sibling rivalry is not such a unique occurrence.”

Having said that, Kiku says he completely understands Abijit’s dismay. “He had told that joke. He felt it was his humour being used on our show. I understand where he comes from. But there is no reason why we would steal his joke when we have so much of a think tank to fall back on. Like I said there are certain happenings and behaviour patterns in our society that are universal. If you run into them in more places than one it doesn’t mean someone has stolen your idea.”

Kiku is honest enough to admit the TRPs in recent episodes of Kapil Sharma Show have dipped. “But the reason is not the absence of some of my colleagues. Every year during the IPL season the TRPs of our show falls. Even big films are not released during the IPL. So we’re not getting big stars to come to our show to promote their films.”

Kiku admits he missed his colleagues Sunil Grover, Chandan Prabhakar and Ali Asgar when the Kapil Sharma Show turned a 100 episodes old. “I do miss them. I wish they had not left. But it is their decision and we must respect that. As far as I am concerned, I discovered an entirely new level of success through my association on Kapil’s show.”

Kiku is happy to see stand-up comedians coming into their own. “Finally the much-neglected ilk has found its groove. It’s good to see stand-up comedians being appreciated. Live performances are not my favourite place to be funny though I was in Dubai and Nagpur recently performing live on stage and enjoying it. I prefer doing my comedy on television.”