Comedian drop Stages Names, To Be Now Known as Shugli-Jugli!

Ban Plea: SANTA-BANTA Exit

Comedian drop Stages Names, To Be Now Known as Shugli-Jugli

Santa-Banta have made way for Shugli-Jugli. You got it right, the plea seeking a ban on Sardar jokes online has claimed its first casualty in Punjab. Two Sikh comedians, who have been performing under the names of Santa and Banta for the last 18 years, have announced to drop their stage names and adapt new ones.

Jalandhar-based Gurpreet Singh and Prabhpreet Singh adopted the names Santa and Banta, respectively, in 1997 and rose to fame with their stage shows on social issues; their video productions especially famous among the urban population.

However, a recent plea seeking a ban on sardar jokes egged on them to give up their famous names and choose new ones. They will now be known as Shugli (Gurpreet) and Jugli (Prabhpreet). Together, they would be known as Shugli Jodi translated as the comic pair.

So, are they hurt? Not really, they say.

“For the last few years, we too have been feeling that jokes on sardars are intended more at ridiculing the community and showing it in a bad light; it is no more about healthy humour. We also felt that people might be thinking of us when they read or saw distasteful jokes online,” they said while announcing their decision here on Sunday.

And this wasn’t an unfounded doubt. “So many times have we received calls and messages from people asking us if we were churning the jokes,” they said.

“After the petition was filed in the Supreme Court, the issue precipitated for us also and we finally decided to drop these names,” said Parbhpreet. He said that some local Sikh organizations also advised them to take a call on the issue.

They said they always believed in healthy comedy. “We never failed to make people laugh and did so without having to resort to show the community in a bad light. Negative stereotyping of a community is not good and comedians must refrain from doing that,” the comedians said.

One step closer in bringing a Positive Change

~ Source: Times Of India, Chandigarh