‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ lands in legal trouble over Tagore remarks

Mumbai: Popular comedy talk show ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’, hosted and produced by Kapil Sharma, landed in soup for allegedly dishonouring the legacy of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Dr. Parimal Kanti Mondal, President of Bongo Bhashi Mahasabha Foundation, represented by advocate Nripendra Krishna Roy, sent a legal notice to the producers of ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ for allegedly ridiculing Tagore’s popular song ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ on the show, thereby hurting cultural and religious sentiments.

“Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore was not only a poet but a playwright, singer, composer, novelist, and, last but not least, a freedom fighter. The whole world reveres and respects him,” he stated. “It is very unfortunate that such crude pranks and jokes are cracked on him from India itself. It is despicable beyond words. I will see to it that the persons involved are punished and jailed by law,” said Mondal.

Reportedly, comedian Krushna Abhishek had used Tagore’s song ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ to take a dig at Kajol, who was there to promote ‘Do Patti.’ The usage of the ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ song to ridicule Kajol didn’t go down well with the Bengali community, who look up to Tagore with great respect and admiration.

Indian poet-filmmaker Srijato Bandyopadhyay told TOI, “Perhaps due to Kajol’s Bengali roots, they chose a Tagore song to mock. It wasn’t a random choice; the script had to have been crafted a certain way. I won’t go into details about exactly what happened or how, but the way Krushna Abhishek mocked and made gestures about the song ‘Ekla Cholo Re’ went beyond the bounds of respect and decency, at least in my eyes.”

On the other hand, rumours suggested that Salman Khan’s production house SKTV has also received legal notice as it is associated with Kapil’s talk show.

However, Salman Khan’s team dismissed the rumours on Wednesday by stating that neither the actor nor his production house is associated with ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ streaming on the OTT platform Netflix.

“We have no association with The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix. Certain sections of the media are reporting that Salman Khan / SKTV have also received the notice, which is incorrect as we are not associated with The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix,” read the statement according to a report in HT.

‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ started streaming on Netflix on March 30, 2024. Season 1 of the comedy talk show ended on June 22, 2024, and Season 2 of the show started on September 21, 2024.

Meanwhile, Salman is currently busy shooting for his upcoming movie ‘Sikandar’ in Hyderabad amid tight security following the death threats by the Bishnoi gang.