Popular comedian Munawar Faruqui has publicly rejected the death threat that has been presented on his life by the notorious Goldy Brar syndicate in an act of defiance that has sparked social media buzz and taken the national headlines. Faruqui came in, unannounced, to a small, underground comedy club in Mumbai last night, a place he had specifically gone, he said later, to demonstrate that his stage was his refuge, fear had nothing to do with him. His first joke, at the logistical incompetence of transnational crime bosses, was an instant mood-setter of audacious non-cooperation.
According to sources of the comedian, the recent attempted assassination attempt, which was planned by a foreign-based, Goldy Brar as a revenge against Faruqui over his unbending comedic themes, had severely rattled the inner circle of the comedian, but not him. Rather than hiding behind the safety of his well-guarded home Faruqui allegedly demanded that not only be able to continue with his performance schedule but also to actively seek out more personalized and open scenarios. This calculated display of disobedience is, as all insiders tend to believe, a striking refutation to the history of fear and intimidation that these criminal elements endeavor to place about authority figures. The move by him to keep at his job is being celebrated by the proponents of free speech in the country as a milestone to the artistic freedom in the nation.
In one of the unplanned early-morning late-night press scrums outside the venue, Faruqui responded directly to the threat and his voice remained steady and the eyes bright under the glare of the camera lights. My duty is to the audience, I have no other contract, I said, and waved his trademark baseball cap. And that agreement is to make them laugh. A joke is a dialogue not a note of surrender. These so called gangsters must have misinterpreted the entire show had they thought that a comedy club was an easy target. We are not afraid of a bullet, it is the notion that we can outsource our voices and be silent. He further encouraged his fellow artists not to have the gloom of threats determine their art and portrayed the performance process as a silent, revolutionary act upon the shadow. His words became viral, and his new image was a symbol of art in protest.
The crew of the comedian now engages law enforcement in an attempt to improve security, but the message has been delivered without a doubt: the stage will not be a victim of fear. His last, improvised sentence of the night, Try to cancel the show, but you can never cancel the laughter has become the slogan of his audience of millions of fans. This is the first such confrontation that is being observed by the entire entertainment business with the understanding that what Faruqui is doing is creating a forceful and unfazed precedent over the freedom of creativity against the growing threat of organised crime that could compromise artists to achieve political or personal interests.
