Comic episodes of girl power

With subtle humour, roasts, sarcasm, puns and punches as their trademarks, Niveditha Prakasam (28) and Saadiya Ali (25) are stealing the limelight on the all-women comedy show, Queens of Comedy. The Chennai-based duo got to know each other after they entered the industry, but are now buddies, who empower each other. In a chat, the young talents reveal more about their love for the industry and their journey.

Raised in equally conservative families, Niveditha and Saadiya had always tickled the funny bones of their relatives and friends while growing up. While Niveditha (an engineer) has a full-time day job as a language editor, Saadiya is an actor with the theatre group Evam. Though it didn’t take fights to convince their families to enter this industry, the ladies did wait for a long time.

Revealing more about her beginnings, Saadiya shares, “I started breaking stereotypes ten years ago! I couldn’t do a regular day job. I loved acting and comedy right from my childhood. Although mine was a strict Muslim family, my parents slowly understood my love for the stage and now they fully support me — in fact, these days they take more interest in the advancement of my career!”
Niveditha and Saadiya have almost similar stories of entering Queens of Comedy. Having been informed by friends on social media about a call-out for female comedians, both of them made videos for the selection process and made it to the top eight, as two girls from Chennai.

Talking about their journey in the show, Niveditha says, “I am quite a lazy person. I never was strict about rules and I used to slack a lot before QOC, doing one open mic show in a year. The show taught me to be disciplined. The people on the sets, be it the producers, directors, judges or the host, or the other contestants, everyone had a valuable message to share. Also I never used to write down jokes before — now, after my experience on the show, I learnt to write them down and practice well and take the audience seriously!”

Adding to Niveditha’s thoughts, Saadiya drew the same parallel. She shares, “In comedy, you don’t have a boss — you are your boss. You need to make sure that you please your audience. Like every other art, along with creativity, there is also discipline that one needs to follow and we learnt the same in comedy at QOC.”

With their experience on the show, along with a few open mics and stand-up shows, both Niveditha and Saadiya feel that the industry treats women really well.

“I worked in an automotive industry for a few years, where I could visibly notice that many men were uncomfortable that a woman was working on the same job as they were — they were uncomfortable. But in the comedy industry, all that matters is your jokes. Men don’t see you in a way that you’ll destroy their career! Everyone is warm, welcoming and supportive. The female comedy scene is really good and is in a growing phase,” share the QOC favourites.

They add, “Now the barrier that ‘women can’t make comedy’ is being broken by many talents like Aditi Mittal, Radhika Vaz, Mallika Dua and more. They make jokes from everyday situations and it’s hilarious.” When asked who their favourite comedians were, Niveditha replies, “We can’t pick one! We even laugh incessantly at our fellow contestants’ jokes. We love a random stand-up comedian from a Mumbai open mic, whom no one knows about. Everyone is unique in their own way. I’ve laughed a lot at unrecognised comedians’ jokes than any other.”

In response to the negative comments and trolls received for the religion-based jokes that she made on the show, Saadiya responds, “I got comments like ‘you’re a terrible Muslim’ and ‘you’ll rot in hell’. But for every bad and illogical comment I received from staunch Muslims, I received ten positive and encouraging comments from Muslims again, telling me that they could relate so much with each joke and that they enjoyed it. So I am not going to give a thought about the negative comments.”

While Saadiya looks forward to making film and TV entries, Niveditha feels that she wants to explore her audience more as a stand-up comedian in Chennai, before trying out something new. They also encourage young female comedians who are skeptical about showing their talents. They conclude with a message, “You need to stop worrying about what men would say about your jokes. You have to motivate yourself and come out with the help of social media... the best tool!”