If you have been living under a rock, here’s a brief sequence of events. A video from leaks out ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’, showing Akshay Kumar telling co-judge Mallika Dua, “Mallika ji, aap ghanti bajao main apko bajata hoon.” Her father, Vinod Dua lashes out at the actor on social media saying, “I am going to s***w this cretin Akshay Kumar… This is his sense of humor and language. Star Plus, wake up.” Then Akshay’s doting wife Twinkle Khanna came out in support of her husband, stating that the show had a bell which the judges rang after a contestant’s exceptional performance and that it was when Mallika went forward to ring the bell, that Akshay made this statement.

“A pun on the words and actions related to ringing the bell,” she explained, “It's a colloquial phrase that both men and women use - for instance, 'I am going to bajao him/her' or 'I got bajaoed', all without sexist connotations…Words, especially humour has to be seen in its right context,” she added. She had further shared a couple of “lame jokes” which only served to add fuel to the fire. And the reactions have been so strong, Twinkle has now had to come up with a clarification, wherein she appears to be apologising to Mallika. Here’s how Ms. Funnybones put it, sounding surprisingly sombre…

Unwise Wisecracks

“As I reflect on my actions this past week, I realize that I got pulled into this debate not as a social commentator but as a wife and unlike my normal, slightly rational self, my reaction was purely emotional and without perspective, and I have been rather miserable about it ever since. I would like to apologize to everyone who felt that I was trivializing the cause of feminism especially because I strongly believe in equality and have been a feminist from the time I was a young woman, much before I even knew the term. I think this came at a point where I was already reeling from an onslaught of abuse against various members of my family, which started with vicious and personal comments about my mother and went on to a widely shared open letter where the writer as a comeback for my comments about Karva Chauth tried to fling muck at every single member of my family. So when in this latest episode regarding my husband, my five-year-old was also dragged in for something that she had absolutely nothing to do with, I reached breaking point. And with my protective instincts in overdrive, I reacted irrationally with the only tools I have that help me retain my sanity in this fishbowl existence - words and lame jokes - though they have got me into trouble often enough in the past as well.

Once while embroiled in an earlier controversy (the story of my life it seems), I had written that a wise woman keeps her hands firmly in her pockets and does not accidentally unzip anything including her mouth. I am not this woman clearly, but I am going to try to be a little wiser from now on.”