Trevor Noah’s sketch on demonetisation and national anthem might offend a few Indians

The sketch in 'The Daily Show' hosted by Trevor Noah while commented on the issue of demonetisation and national anthem, his was a voice not of critique but rather hilarity.

Updated: December 3, 2016 7:55 PM IST

By Uddipta Das

Trevor Noah's sketch on demonetisation and national anthem might offend a few Indians

New Delhi, Dec 3: Host of the talk show ‘The Daily Show’,  Trevor Noah in one of his sketch on December 1 talked about India’s demonetisation drive and the Supreme Court order according to which the national anthem should be played before screening of any movie in Indian movie theaters. Noah, who is also a comedian and radio host, in his sketch made the audience laugh with his hilarious references with almost correct information. But it might not go well with many Indians. Let us see why:

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Get More: The Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,The Daily Show Video Archive

1.The wrong Indian map

As pointed out in an article in The Financial Express, the map used to denote India in the show excluded parts of Kashmir, which we generally include in our own maps. While this reflect upon how Pakistan occupied Kashmir is accepted by the U.S, this point will surely irritate at least some sections of Indians.

2. Factual error regarding the demonetisation drive

Noah begins his sketch by saying that all money needs to be exchanged, which is not wholly true. While the CNN report which is used clearly say that notes of denomination 500 and 1000 are to be exchanged, Trevor goes on to say that all 100s and 500s need to be exchanged.

3. The national anthem

Let us just say the moment Noah said the word ‘national’, he was diving into a sea of sharks, or whatever is the popular expression. While what he said in the sketch is nothing new and already many Indians have used similar expressions to question the validity of the Supreme Court order. For example, he says he wants to see how far this national anthem thing goes and says in the future it might play before people check out of the grocery store and may be even in calling emergency services, one might have to hear it. Well, not that nobody has made fun of the order before but well it is sure going to irritate a lot of the Indian people. At the end of the sketch he also sings ‘Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak’ while dancing on his seat and stops in between, which might again offend people.

Given that his sketch can be reviewed if not wholly offensive but also not error-free, but as it has always been discussed, do we Indians need to take things a bit lightly? Especially when it comes to making fun of ourselves, may be we are extraordinarily uptight. Because in the sketch, when we use our fault-finding microscope, we forget to see how the comedian is not a biased voice. Rather his jokes are meant to upset a few butts (of joke). In the sketch, he also says a couple of  things that could hurt the Americans.

1.Hillary Clinton Inauguration tickets

Noah compared the banned notes to Hillary Clinton’s inauguration tickets. The reference is bound to hurt followers of Hillary Clinton who did not succeed in her Presidential run.

2. The U.S national anthem

The comedian while hilariously commented on the Indian Supreme Court order, he also made fun of the trend in the United States of commercialisation of the national anthem.

These two points are by no means an attempt by the author to justify for the previous three points, as a matter of fact the author feels there is no justification required for the above three points. Noah indeed praised the Indian Supreme Court order in one instance when he mentioned that the court ordered that there shall be no commercial exploitation of the national anthem is actually a necessary one in the United States as the American national anthem is indeed commercially exploited.

Trevor Noah is a comedian, and his sketches are meant to provide comic relief. Most importantly, he neither agreed nor protested against the demonetisation move, and why would he do that and the Supreme Court order. Instead he created a script around it. Yes, the fact checking staffs were not thorough and hence they got a few facts wrong. But we must not take this to our graves and just sit back and enjoy the show.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed are the views of the author and some person/s might find this article offensive as well)

Also Read:

For breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest India News on India.com.

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts Cookies Policy.