Aditi Mittal doesn’t see her new Netflix stint as a sexist revenge in any way. She’s too busy pinching herself and giggling about getting this global platform, for her new stand-up act titled Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say from Aditi Mittal. The unabashedly bold comic tells us about the goosebumps she has and why her fingers are tightly crossed, in this exclusive chat.
I’m so pumped, I think I’m dying a little bit. This is stuff that I’ve been working on for a while, this is my best stuff. I’m really pumped that it gets to have a place like Netflix.Aditi Mittal, Stand-up Comic
While the ongoing debate around sexism in the Indian comedy scene, triggered by Amazon Prime commissioning 14 hours of stand-up content, only featuring the best men in the game, has been at its peak, many are seeing Aditi’s Netflix gig as a powerful comeback. But this lady is not competing. She’s excited for herself and simply wants to put forth her best.
Also Watch: This Video Shows There’s Sexism in the Comedy Industry
It’s not a my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours kinda thing at all. I’ve got an opportunity to do something and this is like a dream come true to be honest. A lot of thought has gone into the way Netflix is presenting it, the way they’re packaging it, they’ve been awesome about it.Aditi Mittal
So how did she land the sweet deal?
It is the season where everyone seems to be realising that stand-up comedy as a genre is on fire and catching popularity, so the conversation was on. Frankly, one of the biggest factors, when I thought to myself that I have to do this, is that Netflix is doing this globally. Like their Mexican stand-up stuff is just hilarious. So Netflix is catering to a global market, where it is sort of normalising your language to the world in comedy, which I think is so awesome, for me to be a part of something so much bigger.Aditi Mittal
Will her act be a game changer for women in comedy? She’s too humble to say. Aditi says she’ll be happy even if it fails.
You have to have ambition and talent to get there. I hope that it’ll change the game for comedy in India. But kya pataa, it might tank damn badly, who knows. But even if it tanks, it’ll go down as something that was at least attempted, so what if it was terrible?Aditi Mittal
I guess laughing at your failures is a virtue you can’t afford to lack in the world of comedy. Another thing that’s absolutely essential is perseverance. So what things hasn’t Aditi Mittal been allowed to say, that she’ll definitely bring up on her Netflix act?
It’s a stand up comic special, it’s 61 minutes. It’s called Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say from Aditi Mittal. It’s a distilled version of what I’ve been doing on stage all this while. It’s a massive labour of love for me, it’s like I’m giving birth to a baby. It’s the story of being a 30-year-old single Indian woman right now. Everything I’ve written comedy about and everything that has struck me as strange so far, it’s mostly my wonderings on that. Dr Mrs Lutchuke is very much a part of it, she reaches wherever I go.Aditi Mittal
But haters will be haters. Even before the show’s release, some assume that this is a desperate attempt by the digital giant to ride the current wannabe liberal feminist movement.
Cliches are bad, but not if you’re Aditi Mittal. She plans to spin things around on their heads and hopefully make you LOL about everything that makes you squirm.
All the cliches you know will be in it – ‘OMG what will this woman talk about, periods, babies? OMG is she going to like give birth on stage or something?’– every single thing that you can think of, is there. From penis enlargement creams and sanitary napkins, to of course, a guide to losing your virginity by Dr Mrs Lutchuke, I’ve covered it all.Aditi Mittal
But Aditi has a clear goal in mind – big, fat laughs. The show will debut on Netflix on 18 July, reaching over 100 million members across 190 countries globally. Now that’s a start!
I hope it makes them laugh, even if it is with some discomfort, f*ck it! It’s still a laugh.Aditi Mittal
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