Remember AIB? The YouTube based comedy group, famous for their innovative, though controversial roast, but notorious for their vicious anti Modi, anti India campaign, seems to be in deep trouble now. One of their active members, who goes by the name Utsav, has been accused by a Twitter user and aspiring stand up comedian Mahima Kukreja of sexually harassing her and sending lewd comments and gestures on social media.
AIB knew. I don’t know if all them knew but the person who runs it knew. I told him. AIB still gave him work. You should know this. https://t.co/X4OcM1pcTr
— Mahima K (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 4, 2018
It all started when Utsav commented on a random tweet by one Jaskirat Singh Bawa, mocking Indian men as perverts.
https://twitter.com/Wootsaw/status/1047661067596419072
It was here that Mahima Kukreja had had it enough and in a cryptic tweet, attacked him for his hypocrisy.
Saw this on my tl. Interesting for you to comment on how Indian men harass women
— Mahima K (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 4, 2018
She was backed by a prominent AIB member and a part of the controversial ‘AIB Knockout’ Aditi Mittal, who posted the following tweet:
For those who are unaware of which Utsav we are talking about, it is the AIB member and fellow comedian Utsav Chakraborty who is at the centre of the conversation. An integral feature of most of the AIB videos, Utsav is most known for his portrayal of India in the video* ‘The Day India Resigned’ a satire on the Independence Day, which made a not-so-subtle attack on the nationalists for going hammer and tongs on the seditionist students of JNU.
It was after Aditi allegedly backed her, or rather took a dig, that Mahima literally blew everyone apart. In the following series of tweets, she brutally exposed the pervert levels that Utsav would stoop when conversing with her:
I want everyone to know @Wootsaw is a piece of shit. He sent me a dick pic, was creepy, then cried saying I’ll ruin his career if I tell others. I told two of the most influential men in comedy in India. Nothing happened. Let me tell you what else he has done with others.
— Mahima K (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 4, 2018
I want you all to know that I told famous Feminist comic men when this happened thinking they’re my friends. NOTHING HAPPENED. in fact he worked with most of them afterwards too.
— Mahima K (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 4, 2018
Unlike the Tanushree Dutta case, where the actress has no credible proof to back up her allegations, Mahima has left nothing to chance. From message screenshots to posts, you name it, she posted it. Immediately after she posted this, Mumbai police, in a welcome move, took cognizance of this case and assured her all assistance.
We have followed you. Request you to inbox your number. We will look into this on priority.
— मुंबई पोलीस – Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) October 4, 2018
Novice filmmaker and film critic Sanil Gosavi, famous for his former sketches on ‘The Review Jockey’, vociferously backed Mahima, exposing Utsav further in his series of tweets:
https://twitter.com/SanilGosavi/status/1047852154470322176
https://twitter.com/SanilGosavi/status/1047838712518692864
https://twitter.com/SanilGosavi/status/1047862986298126336
Though this is bizarre and shocking, this is not entirely unexpected from AIB. If one of their co founders can post lecherous tweets supporting pedophilia, you can very well imagine the ideals their people subscribe to.
https://twitter.com/fizooliyat/status/1047814984305000448
One Twitter user even exposed their hypocrisy on this subject, when they posted a meme calling Bollywood to talk about sexual harassment, even as their own members coolly indulged in the making the lives of women a living hell:
Had called out @AllIndiaBakchod 5 days back for the same shit, the suddenly go mum when it comes to their "Industry". And they have used services of @Wootsaw , must have seen his creepiness firsthand. pic.twitter.com/ZP1DI9dxB1
— Nilesh Kumar (@tweet2nilesh) October 4, 2018
There is an old saying, ‘Practise what you preach’. Unfortunately, it seems that AIB cares two hoots about this saying. They wouldn’t waste a moment in demonizing the members of the incumbent Central Government, even posting insulting pics of the same, like they did with Yogi Adityanath and Narendra Modi.
However, when their own dirty secrets come out in the open, they act too little and rather too late, as did by another prominent AIB member, Ashish Shakya.
https://twitter.com/stupidusmaximus/status/1047804919615565827
Will AIB do another video on this issue in the same way as they covered issues like ‘net neutrality’ and ‘demonetization’? Only future can tell.
*Note:- Since all videos related with Utsav have been deleted, here is a behind the scenes link for the same. Just for verification sake. Otherwise, there is Jaby Koay reaction video as well.