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Aditi Mittal

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Aditi Mittal
NationalityIndian
OccupationStand-up Comedian
Years active2009 –present

Aditi Mittal is an Indian stand-up comedian, actress and writer.[1][2] One of the first women to do stand-up comedy in India, Mittal has been rated amongst India's top 10 stand-up comedians by The Times of India.[3] CNNIBN.com named her as one of the top 30 "witty, intelligent and incredibly fun" Indian women to follow on Twitter.[4] Mittal has written columns and articles in Grazia Men magazine, DNA, Firstpost and Financial Times (UK, Weekend Edition).[5][6][7][8]

Career

Mittal is one of the better-known faces of the Indian English stand-up comedy scene in North and West India.[9] In 2009, she was one of the first 5 Indians to be featured in an Indians-only stand-up show called Local Heroes, organized by the U.K based “The Comedy Store.” [10] Today, she is a regular at Canvas Laugh Factory, Comedy Store Mumbai and has performed at venues and humor festivals across the country, clubs in UK and at Laugh Factory, Los Angeles.[11][12]

In 2013, Mittal was invited by the BBC for the prestigious 100 Women Conference in London.[13] She first performed her solo show ‘Things they wouldn’t let me say’ in July 2013 at the Canvas Laugh Factory, Mumbai.[14] The tour features an appearance by sex therapist Dr. Mrs. Lutchuke and the “thinking” Bollywood starlet Dolly Khurana.[15]

Along with American and South African comics, Mittal has been featured in the American documentary Stand-Up Planet, which depicts a stand-up comic's quest to find some of the best humor from corners of the developing world.[16][17][18] She has appeared on CNN-IBN's Phenking News with Cyrus Broacha, and is a staple on the political satire show Jay Hind.[19][20] She was one of the founding members of the Ghanta Awards and the Filmfail Awards, two of the biggest parody award shows in India.[21][22] She has featured in Ripping the Decade with Vir Das, Fools Gold Awards on Comedy Central India, and Bollywood OMG on Channel V.[23][24][25]

Mittal was featured on BBC World and BBC America among “India’s trailblazers”, and appeared on BBC Asia with RJ Nihal.[26][27] Her material has been described as “acerbic and cutting edge”.[28][29][30] Her jokes cover everything from Osama bin Laden to sanitary napkins, toddlers to Miss India winners.[31][32][33] She says, “My brand of humor is personal. It’s observational.”[34] She developed the character of Dr. (Mrs.) Lutchuke because she did not like the way sex was portrayed by the media.[35] Mittal has spoken at India's 1st Sex Exposition by India Today, WIFT India (Women in Film and Television), Indian School of business, Hyderabad and comedy festivals across the country.

She speaks fluent English and Hindi and has comprehension in French and Spanish.

Mittal believes that humor is the best fix for gravitas. A fan of Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig, she stepped into the stand-up comedy scene after quitting her job in New York and moving to India. Allured by the burgeoning interest in it, she trained herself, subsequently moving on to live performances.[citation needed]

In the end of 2013 and in October of 2014, she was included in the BBC's 100 women.[36][37] In December 2014, Mittal featured as a part of the Roast panel on the AIB (All India Bakchod) Knockout. In February, she appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show.[38]

Mittal's YouTube series Bad Girls showcases women activists. The first episode, released in February 2017, focused on Nidhi Goyal.[39]

Controversy

In 2018, she was accused of sexual harassment by comedian Kaneez Surka. Surka revealed that Mittal forcefully kissed her on the mouth. Mittal turned hostile when Surka brought the issue up and later refused to admit she had done anything, leading to Surka publicly posting what had happened on Twitter.[40] In October 2018, Mittal "said she gave the improv artiste, who was hosting an open mic, a peck on the lips 'as a joke as a part of the act'. and "apologised later to Surka when she realised the discomfort she had caused."[41]

References

  1. ^ "The Joke's on you" Archived March 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Mint, Mumbai, 29 September 2013.
  2. ^ "Little Miss Sunshine" Archived 2016-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, India Today
  3. ^ "Comic Relief", The Times of India, Mumbai, 11 September 2011.
  4. ^ “Women’s Day: 30 witty, intelligent and incredibly fun Indian women to follow on Twitter”, “CNN IBN”
  5. ^ “Carpe the Hell Out of every Diem”, DNA, Mumbai, 20 May 2013.
  6. ^ "The Curious Case of Armaan Kohli", "Firstpost", 17 December 2013.
  7. ^ “In all Fairness”, Financial Times, UK, 16 November 2012.
  8. ^ “Can Women be Funny” Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine, Grazia, 19 January 2013.
  9. ^ “Getting candid with the phunny girl”, “Mid-Day”, Mumbai, 12 July 2012.
  10. ^ “Local Heroes” Archived 2014-01-26 at archive.today, “Zomato.com”, Mumbai, 20 June.
  11. ^ “What makes India’s Women comedian tick”, “Mint”, Mumbai, 6 July 2013.
  12. ^ “From the Directors notebook”, “Stand Up Planet”, USA.
  13. ^ “100 Women: Who took part”, “Bbc.com”, London, 22 November 2013.
  14. ^ “Aditi walks into a bar” Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, “NH7.com”, Mumbai, 24 July 2013.
  15. ^ “Things they wouldn’t let me say”, “Bookmyshow.com”.
  16. ^ “Comics”, “Stand Up Planet”.
  17. ^ "Aditi Mittal in Stand Up Planet". npr. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Aditi Mittal in Stand-up Planet". Eventseeker. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  19. ^ “Telegraph”, “Just for laughs”, Calcutta, 19 June 2011.
  20. ^ “A funny weekend treat for city residents”, “The Times of India”, Coimbatore, 27 October 2012.
  21. ^ “The 2nd annual ghanta awards list of winners”, “IBNlive.in”, 20 March 2012.
  22. ^ “The Filmfail Awards” Archived February 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Time Out, Mumbai, 22 March 2012.
  23. ^ “R.I.P.ping the Decade”, “Indiantelevision.com”, 27 December 2010.
  24. ^ “Now, an awards for fools!”, “The Times of India, 31 March 2012.
  25. ^ “No laughing matter”, “Mid-Day”, Mumbai, 6 May 2012.
  26. ^ “India’s Trailblazers: The Female stand-up comic”, “BBC.com”, London, 30 May 2013.
  27. ^ “Female stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal”, “BBC.com”, London, 18 June 2013.
  28. ^ "Little Miss Sunshine" Archived 2016-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, "India Today".
  29. ^ “What makes India’s Women comedian tick”, “Mint”, Mumbai, 6 July 2013.
  30. ^ “TOI rates Aditi Mittal for Laughs” Archived February 2, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, “Actfaqs.com”, 10 June 2013.
  31. ^ “What makes India’s Women comedian tick”, “Mint”, Mumbai, 6 July 2013.
  32. ^ “Want a laugh? Just let her loose!”, “Telegraph”, Calcutta, 3 September 20.
  33. ^ “Laugh Out Loud”, “India Today”, 7 July 2011.
  34. ^ “Laugh Out Loud”, “India Today”, 7 July 2011.
  35. ^ “Get Up Stand Up”, “Open Magazine”, 28 May 2011.
  36. ^ "100 Women: Who took part?". BBC News. 20 October 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  37. ^ "Who are the 100 Women 2014?". BBC News. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  38. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - the Now Show, Series 45, Episode 5".
  39. ^ Sharma, Deeksha (17 February 2017). "Visually-Impaired Comedian Nidhi Goyal Slays It On 'Bad Girls'". The Quint. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  40. ^ "Kaneez Surka accuses comedian Aditi Mittal of sexual harassment". 10 October 2018.
  41. ^ "#MeToo: Comedian Aditi Mittal apologises to Kaneez Surka, says her intentions were not 'sexual in nature'". The Economic Times. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
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