Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza's stale racist jokes leave Tannishtha Chatterjee fuming

If you've ever been unfortunate enough to catch segments of Comedy Nights Bachao and now its equally stale 'upgrade', Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza, this news shouldn't come as a surprise to you.

Parched actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, who was scheduled to appear on Color's non-funny standup comedy show quit mid-shooting as the only thing the 'comedians' found worth roasting about her, was her skin tone.

In a country of predominantly brown people struggling with its OCD-like white skin-obsession, this is both sad and regressive.

In a now viral Facebook post, Tannishtha says: It began with "aap ko jamun bahut pasand hoga zaroor... kitna jamun khaya aapne bachpan se?" And went on in that direction... the only thing they could roast about a dark-skinned actress was of course her dark skin. They could identify me only with that. I could not believe I was sitting in a nationally televised comedy show in 2016 in Mumbai amid such regressive( I can't call it humor), and blatantly racist content."

Talking about what the production team's response to complaint was, Tannishtha wrote:

"When I told the organisers what I felt, they said, "But we told you it is a roast!"

I explained to them the common perception of roast and how it is different from bully. That there is no humor value in a joke about some ones physical attributes especially one that stems from deep prejudices. I don't think they got it."

This is not the first time this show has offended a visiting celebrity. While promoting Housefull 3 with his co-stars, Akshay Kumar reportedly lashed out at comedian Siddharth Jadhav for calling the dusky Lisa Haydon, a 'Black African' and 'kangaroo' since she hails from Australia.

So the show's a repeat offender, so to speak. Typically, roasts take on a person's professional achievements or the lack of them, personal incidents and at times physical attributes. But the topics discussed are discussed with the roastee. What is allowed and what is off limits is always adhered to. Flaws are discussed, jokes are cracked and everyone laughs.

So why did Colors or the comedians in question not check with her? And why on earth was her skin tone considered a flaw worth picking on? In a country where darker skin tones are ostracised, where dusky women are considered doomed in the marriage market, where jobs tend to bend in the favour of a fairer person, where it's becoming increasingly difficult to buy a cosmetic that doesn't threaten to lighten your skin based on a grade palette - why was this allowed?

Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza may be accused of many things, but humour isn't one of them.