In November 2021, Vir Das uploaded a video on YouTube called ‘I Come From Two Indias’ which was a monologue he delivered at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC focusing on the duality of our country. He spoke about the ills of our country and how the many goods of India triumphed over those ills. It was a celebration of our country with the crowd bursting into applause at the end.
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However, certain segments of the video were circulated on social media and Vir Das faced immense flak, with FIRs filed against him, for allegedly maligning the reputation of our country in a foreign land. He was called a “terrorist” and a “criminal” and while all of this was happening, he got nominated for an International Emmy Award under the ‘Best Comedy’ category. He didn’t win in 2021.
Then what happened was nothing short of magic. Vir Das took all that angst, anger, fright, and everything he felt during that testing time and turned it into a comedy special called ‘Vir Das: Landing’. And then in 2023, he got nominated for another International Emmy Award.
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And this year, Vir Das won the Emmy.
He shared the award with ‘Derry Girls – Season 3’ as it was a tie under the ‘Unique Comedy Special’ category.
“For India. For Indian comedy. Every breath, every word. Thank you to the @iemmys for this incredible honour,” he wrote on social media.
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Life comes to a full circle. Congratulations, Vir! May you continue to shine.