Days after two Telugu stand-up comedians were arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police for their jokes on Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, supporters of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) disrupted another comedian’s show in Bengaluru, demanding an apology for jokes involving CM Chandrababu Naidu and his son, Minister Nara Lokesh.
Sarat Uday, a Hyderabad-based comic, was performing a solo stand-up show at Ministry Of Comedy, a comedy club in Koramangala, Bengaluru, on Saturday, April 25, when a few self-proclaimed TDP supporters got up from their seats, walked on to the stage, and intimidated and abused the comic while demanding an apology addressed to Lokesh, Naidu, and TDP cadres. They also raised slogans of ‘Jai Telugu Desam Party’, and insisted that Sarat also say ‘Jai TDP’, ‘Jai Lokesh Anna’, and ‘Jai Chandrababu Naidu’, which the comedian refused to do.
CCTV footage of the incident also showed them threatening Sarat, saying this was his “final warning” and asking him to be “careful” and not make such jokes again.
The commotion was over a video Sarat had uploaded to his YouTube channel over a year ago in December 2024, months after the Jana Sena-TDP-BJP coalition had come to power in Andhra Pradesh. Titled “Andhra Politics,” the video contained jokes on leaders from all major political parties in the state, including YSRCP, Jana Sena Party, and TDP.
The video triggered outrage and abuse, mainly from supporters of Jana Sena and TDP. Sarat had issued a public apology at the time, in which he mentioned that he had received hundreds of abusive messages, threatening legal action and disruptions at his shows. He also said that he would stop posting political comedy videos.
Sarat told TNM that he had refrained from posting jokes involving Andhra politicians since then. But after the recent arrest of another comedian, Anudeep Katikala, over jokes on Pawan Kalyan, TDP and Jana Sena supporters started circulating Sarat’s old videos online again, he said. Some X accounts had also posted about Rafiq and Sarat’s upcoming shows, asking Andhra Pradesh police to take action.
Earlier in April, the Andhra Pradesh police registered FIRs against two comedians, Anudeep and Rafiq, over videos from their stand-up shows in which they made jokes about Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s marriage and divorces. Anudeep was picked up by Kakinada police from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, and Rafiq was picked up from Vizag and taken to Machilipatnam. Both of them were soon released on bail. They were booked on complaints from local Jana Sena leaders, and were arrested amid abuse and calls for legal action by Pawan Kalyan’s supporters on social media.
In his video from 2024, Sarat made fun of the competence of former ministers in the previous YSRCP government, Gudivada Amarnath and Roja. He also made a joke about Pawan Kalyan while indirectly referencing his wife, Anna Lezhneva, who is Russian. The joke was made inaudible following the outrage at the time. He also spoke about how Pawan Kalyan claims to be a prolific reader but hasn’t completed his schooling.
Sarat then went on to talk about Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh. He compared him to former Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao and said Lokesh too had studied abroad and seemed to make sense when he spoke, but didn’t come across as trustworthy. He talked about Lokesh freezing up during a live interview, and about an old video of his turning into a meme.
Referring to the 2003 assassination attempt on Naidu by Maoists, Sarat described Naidu as a formidable leader who got back to work immediately after the incident. He said that Naidu failed when it came to the issue of alleged adulteration of the ghee used in the Tirupati laddu prasadam. This was a major nationwide political controversy at the time, with the Supreme Court reprimanding Naidu for making allegations of animal fat being used in the ghee without evidence.
Sarat then said that he would want to have a son like Lokesh, so that he looks much better in comparison.
It was these jokes that the ruling parties’ supporters found offensive.
At Sarat’s show in Bengaluru on April 25, soon after he arrived on stage, a man got up from the audience and walked on to the stage. “I’m your fan, you do comedy very well. But in one show, you insulted our leader,” he is heard saying in visuals of the incident. Two more people then joined him on stage and tried to intimidate Sarat, as a group of five to six people also walked in.
When Sarat said he had already apologised for those jokes, the self-proclaimed TDP supporters demanded a fresh apology, using abusive words. Sarat apologised again, addressing Lokesh, Naidu, and TDP workers.
“How dare you make jokes about Naxalites’ assassination attempt on Chandrababu Naidu?” one person was heard saying. Another person was also heard issuing threats, saying, “If you make such a mistake one more time, mark my words.” One of them also said that Sarat had hurt Hindu sentiments by talking about the Tirupati laddu adulteration.
They then asked Sarat to say “Jai TDP, Jai Lokesh Anna, Jai Chandrababu Naidu.” Sarat refused, while mentioning that he made jokes about YSRCP too but didn’t want to express support to any party. The group then started shouting slogans of ‘Jai TDP’ and one of them said, “This is your final warning, be careful.”
Sarat said the hecklers then tried to stay for his show, but he asked them to leave. They then asked for a refund, but left when asked to show their tickets, he said. They were seen flinging a couple of empty chairs down before leaving the room.
“I told them I had already apologised and the video is old, but they intimidated me and threatened to beat me up,” Sarat said, adding that he was surprised to face disruption by TDP supporters in Bengaluru.
