Vir Das explains how ‘star egos’ make ‘Gervais or Conan’ style roast hosting difficult at Indian award shows

MUMBAI: Comedian and actor Vir Das recently spoke about why Indian award shows rarely feature roast-style hosting just like international ceremonies such as the Oscars.

In a recent social media post, he explained how “star egos” and power dynamics in the film industry make such formats difficult to execute in India.

Das took to his Instagram on Monday evening to share his views and reflect on his experience writing scripts for Indian award shows over several years. While discussing why India does not typically see hosting styles similar to comedians like Ricky Gervais or Conan O’Brien, he explained that the purpose of such hosting is to allow a comedian to lightly roast celebrities during the event.

“Why doesn’t India do a Gervais or even a Conan-style hosting of a major film awards? Well, as someone who wrote the script for many Indian awards for five years. Here’s why. The point of having comedians host and roast the Oscars or film awards is that for a night, a jester would humanise the most beautiful chosen people in the world, since they were being celebrated already. That’s when any joke is a punch-up,” Das wrote on Instagram.

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A post shared by Vir Das (@virdas)

Das also addressed how “star egos” and hierarchical dynamics in the industry make such jokes challenging during Indian award shows. According to him, the balance of power in the room heavily influences how humor works on stage.

“Here, star egos won’t take a joke from anyone not at their level. Ironically, the bigger the star who hosts, the trickier it’s gonna be. Because like three people are at that level. So a huge star hosting works for the people in the room, just not always funny for the people watching. Simply because the power imbalance is off,” he added.

On the work front, Vir was last seen in the film Happy Patel. The project also marked his debut as a director. The film was produced by Aamir Khan under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions and released in theatres on January 16, 2026. (ANI)