Akshay Kumar, one of the most accomplished comedy actors in Bollywood, believes that it has been increasingly difficult to get audiences to laugh.
While promoting his upcoming comedy film, Welcome To The Jungle, he spoke about the evolution of comedy through social media, including memes and ‘reels’, as well as how distribution methods such as ‘quick content’ have resulted in an audience’s ability to consistently see humour every minute. This ability to easily access humour creates a higher expectation from comedians and comedy movies.
People now see jokes all day long on various mediums, including social media and TV shows; therefore, Kumar predicts that as production companies create comedy movies and comedians perform in front of their audience, filmmakers/comedians will have trouble finding fresh comedies to create as a result of this higher expectation from audiences.
Akshay Kumar is well-known for his ongoing comedic success within films like Hera Pheri, Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Welcome, and he has also mentioned the level of pressure that live comedians must withstand from performing in front of a crowd, as every joke performed is sometimes evaluated by that audience. “People often underestimate comedy. I have tremendous respect for stand-up comedians. Standing alone in front of an audience and making people laugh is incredibly difficult,” Akshay said.
As Welcome To The Jungle continues to create excitement among audiences everywhere, the fact that many of the actors in this film have appeared together in previous comedies has added to that excitement, as well. To many, Akshay Kumar represents some of the most memorable comedic moments in the history of Indian cinema. Along with the movie’s newly released promotional materials and trailers, a lot of buzz has been generated around the return of large-scale ensemble comedies.
Akshay has a positive outlook on the future of comedy, even though the comedy industry has changed. Today, more than just writing a funny scene, the challenge for him; it also consists of developing new comedic moments that will continue to be new and original, in a world already overflowing with jokes.
According to Akshay’s most recent comments, he believes that creating a memorable, laugh-out-loud comedy in our current, viral world might be more challenging than ever before, but that is exactly what makes a comedian such an interesting person.
Meanwhile, Welcome To The Jungle, directed by Ahmed Khan and produced by Star Studio18, Base Industries Group, Cape of Good Films and Seeta Films, is slated to release in theatres on 26th June, 2026.
