Things They Wouldn't Let Me Say
Netflix · 2017 · 62 min
An animated, bilingual hour about the absurdities of Indian womanhood.
Aditi Mittal on stage is highly animated, shifting mid-sentence between English and Hindi while taking aim at the heavy social taboos confronting modern Indian women. She compares being a single, thirty-year-old woman in India to a forgotten piece of Tupperware lingering at the back of the fridge, and skewers the quiet, public shame attached to purchasing sanitary napkins. Her physical expressiveness carries the set, whether she is mocking the awkwardness of Bollywood-inspired catcalls or poking fun at the male preoccupation with body parts.\n\nFilmed at Whistling Woods in Mumbai, the special arrived on Netflix in the summer of 2017. Its release served as a quiet counterweight to a major industry shift earlier that year, when Amazon Prime Video signed an all-male lineup of fourteen Indian stand-ups for solo specials. Mittal’s hour made her the first female comic from the country to secure a global streaming exclusive. While celebrated for breaking this glass ceiling, the show drew some criticism for relying on material Mittal had already toured for several years, making some segments feel slightly dated to seasoned comedy fans.
The set list
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Dr. Mrs. Lutchuke sex education persona
Aditi undergoes an off-stage transformation into an aging Marathi sex therapist character who dispenses candid advice about losing virginity and explains bra cup sizes using fruit and balls.
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Sanitary napkins and societal taboos
Ridiculing Indian societal squeamishness around menstruation and the exaggerated, discreet packaging of sanitary napkins as 'They-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named With Extra Long Wings.'
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Catcalling and lecherous men
Calling out Indian men who catcall women with fragmented phrases like 'Aye, jeans!' and discussing how street harassment impacts a single woman's self-esteem.
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Miss India pageant contestant impersonation
Mocking the broken English and intellect of a beauty pageant contestant answering stage questions.
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Baby powder and face cream advertisements
Delivering a dramatic narration skewering the absurdity and extreme differences between commercial advertising targeted at men versus women.
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Half-Sindhi and half-Punjabi heritage
Highlighting cultural quirks, hairy Sindhi relatives, and loud Punjabi family stereotypes.
How it plays
- Tone
- Irreverent, candid, satirical, and unapologetically tackling cultural taboos.
- On stage
- Unabashedly bold, animated, and confident, employing cartoonish facial expressions, sound effects, and self-deprecating wit.
- Pace
- Dynamic and energetic in spurts, though noted by critics for uneven momentum and abrupt transitions between disparate routines.
- About
- female sexuality and taboos, life as a 30-year-old single Indian woman, sexism and catcalling, sanitary napkins and periods, body hair and bra sizing, gendered advertising absurdities
What the critics said
Critical response was polarized to lukewarm; reviewers praised Mittal for breaking gender barriers and tackling taboos around female bodies and sexuality, but criticized the special for relying on older viral material, lack of seamless narrative transitions, and inconsistent comedic delivery.
In the room: Engaged, with Mittal demonstrating quick stage instincts during audience banter when a response stalled, quipping: 'Guys, please, this is being recorded.'
Backstory
Released amid widespread public debate regarding gender disparity and sexism in Indian standup comedy, following competitor Amazon Prime commissioning 14 specials featuring exclusively male comedians.
Details
- Released
- Taped
- Canvas Laugh Factory, Mumbai
- Runtime
- 62 min
- Where
- Netflix
- Director
- Fazila Allana
- Honors
- Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer: 80%
- Topics
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