By Kavita Iyer 
Bengaluru, April 27: Saturday was supposed to be a regular show night at the Ministry of Comedy in Koramangala. Ticketed crowd, a Hyderabad comic doing his set, the usual Bengaluru weekend energy. Instead, by 7 PM, a group of men had walked onto the stage, surrounded Sarat Uday mid-performance, and were demanding he apologise again for jokes he had already apologised for nearly two years ago.
The whole thing was caught on CCTV. The footage has since gone viral.
What Actually Happened on Stage
It started deceptively casually. A man from the audience made his way up to the stage while Sarat had barely gotten into his set. His opening line was almost disarming: “I’m your fan, you do comedy very well.” Then came the pivot. “But in one show, you insulted our leader.”
Within minutes, that one man became five or six. They crowded around the comedian, verbally abusing him, demanding a fresh public apology addressed specifically to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, his son and Minister Nara Lokesh, and TDP cadres at large. When Sarat pointed out that he had already issued a public apology in December 2024, they were not interested. They wanted a new one. On stage. Right then.
They also reportedly tried to make him shout slogans “Jai TDP,” “Jai Lokesh Anna” in front of the paying audience. He refused that part. The apology, though, he was compelled to give.
One of the men in the group can be heard on video asking: “How dare you make jokes about the Naxalites’ assassination attempt on Chandrababu Naidu?” The exchange ends with what is being widely described as a “final warning” to be careful with his content going forward.
Venue management contacted the police. By the time the patrol cars arrived, the group had already taken refunds for their tickets from the organisers and walked out.
The Video at the Centre of All This
The original trigger here is a YouTube video Sarat uploaded in December 2024. It was titled “Andhra Politics” and it did what most political satire does it took jabs across the board. The YSRCP got it, Jana Sena got it, and yes, TDP got it too. It was not a targeted attack on any one party. Sarat also made fun of former YSRCP ministers Gudivada Amarnath and Roja, among others.
The video stirred up anger quickly, particularly from TDP and Jana Sena supporters online. Sarat had issued a public apology at the time, noting he had received hundreds of abusive messages threatening everything from legal action to show disruptions. He uploaded that apology to YouTube as well. It has been sitting there since.
None of that mattered on Saturday evening in Koramangala.
“The video of my apology was issued then itself, and it is on YouTube,” Sarat told The Print afterward. “I had also joked about YSRCP, not just TDP. The management called the police, but by the time the cops came, they had left.”
This Is Not an Isolated Incident
Here is the part that puts Saturday in sharper relief. This was the third time in April 2026 alone that a Telugu comedian faced serious consequences for political satire.
Earlier this month, Anudeep Katikala and Rafiq Muhammad were both arrested by Andhra Pradesh police for jokes they had made about Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. Anudeep was picked up from Prayagraj not Andhra Pradesh, not even a neighbouring state and taken to Kakinada. Rafiq was arrested in Vizag and transported to Machilipatnam. Both were booked on complaints filed by local Jana Sena leaders, surrounded by social media campaigns from Pawan Kalyan’s support base pushing for action.
Katikala’s joke, for context, was about Pawan Kalyan and actor Ram Charan, who happens to be the son of Chiranjeevi, who in turn is Pawan Kalyan’s older brother. The kind of family and celebrity crossover that Indian stand-up has joked about for years without incident until now.
What April 2026 is demonstrating is a pattern. Comedians are being targeted not just through police and legal machinery, but directly, physically, at their venues. The Bengaluru incident is particularly notable because it happened outside Andhra Pradesh’s borders entirely. A group of people bought tickets, travelled to Karnataka, attended a private comedy show, and used that access to stage an intimidation operation from the inside.
The TDP’s Response and What It Actually Said
The party’s official statement came from AP State TDP President Palla Srinivasa Rao, who condemned the disruption. He said the party does not endorse behaviour that infringes on freedom of speech. That part is the right thing to say.
He then added a caution to artists against making what he termed “indecent” or “controversial” remarks about “reputed leaders.” That qualifier landed awkwardly for a lot of people watching, given that it appeared to provide an implicit justification for outrage even while distancing the party from the specific incident. It is the kind of both-sides framing that tends to embolden rather than deter.
What This Means Beyond Comedy Circuits
Stand-up comedy in India has always existed in a legally uncertain territory. Broad provisions in the IPC on defamation and public order have been invoked against performers before, and comedians have learned, sometimes the hard way to read political temperatures carefully before going on stage.
What is different now, at least in the Telugu entertainment and political space, is the degree to which enforcement has become decentralised. It is not just the police filing FIRs anymore. It is groups showing up at venues. It is a pressure campaign on social media. It is people buying tickets specifically to disrupt a show, in another state, over a video that is nearly two years old and was already accompanied by a full public apology.
The comedian’s material was not recent provocation. It was old content, already addressed. That it was still treated as live ammunition in April 2026 says something about how the appetite for this kind of confrontation has grown.
Sarat Uday confirmed the show did eventually resume and was completed after the group left. That is worth noting. He finished his set. The audience stayed. Whatever the group had hoped to achieve, a cancelled show, a visibly broken performer, a viral clip of total capitulation, they did not fully get it.
Still, no FIR has been registered in connection with the Bengaluru disruption. The individuals involved have not been identified publicly by police. Whether the Bengaluru authorities pursue this case, given that a group effectively staged an intimidation on a private stage inside their city, remains an open question.
For comedians performing in Telugu and increasingly, for comedians anywhere covering Indian politics April 2026 is the kind of month that makes you look at your upcoming tour dates differently.
Stay ahead with Hindustan Herald — bringing you trusted news, sharp analysis, and stories that matter across Politics, Business, Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Lifestyle, and more.
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, and join our Telegram community @hindustanherald for real-time updates.
Former financial consultant turned journalist, reporting on markets, industry trends, and economic policy.
- Kavita Iyer
- Kavita Iyer
- Kavita Iyer
- Kavita Iyer
Ayesha Khan 
Ananya Sharma and Ayesha Khan