Prashasti Singh: Divine Feminine review – A captivating hour of absurdly intelligent stand-up | comedy

MOdesti: “I don’t speak for all women…” Swagger: “…but I speak for many.” Prashasti Singh’s novel The Divine Feminine moves between these two poles, now denouncing her vulnerabilities as an unmarried woman in her thirties in modern India, now running the pedestal of twenty-first-century gender politics. A deft balance is struck, with enough self-mocking silliness to endear itself and keep us entertained, but also some engaging reflection on Singh’s home country and the progress she has made towards women’s liberation.

This is the theme investigated here, albeit refracted in the confusions and contradictions of a woman who grew up wishing to be a man. Indeed, few of the female role models on display in India seemed terribly inspiring – and the one who was, a distant relative of the high achievers, undermined her inspirational status with a half-hearted warning against spinsterhood. No wonder our host oscillates wildly between pride in her middle-aged independence, anxiety that her descent into “crazy lady” status may soon be irreversible—and therapy sessions that advise her to reframe her sadness as a colorful personality trait.

It’s engaging material, even for fans like me, who can’t be strangers to the material. Singh also performs in Hindi, and her audience tonight includes many people who can watch her in both languages. I’m sure the material, suggestive of a culture at a slightly different point on the trajectory of gender politics, is more relatable to Hindi speakers, offering as it sometimes does asides and knowing gags about Bollywood star turned right-wing politician Kangana Ranaut.

Singh has mixed feelings about her, just like she has mixed feelings about everything else—except the shortcomings of the opposite sex, which she can take for granted. We leave Singh convinced through a self-help podcast to connect with the “Divine Feminine” and reject the male rat race. It won’t go well: we know that now. But in its sincere but doomed attempts to iron out the vicious cycles of freedom, femininity, singleness and self-improvement, there is much to entertain.