VIR DAS talks to PRAKRITI ROY about his projects and what kind of work he enjoys most
Vir Das is a man of many talents. Not only can he make anyone laugh with his stand-up acts, he has even mastered the art of acting in ‘serious’ movies. Be it his sex-comedy, Mastizade, or the out-and-out laugh riot, Santa Banta Pvt Ltd, or his recent release on the serious subject of the 1984 Sikh riots, 31 October, Vir can leave an impact on his audience either way.
He tells you that he did Santa Banta because “it is directed at children and families, and that is something interesting for me to do as an actor. Playing the innocent and boisterous sardar, Banta Singh, is something very different”. The film co-starred some of the best comic stalwarts of Bollywood, including Boman Irani and Johnny Lever. Although he has known Boman for many years and has been trying to work with him, this is the first time that the two will share screen space. “It’s been an awesome experience working with him as we share a great friendship. The feather on the cap is Johnnyji. He is my idol. I genuinely feel he is the best Hindi stand-up comedian in India and it’s safe to say I’m his biggest fan,” he tells you.
The ace actor and comedian can be considered somewhat of a controversy child. If it is not his movies (whose Sikh characters drew the wrath of that particular community), then it is his live shows. The police once reportedly stopped his stand-up show in Delhi last year for talking about Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, people have objections to him parodying various current affairs on social media, and the list goes on. However, his take has always been to tell the haters that they are free to not listen to him or read what he writes. “India is a big country with a huge population and someone or the other always gets pissed off at what I do,” he says, adding that once his ‘objectionable’ film was shown to the complainants, they didn’t find anything wrong with it.
With his foray into Bollywood, Vir stopped being just a comedian and became a full-fledged actor. Proof of this lies in his other films that are lined up – Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay, a modern film based on mythology; 31st October, based on the aftermath of the 1984 Sikh riots where Vir played a sardar again; and Khanna Patel, a romantic-comedy. He tells you that he considers himself lucky that he has started doing almost two films a year, apart from stand-up comedy, which he has already mastered. He feels that one should do things that make them uncomfortable. However, he doesn’t categorise himself either as a comedian or an actor. “If you deem yourself, you’ll doom yourself,” he quips.
Truly, Vir goes beyond just stand-up and acting. Since last year, his ‘potcasts’ have also become popular. These are nothing but podcasts where he speaks about (and, of course, parodies) various things that are currently in the news. The only difference is that he does this sitting on a pot! But these videos have now become so popular that his fans asked him to make a live podcast. “It’s strange how the podcasts have become viral. But yes, I did make a live one from my tour in US,” he says. Then there is also his comedy rock band, Alien Chutney, in which he is very actively involved, a unique concept in itself.
Vir says that he doesn’t want to devote all his time to one thing. He adds: “Performing live is exhausting, but I also can’t sit in a vanity van for 365 days. For me, sacrificing six months of stand-up for one film is a big deal. That is why I only choose those films about which I’m very confident and where I know I’ll have a blast.”
Revealing something that not many know, he tells you that he has written scripts for Shah Rukh Khan during Filmfare Awards. Now, he wants to work with him too. He also says that he is going to be doing a US show but doesn’t divulge any details.
Inputs for this story have been taken from this article – http://www.dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/sunday-pioneer/backpack/a-humourous-mind.html
