menoftheyear Kapil SharmaIN A SINGLE YEAR, HE HAS BECOME INDIA'S COMEDY KING. MORE THAN 8 MILLION PEOPLE TUNE IN TO WATCH HIS SHOW. SOME WAIT MONTHS FOR A CHANCE TO BE IN THE AUDIENCE. EVEN CELEBRITIES LOOK EXCITED TO BE INTERVIEWED BY HIM. HE HAS WON OVER THE COUNTRY WITH HIS TIMING AND COMPLETE IRREVERENCE photographs by rohit gupta words by ekta mohta Kapil Sharma can, with just one remark, turn men his opening monologue. Sharma made the audience, the celebrities who look like sumo wrestlers into men who look like laughing Bud- and the viewers laugh about a personal tragedy. He did so on a stage dhas. Sharma likes cracking fat jokes. And, judging by the number of pieced together with cardboard and duct tape. He, probably, would them who appear on his show, knowing fully well that they are going have done the same if he had nothing but a loudspeaker and a few to be picked on, fat people seem to like being the butt of them. willing listeners. The best thing about Comedy Nights with Kapil, part stand-up rou- tine, part sketch comedy show, part chat show, is that its host pulls no Studio 7 in Film City, in northern Mumbai, is built like an audito- punches when talking to the audience and participants on his show. If rium. The stage is a bright shade of orange, the colour of a pumpkin, he doesn’t like someone’s clothes, his accent, the highlights in his hair, and is laden with soft carpets and golden furnishings. It is beauti- the folds in his stomach, he’ll direct all his bite in the direction of the ful if you like loud colours. And, the colours reflect the nature of the poor chap. It is the kind of tongue-lashing that makes anyone sitting show. It is entertaining if you like loud people. Except for Sharma and safely at home smile. It is justice, of sorts. Attention-seekers should be Sunil Grover, who played a character called Gutthi, but has now left made to squirm every once in a while. the show, the cast is as shrill as the Muppets. This isn’t a new ploy for those familiar with western stand-up com- Most of the sketches are about a character named Bittu (Sharma) ics. But, Sharma does it in Hindi, on television, in front of millions of and his family: an attractive wife who’s the butt of all ugly jokes, a Indians who’ve never really learned to take a joke about themselves spinster aunt desperate for any man, a drunk grandmother who with grace. When seen in that light, his popularity is particularly baf- shamelessly flirts with all the male celebrities (quite like the one in the fling. Just about everyone seems to be a fan. When it was first aired, in hit British show The Kumars at No.42) and a servant who dominates June this year, on Colors, Comedy Nights with Kapil had around 6.9 his employers. Also on the show is Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose singular million viewers. Today, around 8.6 million watch it every week, and contribution is as the laughter track. There are other recurring cast viewership in the metros has increased by almost a million. members, but they are like long-lost relatives. You don’t like them Sharma has been in the stand-up comedy business for quite a while when they’re around; you don’t miss them when they go. now. He was the winner of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge (sea- This is Sharma’s circus throughout. His witticisms come with rat-a- son 3) and was a regular on several shows, including Comedy Circus tat regularity, and watching the show is like being exposed to laugh- and, most recently, Jhalak Dikhla Jaa (Colors). But, with Comedy ing gas for an hour. While on set, I chanced upon the script of the Nights, he appears to be on his way to becoming the Ricky Gervais episode in which actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh drop of India. Just about everyone seems to be a fan, including Shah Rukh by. Although he mostly stuck to the script, he managed to make many Khan, Akshay Kumar and Anil Kapoor, all of who have appeared gags better with his spontaneity. What was once said of American on the show. In September this year, Sharma’s entire set had burned talk-show host Johnny Carson — “Even his rehearsed routines seem down. He shifted base from Mumbai to Lonavla and performed on improvised” — is also true of Sharma. a makeshift platform for a few weeks. He even included the fire in Despite ten years as a serious theatre student, during which he 170 DECEMBER 2013 • MW DECEMBER 2013 • MW 171 menoftheyear mostly worked for free, Sharma, 32, believes he gets his comic tim- I ask him about my personal peeve: on his attacks on the over- ing from his background and not his training. “I was not the funny weight. “Isn’t it a good thing that I’m bringing awareness? Gener- one in my family,” he says. “My father was quite jovial and light ally, people say, go to the gym. Isn’t that insulting? If I say that, at hearted. My mom and siblings, too. The atmosphere in my family least someone will laugh. You’ll pay a doctor Rs 500 to hear the same was only like this. I never thought that I’d get paid for the things we thing. How am I wrong if I’m giving this advice for free?” Listening say to each other at home. I discovered that much later,” he grins. to him, it seems like a person blessed with social graces would make Sharma is originally from Amritsar, and his Hindi has a heavy for a mediocre stand-up. Punjabi touch. Many of his pronunciations sound rushed, as if the Today, every major star has appeared on his show, more than 72 words are tripping over themselves in their hurry to get out. That at last count. The actors who are comfortable speaking Hindi and he has come out of nowhere and got this far, paid Rs 35 lakh in ser- who love grandstanding are the ones who have a blast — Shah Rukh vice tax alone this year and has every celebrity on speed dial is a Khan, Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor et al. Poor Imran Khan had testament to Sharma's talent. But, his nothing to say. Parineeti Chopra spent journey is also a study in luck and tenac- the entire length of the show tugging ity. “I started thinking about becoming at her short dress. The show mocks the a comedian when reality shows came pretentious West. (By this measure, up. Before that, I was planning to be a the most awkward episode is going to singer. I was trying really hard to get be the one in which Katrina Kaif and selected in the Great Indian Laughter Saif Ali Khan show up.) “I don’t know Challenge. I’d sent my CD, but no one how celebrities are in their personal received it. At the time, a regional chan- lives, but on my show, they all become nel had a programme with a similar entertaining. That’s the atmosphere format. I participated, and everyone in we create. A celebrity goes to another Punjab appreciated me a lot. I felt, if the show like Jhalak Dikhla Jaa, for ex- people in Punjab are liking it so much, ample. He’ll sit and talk about whether then why not the rest of the country? he knows how to dance or not. On our But, I got rejected again. I finally audi- show, we haven’t called stars to work, tioned in Delhi, and here I am. When but to have fun. After that, we give you strongly believe something in your even the common man the opportuni- heart, God will somehow find a way. It ty to interact with a superstar. A rick- was meant to be,” he says. shaw driver says, ‘I want to dance with As grateful as Sharma is about his you.’ He must have never thought that phenomenal run, he’s equally defen- he’d get to dance with Shah Rukh in sive about the negatives of the show. So, "Some real his life. Even Shah Rukh wouldn’t have when I ask him why so many men are samples come on thought this would happen. He’s always playing women characters, he tells me, surrounded by bodyguards. How does a “You need a certain amount of liberty in the show. They common man behave with a star? That’s comedy. If we keep showing dutiful sons, feel, at least, we the USP of the show.” we’ll end up making another Ramayana. The behaviour of the common man Because our grandmother is played by a are coming on is another issue I have with the show. man [Ali Asgar], even if we physically hit television." Some of the people appear to be quite each other, we aren’t being offensive. Be- eager to embarrass themselves on tele- sides, there are few women in the comedy vision. They are so blinded by adulation, industry. Only Bharti Singh comes to mind. So, this is a compul- so indulgent in their displays of emotion, it really makes you won- sion that has become a plus point. What you can say to a woman is der: how have we bred such dunces? “Some real samples come on the limited.