Das capital of entertainment
Stand-up comedian Vir Das seems to be cruising on cloud nine. He has eight films releasing in the next 18 months, six additional movies that he will be producing with director Nikhil Advani over the next four years and he is taking his latest show History of India — VIRtten across international shores by the end of 2013.
As the name of the show suggests, the set is about India, from inception, to now. “After being labelled a ‘sex comedian’ for eight years, I thought of doing something more substantial,” quips Vir .
A self-proclaimed history channel addict, Vir says working on the new set was like revisiting school, only with much more to study this time. “The content talks about the time when the sub continent was formed, to the vedas, Mahabharata, Mughal rule, British Raj, the freedom struggle to till yesterday,” Vir says. But amusing others at the cost of saying something as sacred as the Mahabharata, wouldn’t it raise hackles? “This has been the largest selling show in Indian stand-up comedy. The genius of the set comes from a very patriotic space,” clarifies the comedian.
Let’s talk cinema now, and Vir politely obliges.“India lacks comic leading actors like an Adam Sandler or a Ben Stiller,” says the man who would like to believe that he is the desi version of the Hollywood’s funny men. Talking about his upcoming film Sooper Ke Ooper, Vir shares, “I am the bare-chested hero who spreads his arms and the heroine comes running to embrace him,” he states. Vir’s Santa Banta with Boman Irani has him play the role of a theth (pure ) Punjabi. “I had to sit and learn the language literally from scratch,” he confesses.
Speaking about Revolver Rani which stars Kangana Ranaut, Vir recalls that the set was filled with extremely focused people, while he was ‘like the idiot who would come strolling in with his guitar.’
Acting and making people laugh isn’t the only thing Vir is pro at, “I believe I have a decent voice, and I will be doing one song in each of my upcoming movies. If they need a funny song, I’ll pen it, else, I will just go along and sing it,” he concludes.
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