Stand-up comedian Sunil Grover is now popular as the wacky but lovable Gutthi on Comedy Nights with Kapil. While the actor comes up with new characters in every episode, this female character is surely a hit with the audience. Playing a woman certainly doesn’t come easy for Sunil as he reveals, “I don’t like repeating my characters but on audience demand you will see me playing Gutthi again this weekend. I don’t like to shave but I have to do so for this role, so I spend a lot on aftershave these days. It takes me at least 20 minutes if not more to get into Gutthi’s attire and make-up. The funny part is the minute we men on the show get into female attire, the women feel more comfortable interacting with us. Upasana Singh (who plays Bua) says she feels like she is talking to a woman, when I don Gutthi’s look.”
While the show is a light-hearted one, Sunil reveals that most actors understand the concept and don’t mind jokes on them but then are some others who take offence and the gags have to be changed at the last minute. “It was fun shooting with actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn. The audience gets thrilled seeing them and being the experienced ones, they know how to behave on comedy shows and play along when jokes are targeted at them. Some actors from the newer lot take offence to our jokes, which is visible from how they react. We have had to change our script at the last minute just so that it does not look awkward in the episode,” rues Sunil.
While offending actors is something the team is careful about there are also times when acts go wrong as the guests refuse to react to the gags at all. The actor reveals, “During the Saas special episode, the three onscreen mothers-in-law were not giving us the kind of reaction we expected. In fact they hardly reacted at all. So my co-actor and me started doing our own thing on stage and left; that was an impromptu decision.”
While the show has a creative team, Sunil says most of the characters he plays are his creation and the idea of coming up with new crazy characters every week, excites him.
He says, “At times the script demands a certain character, at other times I force the character on the script. I contribute in ideating by giving the team a couple of options, from which they choose. At times when I am confident about a particular character I force them to go with my idea.”
Sunil has completed his Masters in theatre from Chandigarh and agrees that the experience has been handy in making a mark on the small screen. “Studying theatre does give you an edge. It’s all about applying that knowledge in your characters,” says Sunil.
While the actor is now a known name, he reveals that no one from his family is connected to the industry. He hails from a small village that most people he’s encountered are not even aware of. He says, “I come from Manditapwali, a small village. My grandfather was a teacher while father was into bank service. I moved to Mumbai some years back and started working on TV shows.”
Ask him what the real Sunil Grover, behind all the characters he plays is like and he smiles, “I don’t speak so loudly and fast, like my characters. I don’t open up so easily to people, I’m shy. I’m not very hardworking, I like to work on just one project at a time.”