Sunil Grover has created a space for himself with his impeccable comic timing but the actor says he never believed he had the knack to tickle the funny bone of the audience.
The 45-year-old actor, who gained popularity for playing the characters of Gutthi, Dr Mashhoor Gulati and Rinku Devi on “The Kapil Sharma Show”, recalled his first brush with comedy.
"I didn't know I could make people laugh. I didn't know there would be any skill or craft involved because I was just copying and mimicking people and people were laughing. Later I learnt, you can earn money from it as well. So, I did masters in theatres and decided to make a career in it,” Grover told PTI in an interview.
"I didn't know how and where to start from. There was no social media or any other platforms then or I didn't know you could become an influencer or content creator,” he added.
Having explored different styles of humour on screen, Grover said for him it is all about making people laugh through his characters.
"Comedy can be approached in different ways, it can be mute, slapstick, over the top, exaggerated, realistic, so there are many ways in which you can make people laugh. It all depends on whatever is suitable for that particular project.
"Like ‘Sunflower' was a thriller plus comedy, so the vibe was realistic and subtle. In my new show, ‘United Kacche' the situation will make you laugh. So, whatever makes people laugh, I am ready to do that.”
Grover, who received acclaim for his performance in “Tandav”, “Sunflower” and the recently released show “United Kacche”, said he is blessed to have got the opportunity to essay interesting roles in the web space.
The actor, who also featured in movies "Gabbar is Back", "Baaghi", "Pataakha" and "Bharat", added that he likes to shuffle between various mediums of storytelling.
"I wanted to explore characters and OTT is offering me good characters to play and I am enjoying it. I am also getting to play pivotal characters in films. I love to jump between different mediums.
"For me, it is not about OTT or films, wherever I am getting to do fictional characters, I will do it,” Grover said.
In his latest ZEE5 show “United Kacche”, the actor plays Tejinder Gill aka Tango, a happy-go-lucky man from Punjab who wants to settle in the UK.
The slice-of-life comedy series, also starring Satish Shah, Manu Rishi, Sapna Pabbi, Neelu Kohli and others, is directed by Manav Shah and Dharampal Thakur. It premiered on ZEE5 on Friday.
Grover will be seen next in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Jawan” and season two of his show “Sunflower”, helmed by Vikas Bahl.