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 movies. After his sex-comedy, Mastizade, Vir is all set to make people laugh once again with his antics in the comedy film, Santa Banta Pvt ltd, releasing on April 22.
This is the first time that he is doing a so-called ‘clean’ comedy film. “The reason I chose this film is 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,” Vir says.
The film probably has the best comic actors in it, starting from Boman Irani (Santa), to Johnny lever and Vijay Raaz. 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.
Till sometime back, Santa Banta was embroiled in a controversy because someone had filed a complaint against it that said that it projects Sikhs in a bad light. This isn’t the only instance when Vir has been part of something controversial. What with the police reportedly stopping his stand-up show in Delhi last year for talking about Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, to people having objections to him parodying various current affairs on social media, Vir is almost a controversy child. 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 the film was shown to the complainants, they didn’t find anything objectionable in it, as it happens for films that cause a controversy.
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 plays a sardar again; and Khanna Patel, a romantic-comedy. Vir 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 saying, “If you deem yourself, you’ll doom yourself.”
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 recent tour in US,” he says. There is also his comedy rock band, Alien Chutney, in which he is very actively involved.
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.