As Comedy Nights With Kapil takes a year’s leap, Sunil Grover talks to Karan Bhardwaj about ‘upgradation’ of Guthhi into a beauty expert and how he reinvents himself everytime he goes on stage
With red tunics, blue skirt and a scarf around her neck, a bespectacled Guthhi is all set for a makeover as Comedy Nights with Kapil takes a year’s leap. A lot will be changed in the show but Sunil Grover, who plays multiple characters on the show besides Guthhi, has one complaint to make. “Paise nahi badaaye (They didn’t raise my remuneration),” he chuckles right in the beginning of conversation. By now, it’s difficult to distinguish between Grover and Guthhi. “This is all due to people’s affection. Ever since I came back, people got so excited. When I go out in parties, I always get a thundering feedback. But I think time has come when we should move on and bring some freshness to the plot,” he says.
So now Guthhi will be a professional, running her own beauty parlour. Her looks say it all. “She has been a fan of beauty so it was obvious for her to start a parlour,” tells Grover. Comedy Nights with Kapil has already broken viewership records with its immense popularity. Was it a perfect time to get a revampIJ “Change was needed to add newness. like softwares are updated regularly, the show also demands the upgradation process. And honestly, one year is not a big time. The creative team decided to take a leap and change the background colour and tone of the show. I think it will be good. In her parlour, Guthhi will be wearing colourful accessories. So we have got new things to play around. The concept of this show is liberal. Today we are moving ahead in time, tomorrow we may go back into past also,” he says.
Grover admits being funny is a matter of mind, stage and timing. You can be witty at one place while your jokes fall flat at another place. “There could be certain things that I connect with, which have influenced my childhood, but they may not necessarily entertain my audience. With the same audience, being funnier is to work harder,” he says.
Apart from Guthhi, Grover also plays multiple characters in the show. Did he ever lose connect with audienceIJ “I love to play characters so that’s the only thing I can do. I get easily bored with my characters. Even with Guthhi, I keep reinventing myself. Sometimes, I feel exhausted. I feel that there should be something new to go to stage. I try to achieve that during performance. Exhaustion is good because it is an experience when you feel kicked to get better. You accept that there’s time to reinvent yourself. Sometimes, I feel I could have done better. There are times when I am not able to give my 100 per cent but I try my level best to give whatever I can,” he says.
The comedian says that each character that he other artistes play have contributed in the success of this show. “Sometimes, there’s no reason for things to happen but they fall into place. When Sholay was created, there was no reason behind it. But it had a great team with fab performances, so it became immortal. For our show, Kapil is responsible as he is hard working and entertaining. Other artistes like me, Upasana, Ali and others have played key roles respectively,” he signs off.