Kunal Kemmu reveals why he opted out of Sunil Grover's comedy show 'Kanpur Waale Khuranas'

Kunal Kemmu was all set to make his TV debut with the weekend comedy show Kanpur Wale Khuranas. He had even started attending workshops for it and shot a promo that went on air. However, at the last moment, he opted out of it owing to date issues. The Golmaal Again actor, who will be seen next in Karan Johar’s multi-starrer Kalank, has to start filming for the climax scenes in Hyderabad’s Ramoji City from the 14th of this month, while the TV show, for which shooting has already commenced, is slated to go on air on December 15. We spoke to Kunal about what prompted his decision and his take on comedy films. Excerpts...

You were geared up for your debut TV show and had even shot a promo for it. Why did you opt out of it?

There were a lot of things happening even while I was getting into it. I knew that the dates for Kalank’s climax shoot might be around the same time as it was planned. There are a lot of actors involved in the scene, so that couldn’t be shifted. I also realised that television has a fixed schedule and unfortunately, we couldn’t work around the dates. I am shooting for Kalank from December 14 till the end of this month. I’m happy the makers found Aparshakti (Khurana) to host the programme. I’ve known Preeti and Neeti Simoes (producers of the show) for a long time and they suggested we should do something together, but TV is a big commitment for me. This limited edition series of 16 episodes was perfect, but it eventually didn’t work out. We are still hoping we can find something in the future. I wish everyone involved with the show the very best and look forward to watching it soon.

When you eventually make your TV debut, will it be with a comedy show?

I can’t say that, but I like this whole format where you get to improvise, so I still maintain that something like this will interest me. 

After starting off with films like Kalyug and Zakhm, you are now firmly entrenched in comedies... 

I love comedies. It’s just that I am generally shy when I meet people for the first time. But once the ice is broken, I am known to be a lot of fun. Yes, after doing serious cinema like Zakhm (1998), Kalyug (2005) and Traffic Signal (2007), filmmakers weren’t sure if I would be good at comedy. Even when I did the ensemble movie Dhol (2007), the makers were wondering why I wanted to explore this genre! But if you remember at the age of eight, I did Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993), which was a funny film. After Dhol, I went on to do movies like 99 (2009), Go Goa Gone (2013) and the Golmaal series where people saw the fun side to me... to the extent that most of the time I am doing comedy now.

Does that mean your forthcoming movies also are comedies?

No, now there are a couple of films that are quite different. I can’t talk much about my part in Kalank. All I can tell you is that I am playing a character that nobody has seen me do before, or since Kalyug happened. There’s another film, which will mark the debut of an ad filmmaker. It’s a dark comedy and has a different way of storytelling. I am excited about that as you will see interesting actors coming together in it.

When do you start shooting for Go Goa Gone 2? 

The scripting is in process right now and the idea is to start in March if everything works out correctly. This film is close to my heart as it was with Go Goa Gone that I learnt how to be a writer (I had penned its dialogues). The movie was with Raj (Nidimoru), (Krishna) DK and me for a long time when we were in the process of putting it together, and finding somebody who will make it. Initially, nobody thought we would do a zombie film and a different kind of comedy, but it was well-received. We had taken three months off for writing it. Now, that the characters are established, there will be something newer in the story, but this time I’m not part of the scripting process.

The movies you are doing now are all multi-starrers...

Firstly, you never go into a film thinking whether you will be playing a solo lead or will it be a multi-starrer. From the business perspective, it makes it easier to do a multi-starrer because the stress of ‘Will this do well at the box office or not’ is shared with everybody and not one person, whether it is a hit or a flop. Apart from that, it’s the story that you enjoy. Golmaal will never work with one hero, so you can’t say, ‘I won’t do it if it’s not a solo lead’.

Despite so many good actors in Bollywood, there aren’t many comedy films that are made in here...

True. Comedies are a tougher genre to work in. A joke can either make you laugh or it can’t. It’s a lot about action and reaction, you always don’t need to say something funny. India has so many different cultures and comedy translates differently everywhere. There is English humour that does not translate so well to Hindi-speaking audience and vice versa. It’s difficult to make a film that is funny for everybody. There is a massy kind of humour as opposed to the niche humour. People are scared to experiment with it. For example, despite being funny, Go Goa Gone did really well only in metros, but not in the interiors. There was a feeling that this might be the case because the humour was slightly more English, and the audience there would be alien to this kind of a zombie film. But over the years, when the movie was shown on satellite TV, it was accepted by everybody. Now, when we talk about the sequel, there is pan-India anticipation about it, not just from the metros. Comedy is still being explored in India. I think there is an attempt in making such films because they are doing well. But, then again not all comedies are great. Some work, some don’t. Sometimes on the set when we are doing a scene, it seems very funny but when it is edited and put it out there, it is not so funny. Comedy is actually a serious and tricky business.