It’s final. Sunil Grover’s much-awaited autonomous comedy show Mad in India goes on Star Plus on February 16 and will be aired every Sunday at 9 pm.
While Manish Paul anchors the show, joining Sunil to generate laughter are comic actors Dolly Ahluwalia, the Rajasthani stand-up comedian Khayali Sharan seen on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge), Rajbir Kaur (also seen on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge), actor-standup comedian Siddharth Jadav, and a new comic find Suri.
Gearing up for the comic challenge ahead, Sunil says, “The idea is to feature an assortment of comic talent, established and new. We’ve got relatively fresh comic actors like Rajbir and Suri alongside established names like Dolly Ahluwalia and Siddhath Jadhav.”
The stand-up comedian says he is not competing with Kapil Sharma’s show. “Of course there will be comparisons between the two shows. They both occupy the same smiley space. But my endeavour is not to be one-up on Kapil. In fact I’d like viewers to watch both our shows. Jitni hansee hogi utni khushi hogi. The idea is to bring laughter into viewers’ lives as long as I can do so without resorting to vulgarity or cheapness, I am happy.”
The one most excited about Sunil’s transition from Gutthi to Chutki is his seven-year old son Mohan. “He is my biggest fan. He loves my comedy. Initially when I started playing Gutthi his friends in our apartment block used to tease him. He came to me and one day looking very disturbed said, ‘Papa, don’t play a girl.’ Being so young and impressionable he was confused. But then he began to understand what I was doing as an actor. My biggest victory was when he came and told me he didn’t want me to stop playing the various characters, male or female, because they made him happy. I want the same response from audiences when they see my show.”
Commenting on the impending clash of schedule between Sunil’s show and Koffee With Karan, Sunil tongue-firmly-in-cheek says, “It’s okay. Viewers can watch Karan Johar’s show during the commercial breaks.”
