Sahil Rizwan is quick to clarify that he is “not qualified to critique movies in any way“. The story of this 27-year-old business administration graduate from Pune's Symbiosis Institute is an example in how “winging it“ can sometimes lead to a new career. It all began in 2009 when he uploaded his doodles on Facebook, and later moved them to his blog. His tongue-in-cheek narration of big budget Bollywood plots got enough traction to move the stick figures to their own website. The Vigil Idiot was born.

Inspired by The Best Page In The Universe, run by an artiste who reviewed Hollywood films, Rizwan decided to subject new Hindi releases to ridicule. The quality of the art, he says, isn't crucial so long as the joke is understood.

A typical work day involved being online and making time for a new release on the weekend to find raw material worthy of a spoof.

What's his definition of worthy? Rizwan's criterion for picking films seems more of a vigilante nature.“Other than movies that don't make sense on a logical level, those that take themselves more seriously than they should, work best,“ he says, adding, “Dramas are completely fair game.“ It's nothing personal, he swears. “I've grown up watching pretty much anything that aired on TV.“

And with that, he might just be the only film critique in the country to say his taste in films hasn't improved. But he has learned a thing of two in the process. Shah Rukh Khan is his favourite actor, he shares. “Not because I like or hate his films more than others. But that thing about how 'only sex and SRK sell' is true for blogs too. His movies get me the most page views.“ What about flack from the industry? None. It's either that the community is blessed with a good sense of humour or he's just too much of a small fry.

His just-launched book, 42 Lessons I Learnt from Bollywood: The Vigil Idiot's Guide to the 1990s, sees him follow his signature style, taking pot shots at films he watched when growing up. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Gupt make it into the book with a sarcastic caption to explain Rizwan's takeaway. The 'lessons' are usually as ridiculous as the films themselves. He compares the Bobby Deol, Manisha Koirala and Kajol starrer, Gupt, to the tazo collecting hype that was luring children to buy one too many packets of chips 'to get to this free, but totally useless, gift'. "Now, I can't talk about falling for things because of hype without talking about Gupt. Released in 1997, this is still the definitive Bollywood whodunnit for a lot of people. I took precious time out to watch that movie and I ZOMG knew who the killer was, like, ten minutes into it. And it's not even like I was a particularly astute child," he writes.