Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; June 5, 2019)

‘Is the funnyman getting serious? That’s the question haunting many of his fans ever since it was revealed that Sunil Grover plays Salman Khan’s friend in Bharat. While he does not reveal much about his role in the film, he admits that serious roles are finally coming his way. Here’s what Grover had to say about this transition in his career and his equation with the mercurial Khan...

One expects you to do comedy in every project that you take up. Is it the same with Bharat as well?
Bharat is a Salman Khan film, which makes it huge in terms of story, production value and star cast. I feel fortunate to play a pivotal character in such a big project, which came to me at a time when I was confused about what to do. I play Salman’s friend, Vilayti. My comic scenes are situation-based and not character-based. I enjoyed working with director Ali Abbas Zafar, who is clear about what he is making. The producers — Alvira and Atul Agnihotri — made me very comfortable. And then there is Salman (Khan) sir, who is a huge star, but he gives you your space to work. Initially, it felt strange to share table with Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif during lunch. I tried to act cool, but aap kitna cool dikha doge, shakal par toh wannabe likha hua hai na.

Your journey has been a long and arduous one; it took time before people started acknowledging your talent. Do you ever think about what took you so long and what is it that you are doing right today?
Long journey allows you to experience a lot of things, as a human being and as an artiste. If you don’t have that experience, you can’t connect with people. It’s only in the last five-seven years that people have started to recognise and love me. It becomes a habit and one might tend to take that love and recognition for granted. However, we shouldn't forget that they love us for our work. I often head back to my hometown (Mandi Dabwali, Haryana) to meet my relatives, as that helps me stay grounded. There should be a reality check all the time. Agar woh kam ho jaata hai toh logon se bhi connect kam ho jaata hai. You become superficial and that reflects in your work as well. Also, when you get things after a lot of struggle, you value it more. I was a voice-over artiste for almost eight years. Back then, I aspired for a car and the basic luxuries in life. I didn’t realise that I was getting to work with four or five creative people, who were conditioning me to develop a better understanding and perspective. I thought that I was just making money, which wasn’t the case. Today, I can attune myself according to any filmmaker. I have been strongly associated with comedy, but now, I am being offered serious roles. I did a film called Gabbar Is Back (2015), where I didn’t have a single comedy scene and still got acknowledged for it. And though I got busy with comedy shows after that, serious roles still come my way — big or small.

Why don’t we see comedians playing the lead in big films, the way it is in Hollywood?
One must start trying with me (laughs!). On a serious note, there is a phase for everything and cinema keeps changing. If something works, people follow that trend, but someone has to take the first step. Also, there are different kinds of comedies — for example, Badhaai Ho and Stree. Through such films, the grammar of comedy will change with time. The audience will realise that it’s not important to make faces to make people laugh.

You got a film like Pataakha, which was directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. The fact that it didn’t work must have upset you....
It was a dream to work with Vishal Bhardwaj, who is such an accomplished director. While the fate of the film was in the audience’s hands, I enjoyed working in it. I believe in the saying, ‘Karm karo, phal ki chinta mat karo’. Yes, I would have been happier had the film worked at the box office, but failures can’t stop you from working. You have to come out of it and move on.

Do you agree with the saying that it takes a tragedy to make a comedian?
I am lucky not to have seen many tragedies, barring the incidents of losing some loved ones. While growing up, I was always seeking attention, as I felt that I never got it. My father had a transferable job and we would move to a new city every few years. I had to adapt to new places, schools and friends. When I moved to a big city like Chandigarh from a small town, everything was a challenge. Body language, addressing each other… English was also a huge challenge; abhi bhi hai, but uss time bahut zyada tha. I had a classmate who asked me, ‘Where do you hail from?’ I didn’t know that the word ‘hail’ could be used in that sense. I told her that I was just thinking about it. She never sat next to me after that incident, and avoided me totally for the next three years till my final year.