In the last nine years, Varun Sharma has explored various shades of comedy through some prominent films that he’s been a key part of. And yet, he’s not done with the comedy genre yet. While he’s more than willing to explore other elements of entertainment, he continues to be a hardcore comedy loyalist. The Fukrey actor believes, “It’s a genre that can never reach a saturation point.” In a chat with BT, he explores what makes humour a serious business and more. Excerpts:

Every filmmaker is different and their style and approach towards humour or comedy are also unique to them. As actors, our job is to tap into their vision and make it come alive. The basics for an actor will always be the same. But you have to find your rhythm and your connection with the material in hand. You rely on the same set of tools but in varying degrees, depending on what a filmmaker wants. I think directors have a big role to play in how a comedy shapes up. It’s their medium, they know best what they want, and they will always extract the best from you. I’m fortunate to have been able to adapt to so many different directors and their styles of humour — like Mrigdeep Singh Lamba, Rohit Shetty and Nitesh Tiwari — they’re all so unique. Working with each one opens up a new door to learn and grow.

When people say that ‘Comedy is serious and tough business’, it is true. Comedy looks easy, but it’s extremely tough to make people smile and laugh. Log aasani se nahi hanste. Even in our everyday lives, things have changed so much. Humour is changing with the times. The jokes, punchlines and timing that worked five years ago won’t work now, and what works today won’t work two years down. Because our sense of humour and what really puts a smile on our face or brings out a chuckle or two is rapidly changing. We have a different attention span, patience levels and slang. Films often try to adapt from real life it could be characters, gags or instances. They are drawn from something or someone that exists. Spontaneity is important, but I believe in preparing a lot as well. You have to get your structure perfectly; it can be enhanced spontaneously. Comedy as a genre works when people work in tandem. Comedy is not a one-man show. Woh ek akela aadmi aapko nahi hansa sakta. A punch becomes funny because of the reaction someone gives. It gets enhanced with the background music or the scene’s treatment on screen. The entire team has to be in sync for that to work.

I love comedy and I genuinely love to make people laugh. It’s a blessing to be able to do that and to go into a theatre and watch people reacting with laughter at a punch you delivered. Believe me, I used to do serious stuff like Anton Chekov’s plays in theatre. Auditioning for Fukrey was the first time that I tried comedy. When I started shooting, I started getting cold feet. I wasn’t sure if people would laugh. I have to credit Mrigdeep Singh Lamba for drawing out Choocha from me. When I saw people laughing in the theatres, I started crying because I was so overwhelmed. Koi khush hua mujhe dekh ke, koi hansa mere punch pe. So, even though I want to explore other genres, I will keep exploring comedy, too. So many people have warned me that I might get typecast. But I don’t want to jump into another genre unless I am excited with the content offered. I’m happy exploring what I love comedy. This genre has given me everything I have today. It would be unfair ki isko rok ke kuch aur attempt karun for the heck of it. And who says there’s only so much to comedies? I’m still learning. I feel that I don’t know if I can act. The day I start believing that I can act, I’ll be in deep trouble. As for trying something different, hopefully, next year, I will be doing something very different from what I’ve done so far.

Honestly, as an industry person, I want everything to work. It’s important. Comedy as a genre doesn’t have a saturation point really. Like horror-comedy was not a genre that was explored much until a few years ago with Stree. It worked. It was an experiment that got mainstream acceptance. To me, it doesn’t make a difference. I feel we should do our work with complete shiddat, and not overthink these things because there’s no guarantee of what will work in future and why. Art is subjectively loved by people.

When people say things like, ‘Fukrey toh cakewalk hai, tumhare toh blood mein hai,’ I feel like telling them, it’s not that! Fukrey is the closest to my heart, and Choocha is a character that laid the foundation of my career here. The fraternal acceptance, more work, my house, my expenses, my life it’s a gift of that character. This film is the starting line of so many people’s careers. It’s a special feeling to revisit that space. When we started out, I remember all of us were so raw, and some of us so inexperienced. We were just happy that we would get to see ourselves on the big screen. Nine years later, we have become more aware, experienced, mature and evolved. I had to unlearn everything to be able to do Choocha again.

I have an emotional attachment to the role. It’s a part of my life and my everything. For five years after my debut, people didn’t know my real name. In the last four years, Sexa from Chhichhore is the only other name that people have known me as. Otherwise, I’m Varun for them. I often tell my mother that she’s probably the only mother in the world who is proud ki unka beta ek fukra aur chhichhora hai. I don’t think and I don’t know if I can outgrow Choocha’s character. It’s too close to me.