Vir Das on his second Netflix show winning acclaim and comparisons with comic Hasan Minhaj
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; December 18, 2018)

In showbiz parlance, you know you've arrived when your face is splashed across a billboard on Times Square. But Vir Das chooses to play it cool when we meet him at his Bandra office. "What star? I am perpetually jet lagged, and I have to take Watson [his bull dog] to the vet. Stars don't do these things," he quips. And just like that, his self-deprecating brand of humour comes to the fore.

After Abroad Understanding (2017), his second Netflix original, Losing It, has opened to a thunderous response. The stand-up comic is currently working on his third collaboration with the streaming giant. It's no mean feat, but Das gives himself little credit for how his career shaped up.

"It was a stroke of luck; an agency saw my work, flew me down and I had to do an improv at a Hollywood club. Netflix officials saw me there and offered me a show. ABC Studios spotted me during my appearance on Late Night With Conan O' Brien. That's how I came on board for Whiskey Cavalier [an upcoming series]. I see my career as a collective act of kindness. Indian fans tagged their US friends; it is because of them that my appearance on Conan's series was amongst the most watched videos of his show."

Das is probably the only Indian comic who has made his presence felt internationally. Ask him if there's a method to the madness, and he says, "I can't wear that introspective look and talk about my craft. I am focussed on what I have to do right now - I cannot be bad at all, and being good requires a great deal of work. Only artistes who take themselves seriously talk about their process. Don't over-intellectualise me, I am a joker!"

Comparisons with Netflix's blue-eyed boy, comic Hasan Minhaj, are inevitable. But Das shrugs it off, saying, "Hasan and I have deep respect for each other, and we have conveyed it warmly. But our work is drastically different. His is a classic American story, a first-generation immigrant take. It's assumed that people are pigeonholed in America, but that's not true. People want to know who you are and what your story is."

By Das' own admission, Priyanka Chopra has been instrumental in paving the path for more Indian artistes in the US. "Population statistics also come into play because American network shows are now on digital platforms. I try to make my writing personal to make sure that there is more than mere laughs. I wrote Losing It as a show questioning religion, masculinity and world views. When I go on stage, I walk out as a proud Indian. I make fun of my country and take immense pride even in the jokes. I don't care who is left or right in my audience. I don't endorse tribalism and that's what I maintain through my acts."

Deepali Singh (DNA; December 10, 2018)

“It’s cold!” are the first words Vir Das utters when he comes on the line to speak to us. The stand-up comedian, actor and musician, is stationed in Prague to shoot for the American TV show Whiskey Cavalier and it’s minus five degrees there. It might be freezing cold, but Vir is enjoying being the new guy on the sets. He tells us. “I’ve never done a mainstream network American show. It’s an action comedy about four people who are part of a team that saves the world every week. We get to wear suits and fire guns,” he says.

For someone whose phone had stopped ringing after the debacle called Mastizaade in 2016, Vir seems to be juggling a lot of balls in the air. Apart from the TV show, he’s writing and acting in a Hindi web series, and has three films including the sequel of Go Goa Gone. Moreover, his second Netflix special, Losing It, is all set to release tomorrow. “I’m always happiest when I’m over-busy,” he exclaims. “I have worked very hard to be this exhausted in life,” he adds.

Why are you ‘losing it’ and what exactly are you losing?
The show’s about losing who you were as an individual and questioning all of your beliefs in life. It’s about waking up and realising that you don’t believe 90 per cent of the sh*t you used to believe — so re-questioning your perspective, religion, your politics, relationships, friendships, career, masculinity, feminism — all of it. I think it’s a point in life a lot of people can relate to, specially when they enter their 30s. It’s also a show where I, in a certain sense, lost my nationality as well because I took a year off to travel across the globe. I went to 33 different countries to write this show and it’s also about that — your Indian identity in the world today.

So it’s a lot more personal than your earlier show, Abroad Understanding?
I think so. In the first one, I was trying to introduce myself to people and I had to talk about what they wanted to talk about. Now, it’s like a second date and I will say things I want to talk about. So, there are stories about me going bankrupt, falling sick, about being a dishonest child, being a compulsive liar etc.

Do you think now, more than ever, a stand-up comedian is also required to be a social commentator?
No, I think a stand-up comedian is required to be a storyteller. There’s no point going there and making social statements you cannot weave within the quilt of a story, otherwise you’re just making a speech and not doing comedy.

You have also written your first Hindi web series, Hasmukh and you’re acting in it as well...
(Cuts in) Yes, but I should clarify that I have only written the story with Nikkhil Advani. There’s a writer’s room of eight talented writers who have done the screenplay and dialogue. I took the idea of the show to Nikkhil two years ago and he’s directing it. I play Hasmukh, the title character. He’s a serial killer and it’s a nice range for me to go that way — the opposite of who I am.

In movies, you have mostly been the funny guy. Do you want to move away from those kind of roles and try something totally different?
With movies or acting, initially, you’re just trying to get your foot in the door, so you just do what is given to you. I don’t think you get to start experimenting till you have a fan base that is so sizeable that people can’t ignore it. There is an artistic intention to do these things, but it needs business viability.

What’s happening on the music front and your band, Alien Chutney?
It’s been about three or four months since I made any music. The plan is to make another Alien Chutney album by the middle of next year.

Do your roles as an actor, stand-up comedian and musician overlap?
It’s natural to have them all together and the audiences overlap as well. We’ve always been overkeen to compartmentalise. What we are realising is that audiences are looking for variety from the same artiste. The same guy who is going to watch a Rohit Shetty film, will watch a Neerja and the same guy will watch a good series online. So, it’s possible to do different things and entertain viewers through the year.