Sunil Grover: People want to see us as female characters, there’s nothing wrong with that

From Gutthi to Chutki, Sunil Grover has played many female characters on screen. But on a recent visit to the capital, Grover told us that personally, he most enjoys playing a female cop. “Mere ko cop play karne mein bahut maza aata hai, especially a female cop. Of course you get more power – ek women power milti hai aur saath mein ek cop ki power toh hoti hi hai!”

Delhi se achha Hindi theatre aur kahin nahin hota
Grover, who belongs to Haryana, also revealed that at one point of time, he used to do many plays and had even performed a few of them in Delhi.And as talks veer from his latest outing, The Kapil Sharma Show, to Delhi’s theatre scene, he says, “I am from Haryana. I used to do theatre in Chandigarh. Delhi mein bhi thoda bahut theatre kiya hai. I watch plays but I don’t get the time to do plays now. Dilli mein Hindi theatre ka scene bahut achha hai. I think Delhi se achha Hindi theatre aur kahin nahin hota. NSD is one of the best academies we have. Yahaan par bahut achhe plays hote hain. Mumbai mein kaafi log hain jo Dilli mein theatre kar chuke hain aur ab woh Mumbai mein theatre kar rahe hain. Lekin Delhi mein jo theatre hai, woh kaafi realistic aur issue-based hai. Mumbai mein jo Hindi theatre hai, woh Bollywood aur TV celebs’ ke aas-paas revolve karta hai. Gujarati theatre is quite big in Mumbai. Even our comedy show, The Kapil Sharma Show, is a lot like theatre because of the way it’s been set up. Of course, when you are doing a show for TV, there are technical nuances, but the show is like a play.”

In Mumbai, the jokes revolve around Bollywood
Apart from appreciating the theatre scene in Delhi, Grover also has nice things to say about the Delhi audience. “The Delhi audience is amazing. When we shot for The Kapil Sharma Show here, I saw that the Delhi audience understood a lot of the political jokes and even those that were very subtle were quite well received. Yeh badi kamaal ki cheez hai. Dilli mein logon ka political inclination aur interest hai. They can also laugh at themselves. When you are performing in Mumbai, you are addressing the whole of India. When you are shooting in Mumbai or working there, you get a reaction from the entire nation aur yeh nahin pata ki kaun si jagah se kya reaction aaye. When we are performing in Mumbai, the jokes revolve more around Bollywood,” he tells us.
People want to see us as female characters, there’s nothing wrong with that
When Grover shot in Delhi for the first episode of Kapil’s comedy show, there were a lot of people who were screaming ‘Gutthi, Gutthi’ (the name of his character from Comedy Nights With Kapil). Grover says that when men play female characters, they are usually appreciated, but such characters are quite difficult to play. “Those characters made us what we are. People want to see us as female characters. There’s nothing wrong with that. Logon ko female characters (played by men) dekhne mein bahut achhe lagte hain, but effort bahut lagta hai taiyaar hone mein,” he adds.

But aren’t comedians slammed for making a mockery of women through their attire and their sexist jokes? “Comedians ko bahut dara diya gaya hai. Yeh bada galat kaam kiya hai logon ne. Hum log pehle se hi bada sochkar (comedy) karte hain. There are so many things we cannot talk about – religion, sex etc. Humein bola jata hai ki equality ki hi baat karni hai, discriminatory nahin ho sakte hain. Hamaare khud ke bhi morals hain. Hamaari bhi families hain and we also don’t want to hurt anyone. Most of the time, it’s not an individual attack on anyone. Log usko politicise karne ke liye, uska benefit lene ke liye hype kar dete hain. Lekin hum logon ka nuksaan hota hai. Take it a little easy,” he says emphatically.

My suggestion was hire lawyers, not just writers, for the show
When Kiku Sharda was arrested in January for mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan, Grover had told us, ‘Ek lawyer ko saath mein rakh kar comedy ki script likha karenge’. Is it really that bad for comedians? “Actually hone lag gaya hai. Hamaare show ki creative director hain Preeti Simoes, aur mera pehla suggestion unko yeh tha ki scriptwriter toh le liye, par lawyer bhi rakh lo. Maine kahin padha tha ki puraane zamaane mein raje maharaje jesters rakhte thay apne court mein. Yeh log rajaaon ko unki kamiyaan batate thay thode hansi ke tareeqe se. The kings would understand their own faults, but in an entertaining way. Main yehi sochta hoon ki humein hamaari kamiyaan batane waale comedians hi hote hain aur unko mauka diya jaana chahiye,” he opines.
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