Sunil Grover:I chose to do comedy because making people laugh is noble

A midst the cacophony of allegations against ‘comedians hurting sentiments’, ‘comedy shows garnering TRPs basis unhealthy content’, Sunil Grover remains steadfastly devoted to his vocation to make people laugh.

“Nothing else comes before or after this one fact that comedy should make people laugh,“ says Sunil, adding, “And that laughter is coming from whatever the content, is irrelevant.People are not stupid, you know, that they will laugh at sensitive subjects. So, let’s stop judging audience intellect and say that XYZ content is hurting and is not funny. Period.”

The guy who became a household name after his Gutthi act has his pragmatic lenses on after all the trials. “Before 'The Kapil Sharma Show' started, people were critical saying, your new show resembles the previous one, Comedy Nights With Kapil, in the promos. Yes, even if that were true, so what? People ‘want’ me to reprise a woman’s role, people ‘want’ to see us do the same things for the simple fact that it made them laugh,” he argues, adding, “The intention is to make people laugh and yes, if the previous show succeeded and the new one resembles that one, well, that’s a compliment then. So long as audiences laugh at it, I’m OK.”

The actor has also made a debut in his mother tongue, Punjabi with the film Vaisakhi List with Jimmy Sheirgill recently. “Before the film release, it felt like I had to take a board exam and was nervous,” he says with his signature half grin. And was the film worth its wait? “Oh yes! I instantly said yes to this film. After all, my role offered me a transition from a character on TV to the hero of a film.” However, Sunil did have one worry though. “Despite the film being a comedy, there are emotional moments in it too. I used to think what if people see my emotional side and start laughing since they are so used to seeing me clowning!” As for lessons from the Kiku Sharda episode, Sunil reacts with a scathing statement. “After Kiku was detained by cops in the name of hurting religious sentiments, we have to keep spoofing off politics, religion, sex, caste, colour... the list includes almost everything. C’mon! Are we forgetting to laugh? Let’s look at our selves objectively and not get egotistical. Of course, comedians have ethics too but give some room to play the fool. These people don’t realise that we are not here because we want to fill our coffers. Believe me, I can do 10 other things to earn money. But I chose comedy because I’m doing a noble thing by making people laugh,” he trails off.
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