Sunil Grover who won the The Milano Filmfare ME Outstanding Talent on TV, cinema and OTT tells Manju Ramanan how comedy doesn’t come easy for him!
Any memories from school and performing onstage?
In school, once I was mimicking one of my teachers in front of the whole class and I didn’t know that the teacher who I was mimicking, had entered the class. He pulled me to the principal’s room and said, “Yeh meri nakal utaar raha tha.” (he was imitating me) The principal, jocularly asked me to perform what I did in class and when I did, he said, “Theek toh kar raha tha.” (He was doing it right) and people burst out laughing. I then cheekily told the principal, that I can imitate you too. That is when he said that, “If you wanted to study in my school, never imitate me in front of me.” (Laughs)
How did you design your characters?
I enjoy the process of getting into a character and achieving his/her mindset. Sometimes these characters are imaginary and sometimes they pop out of your life experiences. I love people and looking at them. It is a sub-conscious effort and the more I like people, I feel that I copy them and their body languages better. People amaze me, their behaviour interests me, you can sense the cities and their professions from their body language and speech changes. Are they stuck up, are they free-minded, how do they behave when they are busy and ignore so many things? Each person has a tempo of talking and how they talk at different occasions is different, where they pause, how dialects change – all of this really excites and entertains me.
How did you meet Jaspal Bhatti and how did he train you?
I was in the first year of college when I met Jaspal Bhatti who was taking auditions for his show. I come from a small town of Manitapwali, that is in the border of Haryana and Chandigarh and Bhatti saab started calling me for his gags and shows. It is was an exciting part of my life to watch how humour is created and how a humorous line is formed. It was my first introduction to crafted humour. He was a master of satire and between his funny anecdotes, was a message to society. It was beautiful learning from him.
What is the toughest thing about comedy that people don’t know?
Comedy is difficult. Someone or the other knows everything you don’t know. Most people think it is natural and comes easy but there is a lot of work that goes behind it. For me, it is a tough art form.
THE MILANO FILMFARE MIDDLE EAST ACHIEVERS NIGHT THANKS THE FOLLOWING
Headline Sponsor : MILANO
Powered by: THE DUA GROUP
Platinum Partner: ARAB AND INDIA SPICES LLC
Gold Partner: MAI DUBAI
Silver Partner: BCC EVENTS
Category Sponsors: CASA MILANO
AKSPRI JEWELLERY
LPH FINANCIAL SERVICES
ARL TYRES
NORTH LADDER
TRISTAR
Malabar Gold and Diamond
Vii Dubai
Mediheal Group of Companies
Gifting Partners: BLOOMING BOX
ORGABLISS
Exclusive Magazine Partner: FILMFARE MIDDLE EAST
Exclusive English Newspaper Partner: GULF NEWS
Television Partner: B4U PLUS; B4U AFLAM,
Radio Partners: 89.1 RADIO 4 FM; GOLD 4 101.3 FM,
Media Partner : ARY DIGITAL
Digital Partners: PEEPINGMOON; KOIMOI; 3IN DUBAI; BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA; FILMY KALAKAR; BOLLYWOOD TASHAN,
Support Partners: WEYYAK , MANJU’S VOGUE
Venue Partner: THE MEYDAN HOTEL DUBAI
Ticketing Partner: PLATINUMLIST TICKETS,
Healthcare partner : Gargash Hospital
Event Brought to you by: STARZ MEDIA,
Script by Parth Gadhavi, Official DJ for the event is DJ Emwee