WE NEED CONTENT THAT MAKES US HAPPY: VIR DAS
The actor-comedian says that the Indian audience is ‘accepting’ and he is positive about more comedy shows becoming successful
Vir Das is looking forward to an eventful 2020. His latest comedy special for an OTT giant has grabbed a lot of eyeballs. And this year, he’s also gearing up to produce three films including a story about the Indian heartland, and a film with all-women cast. Sharing his plans, he says, “We’re doing horror, comedy and a little bit of dramedy as well. I’m looking at new spaces and the stories that haven’t been told yet. I’ve an affection for edgy stuff and things that have a little bit of novelty attached to it. It’s important for stories to have an element of joy in them. Hence, we need content that makes us happy.”
Ask him about his decision to turn producer and he says, “My calendars for the next few years got full but I had more ideas than what my calendar would allow and that’s why I thought that it was time to turn those ideas into reality. I’m excited to produce newer kind of comedy and content.”
Vir believes that now is the time to experiment with content as India is the “largest content market in the world”. He elaborates, “Every platform is recognising it. 1.3 billion people, after watching things like gang wars, gore and people dying in feature films and web shows, need to laugh at some point. So, we have a very bright future ahead for people like us who want to focus on creating comic content. The audience is very accepting of different kinds of content. We’ve one of the best audiences in the world.”
A while back, he shot for the pilot episode of the spinoff of an American television sitcom. Vir shares, “We shot for an episode. We popped in and popped out. There’s a certain excitement around that. I was just excited to work with Preity (Zinta). She has a great comic timing. I was excited to fit into the machine that they have.”
A few weeks back, he brought his special comedy set to India for the first time after holding shows across the globe. “Loved Tour is a universal show as it’s themed on love. By love, I don’t mean only romantic love; it also means love for your country, for your fellow men, your religion, family and politics. I performed the show abroad and then brought it to India rather than doing it the other way round, so that I could bring a fresher perspective to the home crowd,” he says.