A ‘pretentious’ night
STAND-UP COMEDIANS KANAN GILL AND BISWA KALYAN RATH WERE IN THE CITY AND PUT UP A HILARIOUS SHOW
Cheesy Bollywood songs blare in the background as hundreds of youngsters hum the tunes, already laughing. In walk comedians Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath for their first show organised in Hyderabad by Kompetent Media. The duo talk about their journey so far.
“Biswa and I were both working in IT firms and we used to get together for open mic nights in Bengaluru,” says Kanan, nudging Biswa to tell the story about how their series Pretentious Movie Reviews started. “I went to watch this movie, Ship of Theseus and found it very pretentious. We then decided to review these old movies, that no one really cares about,” said Biswa.
The duo never reviews a current film. Kanan explained, “We didn’t want any copyright issues. We also wanted to show how some of the Bollywood movies were really bad back then.” And they admit, they don’t watch any B’town movies except the ones they review.
Talking about the stand-up comedy scene here, Biswa says, “People should get together and have more open mic nights. And if they are willing to do so, we are all here to help.”
Both of them have quit their jobs to pursue comedy. Ask them about their finances and Biswa jokingly pulls out his wallet, shows the wads of notes inside, and says, “And this is just money for lunch. Just write that we are rich!” Jokes aside, he adds, “We generate our revenues from the shows we do around the country.”