Kurupt FM’S Japanese diary
Asim Chaudhry (aka Chabuddy G) writes an exclusive account of the cult BBC mockumentary’s Japan-set first big-screen outing
THE ARRIVAL
I arrive in Japan a bit late. I was supposed to fly out the night before, but there was actually a typhoon in Japan, so my flight was delayed. Straight away, drama! I’m really jet-lagged and have to go straight into rehearsal. Quite intense. No time to relax. Coming to Japan, there’s a massive culture shock anyway. In the world of Kurupt FM, ‘out-of-town’ is somewhere like Ipswich. My character, Chabuddy G, is not from England, but one of his talking heads in the show is like, “I’m a very well-travelled man — I’ve been to Luton, I’ve been to Wigan, I went to Leeds one time…”
THE FIRST DAY OF FILMING
The first thing we film is us walking through Tokyo. Literally, central Tokyo, Shibuya Crossing, all of that. It’s packed. There’s this thing in Japan where you can’t really get permission to shoot in those locations. You have to just do a bit of guerilla filming. Just insane. It’s a beautifully bonkers place, Japan. Everyone does their own thing. We don’t look that weird — you’ll see a grown man in a princess outfit, or you’ll see a woman dressed as Sonic The Hedgehog, and no-one looks at them, at all. We are, like, the least bizarre thing there. Japan just welcomes all.
THE SHOOT CONTINUES
We’re working very, very long hours. We really have to bang it out — we’re on quite a tight schedule. I do a couple of scenes where I have to do karaoke singing. Chabuddy up to his usual shenanigans. We actually wanted to make Chabuddy’s storyline really seedy, originally. We had this whole idea about him falling in love with one of those sex robots. It didn’t make it into the film, thank God.
THE FINAL DAY
I’m so knackered. I think I burned myself out. It was a tough shoot. My girlfriend’s come out for a few days. She knows I’m miserable after a shoot. I think we have to just always remind ourselves — we’re in fucking Japan! Like, what the fuck? We started off on Youtube, just a few mates making a silly little comedy show. And now we’re in Japan. Surreal!
PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING: BIG IN JAPAN IS IN CINEMAS FROM 18 AUGUST