Over the years, Vir Das may have courted several controversies and criticism for his stand-up gigs but the Indian comedian knows where to put his focus. The actor-comedian, who recently dropped his fourth special titled Landing with the streaming platform Netflix, tells News18 in an exclusive conversation that the backlashes and the outcries don’t stop him from taking risks as a performer.
“The appreciation for stand-up comedy far outweighs the odd person getting upset about things. At the end of the day, if you have got 15 million people who appreciate what you do and 5-6 people who don’t appreciate it, any smart person would know where to focus their attention. I hope people who don’t enjoy my content, find something else that they do,” says Vir.
In his new Netflix Special, the comedian talks about being an Indian Global Citizen and the feeling of coming back home. Elaborating on what’s in store, he says, “The show was about a flight home and the central feeling of what it means to come home after you’ve travelled the world. It discusses what it means to be an Indian Global Citizen, what it means to carry your country across the world, and then how it feels to come home to your country. It talks about today, talks about social media, current events and presidencies and all of those things. But it’s loaded with a lot of personal stories as you do think about when you are about to come home.”
For his last special, titled For India, Vir earned an International Emmy Nomination. However, his clip landed him in trouble back home in India. Vir says that the way to deal with this duality is by focusing one’s attention on the positive things. “You have to focus your energy on the positive and keep doing what you do. I don’t think anybody can predict anymore what’s going to be controversial. It could literally be anything these days. Even if you are in the news for a little bit, today’s newspapers will wrap tomorrow’s samosas.”
So, do the rest of the comedians come together to support each other every time one of them lands in a controversy? Vir answers, “Most comedians are there for each other. We’re always supportive of each other and appreciate each other’s work. There is a huge set of community in the scene.” He also adds that the stand-up comedy scene in India is healthy and flourishing. “BookMyShow released a report about live events recently and out of the top 10 live events in the country in 2022, the second was my tour (Wanted India tour) and three comedians were there in the top 10. That says what it needs to say. People want to spend money to come and laugh and it is a healthy flourishing scene.”
Vir shares that he travelled to almost 35 countries this year and did around 183 shows. He emphasised that Indian content is global content right now and wherever he went this year, people were talking about SS Rajamouli’s film RRR, which has also earned two Golden Globe nominations this year.
“As an artist, I firmly believe that Indian content is global content. You’re seeing that reinforced by many genres of music, many genres of films, with Indian literature and authors. Look at what’s happening with an RRR as well. The more authentic the Indian content is, the more global it is. Everywhere you go in the world, there is a palatable version of Indian culture. There is an American version of Indian culture which the diaspora has or a British version of Indian culture which is seen on their local television. But now we finally have the technology with these platforms to take authentic Indian culture out to the world. India produces global content,” he says.
Asked about what kind of Indian content is popular abroad, he informs, “I think RRR is the success story of the year. It is a uniquely and authentically Indian film with a gigantic global appeal. That’s what everyone is talking about wherever I go.”
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