Happy Birthday, Kapil Sharma

Stardom  has not been  easy on Kapil Sharma.  He  got it overnight, and then he nearly lost it. There  was a time when he was really troubled , so troubled that  his close friends thought he  was  on the brink of  something really catastrophic. Throughout this  period I held  Kapil’s hand,virtually, reassured him all will be well. He  confided in me  and  said I was one  of the few he trusted. I  made sure  not to lose that trust.

 Kapil  was  going through a  phase where he  needed   friends, really desperately.He had locked himself away from all humanI remember trying to get in touch  with Kapil for his birthday  in 2017. He was unreachable for the  entire day. He  finally responded to my calls and said,  “There is nothing special  about this day. I will consider  my  life special again when I can solve  all the problems that are troubling me. I know I’ve created these problems  for myself. I want my well-wishers and fans to pray for me. I know I’m disappointing them. I can feel it. I am disappointing myself.”

 It saddened me  to see  Kapil so disappointed  with the world.  I kept asking what  I could do to make  him feel more  secure and comfortable. “Sir, just be there  for me. Aur mujhe kuch nahin chahiye,” he  would  say.

I’ve known Kapil Sharma from the time his  show became  a rage.Our  bonding began  when he told me  he admired me for taking on a  superstar. “Aap kisise darte  nahin ho,aapko  koi khareed nahin sakta.Aap  bikao  nahin ho,  ” he  observed.

 I found him warm  funny extremely  relaxed  and natural in  front of the camera.And  no  vulgarity . Never! When Kapil  was on Karan  Johar’s show he was asked questions that made  him really uncomfortable. He pretended not to  understand them.

“Karan Sir ke andar ek bahot his sharaarati ladki chupi hui  hai,” Kapil deadpanned. I  fell off my chair laughing. So  did Karan when I shared the  observation with him.

Kapil and I could discuss anything. Once I asked  him why he  keeps  making digs  about people’s weight  on his show  and he said,  “ I need to lose weight myself.So I make make digs at other people’s weight. Maybe my jibes  would help them to lose weight.And please tell me,if my jibe about someone’s stomach has  1.5 crore people in splits then what’s wrong with it?There is such a clamour to be part of the audience on my shows . I sometimes feel we should  ticket the entry on my show  and give the money to charity.”

 Hard to believe. But Kapil  didn’t want to be  a  standup comedian. “I wanted to be a  singer . I never knew I’d end up as a stand-up comedian.I used to sing in school . Then in college I took to doing serious theatre(acting) for about 12 years. Yeh comedy toh bass ho gaya. Hamare Punjab mein do terah ke log hote hain. Chahe to kuch nahin karte yaa seedhe pradhan-mantri ban jaate hain.”

 Kapil had the quality most needed to  be  good  comedian. He  was a good observer. “I come from Amritsar where people have a lot of time to snoop into their neighbours’ lives.My mother has a sharp sense of humour.”

 He  was always a  funny guy, though . “My journey as a professional comic actor began on a regional channel . I got a good response from Punjab for it. Then I tried to get into Laughter Challenge. But they rejected me. I auditioned again.  Ironically the same judges who had rejected me ultimately declared me the winner on Laughter Challenge. That’s how my journey began.I have gone through many phases in my life and career. I’ve even served as a drama teacher in  a girls’ college. That was a seasonal job.And I kept wondering, would I be coaching girls how to act all my life?What about the artiste in me? That’s when I gravitated towards television.”

 Now  happily married  to a woman who  has devoted all her life to looking after him Kapil is enjoying fatherhood.  “I never knew it would  suit me  so much.I’ve seen a lot of improvement in my work. But an artiste is always  learning. And I’ll remain a student all my life. If I start believing I know everything it would be the end  of my journey.Ek artiste ki bhookh kabhi khatm nahin hoti.”

Stay  hungry, Kapil.