Stand-up has hardly scratched the surface in Chennai market, says Aravind SA

CHENNAI: Aravind SA is one for his friends always. He cherishes his years of closely woven friendship with Anirudh Ravichander whom he calls a one-of-a-kind star. After cheering his pal, Aravind was on his way back home from Anirudh’s electrifying Singapore concert, where he spoke to us about his show which he calls 'personal'.

Tickling people's funny bones for two long years about his overthinking mind, not so much of a tryst as an assistant director in Tamil cinema, side-splitting relationship with his therapist, We Need to Talk, his third outing, has it all.

Excerpts from the interview:

What genre of comedian would you call yourself?

Your style tends to evolve with you as a person and an artist. We Need to Talk is less observational and more anecdotal. I don't know if this is what I'll do next. When you sit down to write, it all depends on what your inspirations are, what your mind space is at and what you feel excited about. I am more anecdotal as there is something about wanting to share a story that happened in my life that excites me more than wanting to share a general observation on life.

What went behind the scripting of We Need to Talk?

My first show of We Need to Talk was staged in April-May of 2022 in Dubai. I was there for a month to script the show and I previewed it to a small audience, where I was surprisingly applauded with a standing ovation. Soon I realised there is something here that I can work on.

How have your early years as an assistant director in Tamil cinema inspired your stand-up journey?

I definitely took inspiration from there, but not the sort of inspiration that you might be expecting. I wanted to jump onto the first available opportunity of storytelling as a sustainable means, unlike cinema.

I followed my skill set, prioritising sustainability and reward, rather than chasing an elusive dream. There are thousands of people waiting to chase the glitz and glam of cinema. But there were just a handful that wanted to be a stand-up comedian back then.

Since then to now, how has the realm of stand-up augmented in India?

There are more comedians today doing this full time in the country and in Chennai to be specific than there were when I started in 2011-12. Back then, it took us four or five years of just indulging as a hobby to eventually kind of build the critical mass that made us want to pursue it full time. Today, people have a much better means to make this work because consumption of content is digital. Building an audience for yourself is also easier if you are consistent, and hit a minimum baseline. There are good entry points for someone looking to take this up as a profession today. Audiences are continuing to transition into the art of stand-up. But we have barely scratched the surface in terms of the market potential.

There are definitely way more people out there who would love to consume stand-up comedy. But since the best form of consumption is live, there are only limited shows that one can do. Therefore, we just don't have enough comedians to cater to the number of people out there who actually would like comedy. Therefore, it’s always going to be a growing industry with a lot of demand, but little supply.

What do you think is the chief reason for this show flushing great responses?

I guess in India we still don't speak openly about issues one might be grappling with and the help they might need. I felt a sense of responsibility as someone who has a voice and a platform.

Not wanting to sound preachy, as mental health is an experience that one can speak from with confidence and strength, because it's true to them. It's what they have gone through. I think that gives people a lot of strength and therefore they feel seen, heard, represented. That's where art completes itself.

Could you elucidate about your collaboration with AMM Foundation?

The AMM Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Murugappa Group. So around midway of my tour, I had people from the Murugappa Group who had come to see the show. They reached out later with their AMM Foundation. That was a milestone year for them, and mental wellness was their prime focus.

We thought of a basic microsite, which has all the information on general mental health, where people can understand at a basic level about why our mind is the way it is and what sort of behaviours are associated with anxiety and stress. If we could consolidate all that information and curate it with a professional, which we ended up doing, to ensure that it is professionally vetted and yet very accessible in terms of language and content, then maybe they can understand themselves or their friend better.

What kind of comedy works in today's day and age? And how do you see it evolving in the near future?

Today we have such a diverse portfolio of talent and skill set. Somebody like Zakir Khan tells incredible stories which are entirely anecdotal, and you have Kanan Gill, who is so intelligent with his writing, who is observational and incredibly American in terms of his skills. And there is somebody like me who is very basic, who can tell simple stories. So I really can’t point out a specific genre of comedy that will work.

But I believe as long as it's authentic, no matter what time we live in, I think authenticity is going to sell like anything in art. Because authenticity is the closest that you can get someone to experience something that they have experienced as well.

How do you find Chennai audiences acceptance towards stand-up?

Stand-up wave in Chennai has been quite revolutionary in the past 12 years. Who knew then that there is going to be an industry for stand-up comedy where there are going to be artistes who are going to break through and get thousands of people to auditoriums to pay to see them perform live.

Years back, it was probably AR Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja known to host live shows in the city.

Chennai has artistes like Alexander Babu, fondly known as Alex, who is entirely musical and can take you on a musical journey with comedy relying on pop culture musical references. He weaves a story while playing multiple instruments. There is nobody in our country who does that other than him. But I would say we have hardly scratched the surface when it comes to Chennai as a market for the artform.

What is your take on the lack of contribution of female stand up comedians from Tamil Nadu?

Women are still incredibly underrepresented in India. We have Sumukhi Suresh from Chennai, but even with her prowess and credentials, she doesn't probably do as many live shows as other comedians who are always touring. Women have the basic disadvantages in every working environment and the ease with which they can pursue a career, especially comedy, in terms of support system from home to even opportunities in the circuit, to also the audience believing and letting them grow in this space.

Having said that, there are women comedians who, after a break-through show, pivot into other opportunities like acting and directing. One takes time and needs to be regular with stand-up.

Adult comedy has established itself to a wide range of audiences today. What is your take on this genre of comedy?

I certainly have indulged in a lot of adult humor in my earlier shows, especially the previous show of mine called I Was Not Ready Da. I spoke about many topics which was effectively a story of a boy coming of age, his first time in a pharmacy to buy a condom, or the first time in a strip club in the USA when your friends took you there.

I thought I spoke about it with the innocence that I found exciting as a storyteller, because that innocence converts into anxiety, converts into humor.

And that's where this whole conservatism that we have in our society that makes us feel all these, and therefore, humour comes out of it.

Art is subjective. Art comes from life and I don't think it is something that influences life as much as life influences art.

It’s not like we all live a sanitised life where we have never been exposed to adult talks.

We should never sit in judgment of these things because at the end of the day, the objective is to entertain and not to insult or disgust someone. The objective is purely to entertain.

How do you think Tamil films today have helped in promoting comedy?

Comedy as a genre hasn't got the recognition it deserves. It's not as common as it used to be earlier. Tamil comedy films back were centred on humour within families, within simpler lives and middle class stories. Films like Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom, the 2012 film of Vijay Sethupathi- those are the sort of stories that are brilliantly woven into comedy pieces, made out of real situations. There still are audiences for the genre, but we are not making enough of those light-hearted funny movies anymore.

We Need to Talk is streaming exclusively on Insider.in till January 5. Check out now to know exactly what Aravind SA wants to talk about.