40 shades of laughter

Long-time buddies and collaborators comedians Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijayakar celebrate and embrace growing older with their latest gig 40 Shades of Grey

What do Indian men do after they turn 40 Comedian Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijaykar with their stand-up cum theatrical entertainment act make fun of the life and times of Indian men after 40, with a generous helping of personal references.

An extension of Cyrus Broacha’s book, The Average Indian Male, this stand-up routine includes audience participation and some song and dance too. Talking about the concept, Cyrus shares, “If you’re expecting any sadism and masochism, please don’t get your hopes high because the show stars just the two of us. Basically, what you will have on stage is two middle-aged guys telling stories of their aging life and hopefully we will find a group of people in the audience who’ll be able to associate with the situations.”

While Cyrus will present a first-person account, Kunal will interrupt him by donning different characters. “I think the idea happened when Cyrus finally agreed to admit that he has indeed turned 40 and it’s finally time to come out of the closet and reveal to the world that he is indeed an old man now,” shares Kunal Vijayakar with a laugh.

With the emergence of social media, many young aspiring stand-up comedians are able to showcase their talent to a wider range of audiences. Talking about how the comedy scene has involved over the years, the duo states, “Currently, the comedy scene in India is exploding. It’s in its best phase and it’s the right time to explore new avenues. More the people try comedy, the more it is good for business and it will help in producing better content in different genres of comedy.”

Kunal continues, “It’s nice to watch people in groups going to watch one man or one woman who stands on stage and makes them explode with laughter. It did not happen so much with the English language earlier but it’s happening now and it is extremely encouraging to see the market opening up like this.”

The duo, who have been successfully hosting a news satire show, The Week That Wasn’t for the last one decade, shares that they never faced any hindrances unlike their counterparts. Cyrus says, “It has been quite a smooth sailing for us, this particular show (40 Shades of Grey) is bereft of all politics and we are just poking fun at each other and people in general. Now, with the current situation where everybody seems to get offended by everything, if this offends some people, please don’t point the gun at us. Just call up the producer.”

Cyrus and Kunal are really excited about their first performance in Delhi. When quizzed about the new talents to watch out for in the Indian comedy scene, Kunal says, “Just because we are doing a show called 40 Shades of Grey (Hair) doesn’t mean we are not young anymore (laughs). So yes, the young talent that we find impressive is Cyrus and I, but otherwise Kanan Gill, Abish Mathew and a lot of other names as well. It;s a long list.”

On October 23, 5 pm onwards at Kamani Auditorium