‘There are no middlemen between me and my audience’

Actor-comedian Vir Das opened up about the kind of stories he wants to be associated with at this point in his career. He is all set to host the International Emmy Awards in November, a year after he won the trophy for his comedy special ‘Landing’.

Das has also received good reviews for his role as firebrand news anchor Satyajit Sen in ‘Call Me Bae’, headlined by Ananya Panday. “It has got to be fun. If it’s crazy, I will do it,” Das said about his criteria for choosing stories, irrespective of the platform.

“The way I look at it (my career) is that we’ve spent many years building the engine of a car or paid the EMI and now it’s time to take it for a drive. I’m blessed that there are no middlemen between me and my audience. I can access them directly and they’ll show up,” he told PTI in an interview.

The plan, he said, is to be associated with projects where he can add value or be at the creative helm.

“For instance, my next project is mounted by Aamir Khan and I co-directed it. That’s kind of, I think, the next thing, to start creating my own projects, acting-wise as well,” said the actor, who started out with films such as ‘Delhi Belly’, ‘Go Goa Gone’, ‘Mastizaade’ and ‘Shaadi Ke Side Effects’.

The comedy scene in cinema has also evolved over the years, Das said, recalling how there was no concept of a comedic leading man in India unlike the West, which has had the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller or Ricky Gervais.

“With each passing year, we are opening up to the idea of a comedic leading man instead of a leading man doing comedy,” he said.

In ‘Call Me Bae’, Das - whose stand-up specials like ‘Two-Indias’ became a hit for the way he took on issues plaguing the country and its democracy - got to play the kind of news anchor he has criticised in his stand-up acts. Asked whether he had a personal note about the way he wanted the character to appear on screen, the actor said that he didn’t want to play Satyajit Sen like a villain.

“A funny person is a funny person, no matter what the ideology is. I didn’t play him like a villain. I just played him like he believed what he believed and he has a very interesting relationship with privilege. He’s a very conflicted character in the sense that he resents privilege, but he also desires privilege deeply. That’s the core of the character. I just tried to play it as straight as I possibly could,” he added.