Bharti Singh in Comedy Nights Bachao on Colors
Not many people would like to get slammed in public, especially celebrities who are very particular about their personality, way of living and the success of their movies at the Box Office. But Comedy Nights Bachao will feature daring guests who will face criticism with open arms and laugh at it too. The twist is, these celebs also get a chance to poke fun at the comedians on the show. Bharti Singh talks to Sangeeta Yadav about the insult genre and the show’s format which is going on air from September 5 on Colors
- On Comedy Nights Bachao
A comedy show based on the insult genre or lampoon is very rare on Indian TV. But Comedy Nights Bacho (CNB) will fill this gap and have celebrity guests who will become the butt of all jokes. Not just that, they’ll get opportunity to poke fun at the comedians too.
- On the USP
If a celebrity comes to a TV show, hosts and various other people on the show do sweet talk to praise them like they are big fan of them and have watched all their movies. But in CNB, we are telling them the truth and making fun of their work, life and personality traits. It takes guts to face insults.
- On celebrity guests
Only those celebrities can sit on the chair of CNB who have the capacity to listen to the truth and face criticism with laughter.
- On other comedians
It’s not a single person’s show. Instead, we have a team of 10 comedians who work like a joint family. We have divided ourself in five groups — Krushna Abhishek, Sudesh Lahiri and Sara Khan; me, Karan Wahi and Pritam Singh; Anita Hassanandani and Mubeen; Shruti Seth and Shakeel Siddiqui; and Pooja Bose and Naseem Vicky.
- On similarity with AIB
This show is very different from the AIB roast. With the amount of vulgarity that AIB had, being an Indian, we would never be able to watch it sitting with our family. Whereas CNB is laughter created out of criticism but it is funfilled. It’s like when a brother-in-law comes to live for a day in a Punjabi family and everybody pulls his leg and teases him.
- On actors getting offended
In the first episode, we have Sohail Khan and Mika Singh as the guests. We asked Mika: ‘Paaji apke paas Hummer hai. Toh aapne rikshawali jaisi ladki ki pappi kyu li?’. We asked Sohail Khan that ‘aap toh Salman Khan ka autograph market me beech ker paise kamate hai naa?
These are the awkward questions and punch lines they faced but they didn’t feel bad about it but laughed it off. Mika and Khan brothers are renowned in the industry and would not like if somebody would make fun or critise them. But on this show, they took it very sportingly and our confidence grew manifold after their reaction.
- On scripting
Our creative team is very strong and we have been doing comedy shows from very long time. They are our backbone of the show and the creative team, director and writer sit together and brainstrom over the script. If we tell them that we can’t say or do what is written in the script, they take it in a good spirit and make changes according to our convenience.
- On future plans
I’m a very big fan of Gaurav Gera and Sunil Grover and their characters Chutki and Gutthi looks hilarious yet relatable. I really like the way when Chutki says shopkeeper… hanji behenji. If Chutki and Lalli would come together, it’s going to be a laughter blast.
- On completing 7 years
I am becoming more enthusiastic and have grown stronger day by day. I love to do comedy and when I see people appreciating me it gives me a high. There are so many people whose’s living is based on the show. If we 10 comedians are performing in CNB, there are 700 people who have been associated with us who work hard.
(The article published in The Pioneer Newspaper on August 30, 2015. http://www.dailypioneer.com/show-time/the-joke-is-on-you.html)
CREATERGY 