No joke, Vile Parle gets a new laugh club

Comedian Surabhi Vanzara onstage at the new venue. PICS COURTESY/INK A LAUGH

Is this supposed to be some kind of a joke?" regulars who show up to the salon at shop 10 in Queen's Lawn building in Vile Parle West this week might wonder. They're not entirely wrong. The jokes are inside, at the new Ink-A-Laugh comedy club that stands where a compact salon once operated. Revamped by hand by comedians Rohan Chawda and Akshat Davla, the 40-seater space hit the ground running late last month.

"Rohan was a diamond jewellery designer, and I was working for an automotive company when we met at an open mic in Dubai," Davla reveals. Turning the infamous tax-saving jugaad on its head, the Mumbai duo first established the comedy business in Dubai, and later moved it to India in 2018. It didn't do their pockets any favours, they agree. "But you can grow only so much performing in a third-party venue. We wanted a space of our own where we called the shots, and that comes with a heavy price tag in a space-jammed city like Mumbai," he admits.

Rohan Chawda enjoys his stage time at the new space

"I wanted the interiors to sport brick walls. It's reminiscent of the comedy clubs in the West, where the art form was born," says Davla. A 22-day effort with some help from their friends saw the vision come to life. "We got fully hands-on, helping with the cleaning, running errands and fixing the stage and equipment," Chawda recalls. The new space now features a performance area, with a green room for pre-show shenanigans.

The duo's larger gameplan falls into place when we look at the club on the map. A short three-minute drive from the NMIMS-Mithibai College complex, Chawda agrees that their target audience is the collegians looking to blow some steam off after a long day. "Vile Parle loves being entertained. There's a large audience for stage shows in English and Gujarati. Unfortunately, there's a long stretch from Borivli to Khar, where comedy venues are few and far apart," he rues.

Akshat Davla and Rohan Chawda

Just a month ago, we'd heard of comedian Akash Mehta's new comedy club in Lower Parel, where he had pledged to end the "predatory nature of comedy clubs" by scrapping the entry fee for open mic participants. While the new Vile Parle club is all for embracing the change, their model will meet Mehta in the middle. "We have a plus one rule in place that keeps things fair and engaging. Every performer who signs up must bring a plus one with them to the audience. While the performers enter for free, the companion must pay for the seat," Davla explains.

With plans in place to host regular shows, the organisers have several theme-based shows that they hope will draw in diverse audiences. "Hate My Job, Roasting Relationships, Dirty Talk - these have been our biggest hits this past week," he laughs. The bigger challenge, they admit, is to draw in big-ticket comedians. "We're stuck in a conundrum. Popular comedians can help us find our footing, but at the same time, not many of them want to perform at a new venue that doesn't promise a sold-out show. Some popular names like Manan Desai and Vaibhav Sethia have locked in their dates for solo performances. We hope more follow suit," they reveal.

A view of the space before the founders gave it a makeover, Co-founder Rohan Chawda lends a hand in setting up the space and The 40-seater comedy club is ready to host shows all through the week

At the risk of sounding like a buzzkill, we address the elephant in the room. Could the duo have waited for a better time to set up a new comedy club - sometime after the last one that was ravaged got back on its feet, perhaps? "We're taking that risk on our chin," Chawda says. Davla adds, "If the day comes, we're sure things can be solved amicably through peaceful talks." We've been assured that wasn't a joke.

AT Ink-A-Laugh, Shop 10, Queen's Lawn Building, SV Road, Vile Parle West.
LOG ON TO @inkalaugh for upcoming shows

Onstage this week

>>Roasting Relationships
ON Daily; 4 pm
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ENTRY Rs 249

>>Hate My Job
ON Daily; 6 pm
LOG ON TO in.bookmyshow.com
ENTRY Rs 249

>>Date Night
ON Daily; 8 pm
LOG ON TO in.bookmyshow.com
ENTRY Rs 249