With comedians being increasingly scrutinised, Landing star Vir Das says stand-up comics should be viewed as ambassadors for laughs, not country
Vir Das
What is home? The place where you grew up, or the one where you belong? Is it a familiar pin code, or the sense of safety that comes from familiarity? That’s what Vir Das attempts to decode with his latest special, Landing. The subject stemmed from a natural curiosity that arose after travelling extensively this year. “I travelled to 25 countries this year. [It made me] question the notion of home, and I began to realise that home is not a place. It’s a feeling [derived from] largely other people. That’s the central idea of this special — what it means to feel at home,” begins the actor-comedian.
The Netflix special marks the comedian’s return to the stage after almost three years. He had taken a break to focus on his acting projects. But soon, the comedian in him was missing the reverberating sound of laughter in an auditorium. “I haven’t toured in the past three years. I mainly acted. But I have built a 10-year touring career. So, when it came to [Landing], I cancelled all my projects, and took eight months to rebuild my touring career,” he says fondly.
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While it’s natural to feel nervous holding the mic after a substantial gap, Das says his audiences are his support system. “I always let them be my teacher and guide. I have an intelligent, educated audience, who are interactive. So [when] I try something, they recognise that I am imperfect as an artiste. They give me the freedom to be imperfect.”
But freedom does not come easy, especially in today’s times, when jokes are taken out of context and comedians are harshly judged for their political commentary. Last year, Das’s monologue from Two Indias had received polarised responses across the country, with some detractors lodging police complaints. Does that put any pressure on him to represent the country? “There is no pressure because I represent laughter; leaders represent India. My job is just to make people laugh. People who come to my shows work hard. They travel cities and get babysitters [so that they can attend the show]. My job is to make them smile for those 90 minutes.”
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