Stand-up Comedian Atul Khatri in conversation with Directors’ Diaries

Stand-up Comedian Atul Khatri in conversation with Directors’ Diaries

My first experience of live stand-up and improvisation acts was in New York, 2005, when I lived there to study filmmaking and acting. That is when I realised that even apna bhidhu Johnny Lever was a stand-up, though we did not use the term ‘Stand-up’ to address his awesome skill then.

After watching many stand-up acts in New York, and having learnt acting, I thought then stand-ups are deep sea divers that knowingly and or unknowingly plunge deep into their subconscious to gift us the mother of pearl – Laughter. They draw from their experiences just like actors.

They have the talent and skill to use or exploit their keen observation of human behaviour, and of other beings, the ability to see and exploit even their own shortcomings, anger, frustrations, sexual dysfunction, inferiority or superiority complexes, vulnerabilities, political bias, social stigmas, discrimination, old age vulnerabilities, physical appearances, happenstance, whatever else there be, and cherry pick from their galaxy of experiences & feelings and use it all as a spring board to create laughter for (and often at) others.

And even make us F pay for it! A ticket at a comedy club in Mumbai can cost nearly 700 bucks!

Comedians are also people who will not suffer in silence. They will use their wit & sarcasm (non-violent means of protest) as weapon against what they perceive is wrong politically or socially, and needs to change, or is ridiculous and outrageous and must change.

Cum’puters

I know Atul since nearly two decades. Thanks to my Juhu pals, Rohit, Gautam, Bobby, Amit, Dharmesh, Munish. He was marketing Cum’puters then. I purchased my first laptop from him.

I lost touch with him post my first and only purchase from his company. Not because the laptop died that same night. But, it was Cycling brought us together, when I began riding in earnest in 2011-2012. And stand-up comedy (comedy performed standing, and not necessarily with a boner/hard-on throughout the act) made me see the lighter side.

After we reunited as cyclists, Atul invited me to one of his stand-up gigs. I was in splits within five minutes of his rants. Interestingly, he began his act/set mentioning he was on the other side of 40, and many of his jokes were spin offs of the vulnerabilities many of us experience post 40 and our perception then of our physical appearance also. I could identify and laugh along at my very own complexes and vulnerabilities and that also made me realize, I am not alone on Earth as a 40 year old and with humour besides us life post 40 feels survivable.

Soon I saw some more stand-up acts performed by Atul, and some others comedians. The importance of varied life experiences to be able to stand on a stage and rant in front of a live-audience (that is judging you critically while at the same time wanting you to make them LOL) got underlined when he mentioned “… many of my jokes are from my own experiences.”

As an actor in New York I had already realised it is important to be rich in varied experiences to be able to create laughter for yourself before creating them for others. When we can laugh at our own flaws honestly I think we can know better what could be a joke for (and at) others. Every one of us is a flawed being. There is a comic inside every one of us. Just that everyone does not need or get a platform to rant it to the world.

After having some great laughs at his gigs, I nicknamed Atul on my phone list as ‘A Tool’. A tool for laughs. Let us travel back to A Tool’s formative years.

A river always begins someplace

Born and brought up at Khar, Atul’s family later shifted to Juhu. No one in Atul’s family is in the performing arts. He has never taken part in dramatics in school or college, and he was never ambitious to be an actor or radio host nor the clown of a circus.

The seed

Technology, email to begin with, aided Atul to see in himself what he was unable to until then. It was the positive response, feedback, he received from friends who he had emailed his unsolicited rants. Their random appreciation of his sense of humor made him feel, ‘Hmmmm, maybe I can make people laugh, ya’. And those emails I thought must have subsequently become solicited-rants, welcome.

Then FB arrived, along with its iLike feature and comments features and Twitter; Atul progressed, like many of us, from group emailing to posting his rants on his timeline. Soon, friends, acquaintances and strangers began to iLike his one-liners. I think, this must have laid the first seed of confidence in Atul to express more fearlessly and even more often in the public domain.

I think a lot about comedy is being fearless. Fearless to being misinterpreted, fearless to being vulnerable to people reading the subtext in a way that may look down at you and your philosophies, opinions, and remaining vulnerable to being severely judged in public.

Born again

Atul admits he was once overweight. I remember once seeing Atul walk so upright, tight-assed & briskly on 10th road, Juhu, I felt he showers in starch.

The next time I saw Atul was around in 2012-13, he was fit and riding his bicycle over 50 kms distances at a stretch. He was also participating in a weekend marathon. I felt he is a ‘born-again.’

I interviewed Atul about his beginnings in cycling and his views on riding, back in 2013, when he had just begun stand-up acts. You can read his views as a cyclist on my blog for riders: #BeautifulBicyclesBeautifulPeople https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151603936288213&set=gm.552764864762375&type=3&theater

Physical fitness and confidence

Interestingly. Atul mentioned that the increase in confidence he felt from becoming physically fitter, and getting closer to what should be his ideal weight, played an important role in him being able to get on stage and perform live in front of an audience at his very first Open Mic event.

But what brought a 40 plus businessman selling cum’puters to the threshold of a mic? It would be good to know because many people in their 30’s lose courage to shift gears. I myself came to films at 33, not without self-doubt and encouragement from family, so I was keen to learn what had made Atul reach here.

Second life

Few people are gifted a second life. Even fewer and luckier are those who get a second life without being hit by a train or ship, or surviving a fall because their parachute did not open as easily as their pyjama strings. “Stand-up comedy has given me a second life. I am a happier person now than I was before when I was a businessman. Even my wife and kids believe comedy has transformed me for the better.”

Life partner

I think, Atul’s wife Shaguna has a large contribution to Atul’s shift in career. They were engaged in the same business, from the same office, but she switched to hair styling while he continued running the (Cum’puter) business.

“She began doing well and making good money too. Not that we experienced any stress in our relationship because she was doing well, but seeing her succeed after shifting her career path made me think about my own choice of career. So there wasn’t an ‘Abhimaan’ (1973) happening at home, but her success made me think I too should/can take a shot at a change in my career path. But I did not know then what I should attempt. She would sometimes tell me that I don’t seem happy doing business, and I must try my hand at some other career. Although she made me aware I was unhappy, she did not point me in the direction of any particular career nor stand-up. But I am glad Shaguna made me aware I should try something else that can make me feel more fulfilled.”

Awareness of our circumstances is the first milestone we need to cross in the direction of change. And we must acknowledge people who make us aware of things that we are blind or numb to. We must thank Shaguna also for where Atul finds himself today.

Friends and others had already begun, unknowingly, giving Atul the confidence to try his hand at stand-up: “You are funny. - You should try stand-up” etc. It reaffirmed my belief, that life is one adventure with many heroes. We have many people to thank for where we reach.

Open Mic

After 26 years in the cum’puter business, Atul came across an event: Open Mic.

An open mic or open mike (derived from open microphone) is a live show where audience members may perform at the microphone. It is open to amateurs and professionals.

The Open Mic was being held in Mumbai. Atul prepared for it, secretly. He did not tell anyone about it, except his wife, least he fail at it and be made fun of. (Exactly what some stand-ups may feed off - our failures too, is what crossed my mind then.)

Shaguna volunteered not to be present, least he become conscious of her presence. But he insisted she accompany him, “I told her you must come with me. If I fail at it you can stop me from jumping off the sea link on our way back.”

There is always a first time

Your first live performance for strangers with your best critic, for Atul his wife, in the audience can be dam hard. But the Open Mic event, his very first, was quite a success. He was complimented by not just the audience, but even seasoned and successful stand-ups present that nite appreciated his act. “For two days their laughter and compliments echoed in my mind.”

Atul added later. “….. That is why it’s very important to remain rooted and humble in this field. Success will not be consistent and may not last long. Some great stand-ups have committed suicide or taken to drugs, either because they failed or they could not rise beyond their peak performance. It is a very hard profession."

Never stop seeking

Within four months of that very first live gig Atul received an offer to perform a stand-up gig and was offered a fee too. This was in spite of him having no ambition to be in the performing arts, nor any experience as a writer and actor. Yet he made it as a stand-up.

There is a huge message here for anyone with any kind of dream - Never stop looking for what you can't see.

Scripts

Not just for that first experience at Open Mic, but even now Atul continues to write his material. “Stand-up comedy is scripted, unlike what it may seem to an audience.” They prepare a script, and some of their act is improvised while they are firing their cylinders live. “…depending on the questions we happen to ask an audience member and from their response we get material to improvise further. The improvisation material also arrives to us form their physical appearance, their cultural background, age. If we do not get material, we dig deeper into their lives or quickly shift our questions to another subject in the audience before we bomb on stage.”

Writers Actors and Directors

A lot of writing is behind a gig. Atul researches a lot for his scripts. To keep them fresh. His scripts float in his mind for a week to ten days before they ready to be baked on paper. And then it takes him about a month or less of re-reading and re-writing his scripts, and performing them as monologues, before they are ready to be performed to us.

Stand-ups are writers & actors, is how I read Atul. In the context of some directors being writer/director, or producer/director, or actor/directors. In fact, they are writers/actors/directors, directing their own live performance.

Stand-up is a braver form of acting

Atul tests his writing, scripts, sometimes at Open Mic events for feedback, as it helps him tweak the content and hone his performance. Film actors, film comedians have option of second and more Takes. Stage actors have the support of co actors and a director for at least two months of rehearsal. Stand-ups, do not have such options. Who is more braver in the stream of actors, well, I did not have to wonder long for the answer.

When the joke’s on us

Those who pick on their audience to make others laugh, how do they react when the joke is on them? I read many of Tanmay Bhatt's reactions when he was trolled recently.

Sometimes I have witnessed a stand-up artist get vicious when the guest he/she has picked on is as smart or smarter than them and giving it back with far greater wit. So I asked A Tool to say something about himself if he were to pick on himself in the audience.

“Maybe I would pick on my physical appearance to begin with. And to that I would add - At my age of 48 I am neither here nor there, I am too young to be someone’s sugar daddy and too old to be picked up.” Said Atul.

East India Comedy

Atul and some other artists blog their random rants at https://www.youtube.com/user/EastIndiaComedy

whose About page describes their video blog as “A bunch of silly comedians just putting stuff up that we find funny, even if others don't.” Sketches, Stand up, News comedy. That's it, really!

Nana Nani park

Rewinding a but, when Atul was in business, he went to a park near his house with his daughter. On seeing the old people, the regulars, seated on benches engaged in chatting, Atul told his daughter, “One day, I will be seated here. Just like them”

He thinks his daughter may have not liked to see her father say that with some lament. Because, after he shifted to stand-up as a profession, he happened to be with his daughter at the very same park one day and this time when they both looked in the direction of those senior citizens on the benches basking in their memories and early morning sun, she told her father, “Now dad, with your new career I think you will not be sitting here besides them in your silver years. You will probably be someplace preparing to perform your next act that night in Mumbai or New York.”

And that is the best thing that stand-up, or, the change in profession which many of us desire, has done for Atul, I thought. Giving us something with which we can live daily thinking our silver years will not be spent in the shadows.

It felt good

I asked Atul to share with us an inspiring moment from his performances.

With humility said Atul, “After one of my performances, an elderly lady approached me. From looking at her seemingly sad eyes I had felt she may have lost a beloved soul. She told me, ‘I had not smiled in many months. Today you made me laugh. I cannot thank you enough.’

Straight from sadness to laughter! By-passing the smile stage. It is like, a stream transforming into a waterfall without first becoming a river. Such a power in comedy! Hope we never lose the gift of laughter.

Directors’ Diaries

I was keen to gift Atul a copy of our book Directors’ Diaries – The Road to Their First Film. But Atul was gracious and kind. He purchased it on his own accord soon after we finished our conversation. We had met at a book shop, Title Waves. I was so touched by his kindness, my heart felt like writing him a personal note on his copy, and I did:

Santa

Some people play Santa only on Xmas. Bringing us precious gifts & laughter once a year. Few, like him, stand-ups, get to be Santa every time they go on stage. To share with us their gift of wit & humour and in the process gifting us precious and elusive laughter.

Laughter. Something so precious that it can be elusive for even a billionaire whose vault may have more gold coins than smiles for himself and or others. ‘God bless our stand-up Santas’ I thought as I watched my friend and artist Atul walk away from the close encounter we had shared over sweet coffee and some even sweeter insights.

I hope we never lose the gift of laughter. And those who can evoke it in us.

#DirectorsDiaries #StandUpDiaries #AtulKhatri

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Letters want to be words. Words want to be stories. Stories want to be told. #RakeshAnandBakshi

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The directors’ on Cinema & Filmmaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8bnPI95HCs

The directors’ Beginnings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgbvst-mhOw

The directors’ Convictions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQgoJwP1sd8

The directors’ Challenges: https://youtu.be/1BmjGGurM5U

Imtiaz Ali’s 1st film being his film school & our book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC18coaoLw

Zoya Akhtar on being a 1st time film maker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsdg8UNfwKs

Shyam Benegal on ‘… Why directors’..’ : https://youtu.be/3-u3GRgkt8E