Paresh Rawal, in Bhooth Bangla, says comedy films face stiff competition from The Kapil Sharma Show and Sunil Grover’s “volcano” talent. Writing quality humor is tough without big writer teams, unlike TV. He recalls chaotic early Bollywood days and eyes the film’s April 17 release with Akshay Kumar.
Paresh Rawal, who is currently starring in the recently released horror-comedy ‘Bhooth Bangla’, feels that comedy films today are facing strong competition from television and digital content, particularly ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’. Known for his memorable comic performances like Babu Rao in the ‘Hera Pheri’ franchise and Ghungroo in ‘Welcome’, Rawal noted that performers such as Sunil Grover have taken humour to a higher level.
Paresh Rawal says writing comedy is more difficult than it seems
In a conversation with Moneycontrol, Rawal stated that writing and maintaining good comedy is much tougher than it looks. He said, “Abhi when you look at
Kapil Sharma
Show and when you look at Sunil Grover kind of talent, these guys are bloody huge talent. It is a bloody volcano. Uss comedy ke saath aapko compete karna hai toh aapko soch badalni padegi nahi toh nahi hota hai. Comedy likhna and use maintain karna is very tough. Wahan bhi jo comedy likhi jaati hai unki team hoti hai 10-15 logon ki team hoti hai.
Hamare yahan aik writer ko rakhne ka maal nahi hota hai producer ke paas. Toh 15 logon ko kahan se dega,” he told us in a video conversation.
(“Now when you look at Kapil Sharma Show and when you look at Sunil Grover kind of talent, these guys are bloody huge talent. It is a bloody volcano. If you want to compete with that kind of comedy, you have to change your thinking or else it won’t work. Writing comedy and maintaining it is very tough. There too, the comedy that’s written, they have a team of 10-15 people. Here, producers don’t even have the budget to keep one writer. So where will they get 15 people from?”)
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“It is a tough time for comedy. Everyday there is competition. Kapil Sharma’s show is everyday competition to any comedy film. Kabhi kabhi woh bhi over the top jaate hain but that’s besides the point. Par aik competition de raha hai and benchmark de raha hai,” he added.
Paresh Rawal recalls his early Bollywood days
Looking back at his early years in Bollywood, Paresh said the working environment was far more unpredictable, adding that he enjoys working much more now. “Bahut hi darawana tha. If you worked with Salim Javed you would get a bound script in 70s or 80s. But with others aapko pata hi nahi kya karne jaa rahe hai. Woh time bahut kharab tha,” he smiled.
Paresh Rawal on Bhooth Bangla release details
On the work front, Paresh Rawal is currently featuring in ‘Bhooth Bangla’, which recently hit theatres, alongside Akshay Kumar, Tabu and Asrani. Helmed by Priyadarshan, the film was released on April 17.
