Reader Shraddha Jhaveri, who is a regular at Vir Das’s shows, gets him to tell her a joke or two off stage

Ankit Ajmera (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 17, 2012)

 

On one occasion after watching History of India – VIRitten, Sharaddha Jhaveri wanted to barge into Vir’s room backstage. “My friends told me you are not embarrassing us like that,” she says. “I had the ticket with me and I badly wanted to get your autograph on it,” she tells Vir. “I would have been more embarrassed than you,” Vir replies (laughing).

Mirror got Shraddha, a graduate from Sophia Polytechnic who celebrates her birthday today, to meet her favourite celebrity, Vir Das, somewhere at Madh Island in the middle of a film shoot. She has watched almost all of his shows and totally adores his role in Delhi Belly and Badmaash Company.

After watching him say his lines on the sets of Amit Sahni Ki List, she can’t wait to ask him why he chose comedy as a profession. Vir says he didn’t actually opt for it. “I was studying theatre at the Knox College, Illinois,” he says. “After four years of serious and intensive acting and training (involving many Shakespearean plays), I kind of said – okay, I don’t like this. I wanted to do something that is a little more organic and improvised. A few blocks down they used to have amateur stand-up acts. I though of giving it a shot and wrote a show when I was 22. I had performed in front of my friends and they seemed to like it. I felt like the king of the world. But when I went to More >