Actor and comedian Vir Das has made his directorial debut along with Kavi Shastri in Happy Patel Khatarnak Jasoos, which released in cinemas this week and is produced by Aamir Khan. He got candid talking about his first film as a director and his career in an interview with us.

Vir Das on turning director with the spy comedy Happy Patel, “I had to wait for the universe to let Tiger, War, Pathaan and Dhurandhar happen”

What brings you to direction at this juncture of your career?
Well you know, I spent the last eight years really focusing on stand-up comedy and stand-up comedy can sometimes be quite an isolating art form and I really felt like I wanted to do something collaborative. I had this script in my head for a long time. But mainstream spy cinema didn’t exist when I wrote it. So, I think I had to wait for the universe to letTiger, War, PathaanandDhurandharhappen because comedy is counter-culture. So, you know to make the most ridiculous version of it needs to exist and so, you know, everything happens in the right time.

Your itinerary seems overloaded with spectacular stand-ups. So, is direction a side passion?
No. I did not do any stand-up through the direction of this movie. Through the three and a half months of pre-prod, no stand-up. Happy Patel Khatarnak Jasoos is a very small film. We only shot for 31 days. We really tried to get a lot accomplished in 31 days when you consider the mainstream action movies shoot for between 60 and 90 days. Our film really got a lot done and so that required a hundred percent. Then, of course, the post-production of it takes the length of what the post-production of it takes. But there were 30 test screenings of the film with Aamir inviting random people to watch our film, and you know about three cuts. So, I definitely focused on it.

Was it easy getting Aamir on board as producer?
There’s a process to getting Aamir on board, but luckily he’s defined the steps very well. You know there were about five or six narrations and he’d give us notes every time we did a narration. And they were usually story-driven notes or character driven notes that made the script better. Then there was a test shoot. So, he gave us a little bit of money and said go out and shoot five scenes. He wanted us to shoot it, write it, production-design it, edit it, mix it, grade it, cast it and direct it. So, I think he wanted to really see what my co-director and I could do as directors and see me as the character and then once that happened, we got greenlit for pre-production and then we met Aamir sir as an actor after which there are test screenings, post the second cut, etc.

What would you select as your main vocation?
I’m a comedian at heart, but I did dream of directing. It’s the closest thing to stand-up comedy where you get to infect every second of the frame with your madness. I’ll hope to direct again. Not just comedy, I’m hoping my next will be a pure horror movie that scares the daylights out of people. But you know, I’m at the bottom rung of the directorial ladder. So, hoping to ascend.

Is it getting increasingly dangerous to be a stand-up in India?
I think we have the largest comedy audience in the world, the youngest audience in the world under 35 working, largest smartphone audience in the world. So no, it is far more convenient and you will see success a lot faster as a comedian in India than really anywhere else in the world. So, I don’t think there is a been a better time to be a comedian than right now in India.

What will you say are the distinguishing factors of Happy Patel and how do you intend to compete with Dhurandhar?
I don’t think I can compete with Dhurandhar. I’m probably smaller than the catering budget of Dhurandhar but what I do think Happy Patel brings to the table is unapologetic silliness, a complete commitment to the joke, so that if there’s even five seconds that you have, we try and get a laugh out of you. It’s a story that’s got heart and I do think that there is a young edgy Indian audience that is underwhelmed by theatrical comedy. Maybe, it’s like all the spies are at a dinner table. Every joint family has an idiot at a dinner table, and I’m happy to be it. So, if Tiger,Pathanand Ranveer from Dhurandhar are having the serious cool spy conversation, I’m just happy to be the idiot who’s invited to the table and hopefully I can make everybody laugh.

Also Read: Aamir Khan voluntarily edits out a funny scene featuring Vir Das in Happy Patel