Mumbai, July 02: Shekhar ki Tedhi Baatein Shekhar Suman is all set to crack up the screen with satirical talk show “Tedhi Baat Shekhar Ke Saath’ along with Chhupa Rustom fame Gurpaal Singh.
It is neither spoof nor caricature of any talk show. Shekhar will be seen in varied avatars as interviewee and Gurpaal as pokerfaced interviewer. Their Camaraderie as interviewer and interviewee will make you laugh like a drain.
On concept…
Now-a-days people are so impatient and stressed out that if you ask anything to anyone he will give you tedha answer. In any talk show interviewer bears in mind that yeh khud ko bahut shana samajhta hai, mein abhi iski band bajata hun and interviewee thinks he is acting too smart, I will out smart him. So as to have the upper hand in the interview, both beat around the bush and after an hour we don’t even realise what was the interview all about.
On show…
In this show I am playing the characters who we meet in our day-today life. We have seen so many people around us who are intrinsically not funny but their eccentricity makes us laugh. Humour emerges out of their idiosyncrasies, peculiarities and seriousness. This is the most difficult show I have ever done as an actor.
On make up…
Make up is really painful but I give all the liberty to my make up artiste to completely hide Shekhar Suman in me. We don’t have budget to hire a Hollywood make up artiste but he shoves pipe in my nose, erect my ears with sticks or stuff cotton in my mouth to attain the perfect look of the character.
On characters…
I had to play 16 characters in a month and 52 characters in three months. Selection of character is followed by learning their expressions, mindset, psychology and diction, and above all donning the attire, gives me sleepless nights. My favorite characters are a Bengali guy who hurls shoes at people in functions and the Politician. I am open to audience, they can suggest me the characters they want to me to play in the show.
On Gurpaal…
He takes his job very seriously. I had seen him in Chhupa Rustom where he use to be so pokerfaced that nobody could doubt him; I don’t think anyone else could have done it so aptly. He is an ideal choice for the show. He never loses his cool, seldom he does but very much with in the decorum of TV show.
On reaction
I showed few episodes to my acquaintances and the best complement that I received was when they said, “Show is fantastic but isme aap kab aaye.”
On female character
It is tough to play a woman and I don’t think I am that great actor. We did think about female characters but as there are umpteen male characters to play, why to go in that domain. I would definitely play a beautiful woman once I attain the confidence.
On playing himself
It would be interesting to play myself in the last episode. It will not be scripted at all.
I will give all the liberty to Gurpaal to ask me anything he wants to.
On politics
I’m not politician, I don’t do politics. For me it is only the medium to reach out to people. After elections I did go to Patna and organized the camps for free heart and eye check-ups. I am also willing to open hospital for pediatric cardiology.
—–Agencies