Friday, August 1, 2014

Meet Appurv Gupta: An Engineer who loves to bring smile on your face

Appurv Gupta is one of the most promising Stand Up Artist in the city and also in the country. An Engineer by profession, this young stand-up artist has been able to bring people from various background together to laugh on mundane issues, which includes searching for the ‘patle pin wala Nokia charger’!

Appurv’s solo show “Appurview: Laugh with an Engineer” has been a roaring success in Delhi and elsewhere. Here we present excerpts from a conversation with Appurv.


Nihal: Appurv, I have followed you videos on YouTube, and recently have been to your shows as well. Your show Appurview – Laugh with an engineer has been a stupendous hit among the engineers and young people. How has been the journey?

Appurv: As a stand-up comic, I am enjoying each and every moment of my life. It has been two years since I completed my college and have learnt so many things in these two years. The Journey of performing with 4 minutes set to doing my solo show of 75 minutes in 4 cities has been amazing. Sometimes it feels like I am living some dream especially whenever I receive a positive feedback after the show. The magic of laughter by audience keeps me motivate each and every moment to do stand-up.

Nihal: On a lighter note, why are you targeting the engineers? They are anyway not getting much due in the nation!

Appurv: (Laughs) You are very funny. You should also try your hands in open mic! But on a serious note, since I am an Engineer, so initially I thought to share about an engineer’s life. I know about them, their mindset, their hobbies, their goals, et cetera. But when I started sharing my stories with the audience I realized that these stories are not about engineers, it is universal and that’s why I think most of the people in my audience are able to relate to those jokes.
Also, speaking about engineers and their recognition, I would say engineers do the mainstream-ish professional work because they want to destroy the “Curiosity Keeda” which they have in their mind.

Nihal: How do you see stand-up comedy? Is it getting the right kind of audience it deserves? How has been the response? 

Appurv: For me stand-up comedy is my way to share my thoughts, to share my anger and sometimes to share other people’s stupidity as well. As people say that humour is the best way to connect with the people, so I think being a stand-up comic provides you opportunity to share messages with the audience. I think stand-up comedy on TV is getting the right type of audience. There is a longer road ahead for the live show version of the art where you have only one person on stage with one microphone and one mic stand.
Those who have seen the live stand-up shows, always appreciate and regret that how they have missed a great thing in their life! Once you make someone addict to live stand-up comedy shows, chances are that they won’t be able to leave this addiction and this art as an audience.

Nihal: Does stand-up art gives you the satisfaction an artist desires for? Or you plan to diversify your career map?

Appurv: Yes, stand-up art has given the kind of satisfaction I am looking for. Sometimes when I fail on stage, I think “Appurv,you are in the wrong profession!” But again that’s the part of game and the challenge is to convert those moments into standing ovation.

As a stand-up comic, I have experienced magical moments many times, but I like doing many things so I might add some more skills related to humour in my profile in coming future.

Nihal: You are essentially from Delhi, and have performed in various other cities as well. It will be great to get your understanding of stand-up comedy scenario in Delhi when compared to other parts of the nation.

Appurv: This is a very interesting question. In past 2 years I have performed in more than 30 cities and the range vary from metro cities like Delhi & Bangalore to small towns like Kashipur in Uttrakhand to Gandhidham in Gujrat.

I personally think that audience is mature enough in every city to understand your joke and they actually want to see stand-up comedy, especially the live format. It is just the medium which takes time, event organiser or clients in smaller cities are not as much aware about stand-up comedy when compared to the metropolis. Once this gap will be filled, small cities will also start enjoying stand-up comedy more frequently.

Nihal: Is there a Hindi stand-up comedy and English stand-up comedy divide in the nation? I ask this because when we see television, it is the Hindi comics who are making it huge. But in our metropolis we witness more of English comedy shows. If yes, then is it doing any good to the art?

Appurv: Actually I am not the right person for this question because sometimes I use Hindi in my set and at times I prefer my entire in English. I firmly believe it is all about thought- language is immaterial for me. If the thought has a fun quotient it will work in Hindi as well as in English.

Also, we have to think about the target audience. For comics on television, the target audience is spread across the country. For the comics in metropolis, they may not be able to entertain audience of tier 2 cities, but they have metropolis across the globe to entertain. A performer has to decide whom he wants to address.

I personally want to entertain everyone in India so I always try that my jokes and my language should be easy to relate to irrespective of your location in Delhi, Hyderabad, Pantnagar or Mussorrie.

Nihal: Lastly, when is the next show?


Appurv: This is the best question! I have a solo show “Appurview-Laugh with an Engineer” on August 10th at Jagriti Theatre, Bangalore then same show at India Habitat Center, Delhi on August 31st 2014.

Appurv signs off with a smile on his face!

(This interview was first published in My Theatre Cafe on August 1,2014
Permalink: 
http://mytheatrecafe.com/meet-appurv-gupta-an-engineer-who-loves-to-bring-smile-on-your-face)

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