“Have a Back Up Plan,” Advises This Comedy Writer from Odisha

“Have a Back Up Plan,” Advises This Comedy Writer from Odisha

Hailing from Paradip, 25 year old Vivek began his writing career with regional TV shows like ‘Comedy Darbar’, ‘Sabu Thik Thak- All is well’, Kichi Kahi Habani’and ‘Amara Dho’ in different Odia entertainment channels. Recently, he completed writing a comedy film ‘Ab Hoyi Nain Matakka’ starring comedian Sunil Pal in lead role. Apart from a Hindi web series ‘Dr Bengali’ on which he is working as a solo writer, he is currently assisting writer Dinesh Brigadier on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’.

My City Links caught up with the writer for an exclusive interview. Excerpts. 

When and how did you begin writing? Especially comedy scripts?

I and my friend Asish, who is quite famous now as Mr. Gulua in Odisha, used to do plays during our engineering days in Bhubaneswar. I used to write those plays and also play the protagonist while he played the bad guy. In fact, all his famous comedy videos on his Youtube Channel are written by me and I must say, he is a brilliant actor. After completing engineering in 2013, Asish did a great favour to me. He used to take me to different producers and directors and request them to listen to my stories. I used to get work as a writer because of lack of comic writers but the same did not happen to him as an actor.

How did you get into stand-up comedy?

One evening after work I attended a stand up comedy show in Mumbai and realized I can do it too. Now I have my own comedy club called ‘Coma_D’ and we have shows every Saturday at Hotel Aureole, which is like our permanent venue now. I feel that a writer should exercise his/her thought process by interacting with a variety of people as much as he/she can. And for me the best way to do that is ‘stand up comedy’, where I can know what type of content is working well and what is not through the reaction of the live audience.

Who is your source of inspiration?

My parents are writers and there are more than 3,000 books in our home, so it’s like a small library. When you live in such an environment where your parents spend the evening reading or writing instead of watching TV, it influences you in a positive way. My father is the editor of his own newspaper ‘Paradip News- Bandar Samachar’ while my mother is the Lady Health Visitor in the Health Department of Odisha government.

How did you manage the language barriers? Tell us about your Journey from Odisha to Mumbai.

Your style of writing a thought is something which matters and language is not a barrier at all for a writer.

In 2015 when I broke up with my girlfriend, I slipped into depression for six months and finally decided to work towards achieving something in life. I moved to Kolkata and tried my luck but failed. The break up happened because I had no job and writing is not considered a suitable profession. This hurt my ego because I was always a good student. Later, I got a job in Mumbai and never thought of going back to writing again. But then, art is something that never lets you stay quiet. Since I had worked in the Odia entertainment industry before, I got in touch with the ‘Bollywood Odia Association’ and began hosting their meetings. Once ‘Plus Entertainment’, a big production house in Mumbai, was in search of a story for a film and they selected mine. The name of the movie is ‘Angad’, which is yet to be released. And now I am also a member of the Bollywood Writers Association.

How was the struggle in Mumbai?

Thankfully, since I was already working in Mumbai, there was never a financial crunch. Moreover,  my office is at Bandra while I live in Andheri with my roommate who is chief assistant director of well known ad director Avinash Nanda from Odisha. So, I was living in Bollywood and following my dream with a secure job. But yes, I had to go to a hundred places to narrate my stories to directors and producers. Though I wanted them to like my stories, money was never an issue for me because I had a job.

There is a scarcity of original stories in Odia film industry these days. As a young writer, what’s your take on this?

The frontline people from the Odia entertainment industry should start fighting against copied content and encourage young writers. I can guarantee that in Odisha there are many good writers but the only thing is they are not getting any scope to showcase their talent.

What is your message to aspiring writers?

Have some back-up for your survival and then give some time to your art. You will not be in trouble that way and maybe you will get a chance to prove yourself.