Chennai-based standup comedian Bhargav Ramakrishnan, or Baggy as he's popularly known, has just had his special released on Amazon Prime Video a few days ago. Titled Kungfu Bonda, the show is a mix of personal stories and characters straight out of Baggy's life experiences that range from the lies he made up as a schoolboy, to his love for pizza, and the serious business of adulting. Speaking to TNM, the comic takes us through the process of writing for his shows, creating his onstage persona, and how he handles criticism.
You tell a lot of personal stories as part of your show. How do you shed your inhibitions while doing so?
I've somehow had the gift of having little to no inhibitions onstage. I feel at home under the spotlight. I don't feel awkward though I feel so when I'm offstage. I feel like I can talk about anything and do whatever I want when I'm up there.
But before you go onstage, you have to write your show. Does that come naturally to you?
Writing doesn't come naturally to me although performance does. Whatever I write, when I take it to stage, I have fun with it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. Even when it doesn't, I somehow make it work with the audience because that's my comfort zone. I didn't have to overcome anything to write personal narratives – except that writing itself is something that I struggle with. It's like going to the gym. It's not something you particularly like doing but you know you have to do it to keep healthy and stay fit.
You tie up a lot of the small stories that you tell through the show together in the end...
When I started writing the show, there were a lot of things that I wanted to talk about. But I was constantly struggling with the question – why is this called a special? Is it just a longer standup comedy show that we're calling a special? I wanted to answer this question for myself. I wanted to make it a lot more personal because that makes a real connection with the audience and justifies why it's called a special.
I wanted the show to feel rewarding for the audience. When you watch it for 75 minutes and suddenly in the last 12-15 minutes everything falls together. There's a sense of satisfaction and closure for the audience. I remember watching this show called My Girlfriend's Other Boyfriend, a special by American comic Mike Birbiglia – it's very personal, very anecdotal and he, too, brings things together. Not necessarily in the end but it's very autobiographical. I also remember watching Hasan Minhaj's Homecoming King and that show, too, builds up and you see where it's all going. I wanted my audience to have a similar feeling – like they've been on a journey. The theme of my show is turning 30, so I made it about growing older and struggling with it, but finding acceptance and enjoying the new state.
So why Kungfu Bonda?
I had to come up with a name before the show got ready. We had to start the publicity. Once you come up with a name, there's the branding, photo shoot and all of those things. I knew that my love for food will be there in the show. I love watching cartoons, superheroes… and I wanted a name that would go with my persona. Fat, high energy, foodie. 'Kungfu Bonda' is a nice name, I felt, with many connotations. If a south Indian listens to it, it reminds them of the snack bonda. If you're not from here, you make the connection with Kungfu Panda.
What's the best and worst thing about your comedy that people have told you?
The best thing is that people talk about how relatable the show is. The worst thing about this show specifically – and I'm very, very surprised by this – I've gotten a bunch of people who've reached out to me and said they're vegetarian or vegan and they're upset about the jokes I made. I don't make jokes that I feel like I can't back up later and I don't think there's anything wrong about the jokes I cracked.
You have to talk for about an hour continuously onstage. How do you manage?
I have a loud voice but yeah, it's not easy. You see 75 minutes of the show but the actual live performance was for about 2 hours and five minutes due to some technical issues we had. If you notice, the last 10-11 minutes of the show, I won't be using my voice. There will be two points when I'm unable to speak. If you didn't notice, that's thanks to the editor! I do some exercises and I rest my throat, especially when on a tour.
Do you follow a routine before you go onstage?
Any venue that I'm performing at, if I have access to the stage, I like to get on about 15-20 minutes before the audience is let in. I like to move around because that's something that helps. I like to observe the audience without being seen a good 10 minutes before we start. I try to eavesdrop on what people are talking, who is excited to watch my show, are they talking a lot in Hindi or Tamil etc. It makes me prepare mentally.
When you make the joke about your girlfriend and second-hand car, you anticipate the criticism about objectification and make that part of the joke. Is that a balancing act or do you feel comedy should also have the right politics?
More than expecting criticism, I feel bad about it myself. I wanted to talk about sex; how the idea of sex as an activity is so complicated and there's so much expectation around it. And the first time you do it, it's so different from what all your expectation about it has been. And how funny that is. But I knew that you can't talk about sex openly. You may turn a part of your audience away. So you have to find an intelligent way of doing it and I came up with the analogy of a car.
I know that as a person, I don't objectify women but when the joke is delivered, I don't want people to think that's what's happening. I don't want people to like the joke because they like to objectify women. I didn't want the joke to become about women bashing – it's about the awkward act of sex and that's why the disclaimer is there. That's also why I spoke about how men think they have all the theoretical knowledge but actually have zero practical knowledge… and how it's so unfair that even when women know better, they have to pretend like they don't. Maybe it will resonate with some people.
The Chennai comedy scene has often been criticised for being too Mylapore-centric. What do you feel about this?
It started with a lot of Mylapore people, so it's bound to have been like that. But I think it is growing. When you say Mylapore, it also refers to class, caste. A lot of comedians are Brahmin but many don't associate themselves with their caste identity. And I do think more things are getting talked about.
Standup comedy as a movement in Chennai started with a bunch of people. I was one among them and was a producer when we started. The majority of people we knew then had the Mylapore tag. I think that's natural but it has grown since then. I don't think anyone has tried to keep anyone away. If that has happened, it does deserve criticism. I don't think it's an exclusive art form. Now everyone everywhere is taking it up and I think this Mylapore tag will also get washed away.