Have a good laugh at these two improv shows in Mumbai

(From left) Mehta, comic Abhish Mathew, Tarang Hardikar, Shantanu Anam, Neville Bharucha and Aditya Kashyap

You might be forgiven if you believe improv artists who weave off-the-top-of-the-head, punchy dialogues into full-fledged comical plays within minutes don't experience stage fear. But if you ask 28-year-old Sahir Mehta, who's been in the industry for nearly 10 years, the fear of messing up never goes away. "The key [to improv] is to embrace your mistakes," the founder of collective Little Big Stories shares. To prove this in practice, Mehta is inviting some of the best improv artistes of the city to deliver a performance in the first run of their production, Unsobered Nights, today.

"We are hosting this in collaboration with Medium Sized Improv, a weekly show founded by Neville Bharucha, Manik Papneja and Shantanu Anam, where the same bunch of improv artistes gets together every Wednesday to perform small, humorous impromptu acts," Mehta explains. Anam, who also runs Little Big Stories alongside stage artistes Papneja and Mehta, tells us that they plan on taking Unsobered Nights across the country, starting with Mumbai. "The Indian market has many local, homegrown and indigenous brands of alcohol popping up now. The aim is to bring artforms on the rise in India, such as improv, and these local brands under the same roof. We will collaborate with some of the best local bars and homegrown alcohol labels across India, and host such improv shows to both entertain and build a community."

Trisha Kanga, Anam, Tanvika Parlikar and Mathew in a performance

The show will see all these artistes perform with Tanvika Parlikar, Trisha Kanga and Aditya Kashyap, who are also regular performers at Medium Sized Improv. "Some of us are college-mates. We were from different batches with different dreams in fields like economics and literature, among others, but somehow ended up in theatre," Mehta chuckles as he recalls. The Delhiite, along with Parlikar, Anam and Papneja, moved to Mumbai in 2019 to finally pursue their common interest, theatre, as a career. Trust, Parlikar adds, plays a major role in improv. It helps, then, we presume, to have worked with friends who have all grown together over so many years to become accomplished improv artistes in the city. "It is important to listen when you're doing improv. Listen to your co-performer, try to make sense of the narrative they are suggesting through their dialogues, and help them build on it," Mehta suggests.

Sahir Mehta and Manik Papneja interact with audience

He has also now brought to the city It Takes 2, a fully improvised show that received an overwhelming response in Delhi last year. "For this one, Manik and I interact with the audience for the first fifteen minutes, understand their story, and use it as a prompt to perform a full play without any time to discuss. The only props we use are the chairs on the stage, which act as a multipurpose prop; sometimes, it becomes a seat in a different locale, or doors and walls in a cramped bathroom to cut the stage. They could be a tree, boulders, bushes and even a chess table," he chuckles. The most important part for both shows, Mehta shares, is to keep it funny at the core. "Mistakes or uncertainties are inevitable. But these are also aspects that produce laughter from the audience. The only thing to do then is to play along and root for your own performance!"

On: Today; 8 pm onwards (Unsobered Nights)
At: The Habitat, Hotel Unicontinental, Khar West.
Call: in.bookmyshow.com
Entry: Rs 300 onwards

On: April 20 and April 21; 6.30 pm and 9 pm (It Takes 2)
At: The Jeff Goldberg Studio, Linking Road, Khar West.
Call: in.bookmyshow.com
Entry: Rs 500