Head to Ashish Vidyarthi's stand-up comedy in Andheri on March 31

After playing mostly negative roles in over 300 films across 11 languages, veteran actor Ashish Vidyarthi is now trying his hand at stand-up comedy. Pic/Nimesh Dave

This writer's first brush with actor Ashish Vidyarthi was watching him play menacing gangster David in the Suniel Shetty-starrer Bhai. The role was a refreshing break from the rampant over-the-top-bordering-on-comical villains of the ‘90s, and the local don sent shivers down many a spine. After a career comprising over 300 films in 11 languages - most of them negative roles - the veteran is acting funny. Literally. He's trying stand-up. A comfort with "rootlessness" lies at the heart of Vidyarthi's desire to try out a new art form at 57 years of age.

We are at his Goregaon residence, and he fusses over our comfort while figuring the best angle for the photojournalist. "I throw roots wherever I go," he says. "I love to stride in and try out new things. I started with theatre in Delhi, moved to Hindi movies, then tried my hand at South Indian cinema. I'm a hunter-gatherer." The exact moment his interest in comedy awakened was when he signed up for the on-going web series Sunflower, a dark comedy.

"After a lifetime of mostly negative roles, I found myself enjoying a comic role and thought, why not do something here? That led to the next thought: Don't wait for it to happen. As actors, we keep waiting for roles to come our way. I always ask filmmaker friends whether they are waiting for me to die so that they can talk about how I wasn't used enough," he says, breaking into a throaty laugh. Thought led to action, and he wrote the script, and zeroed in on the venue.

"It's a fledgling space," says the Vittal Kaniya from Mahesh Manjrekar's Vaastav. "They just started having plays. It's a very personal trip, and is largely observational. Much of the material is about how the old perceive the young, and vice versa. I told my son and he was gung-ho. I told him he's in some of the jokes; he just laughed and said, ‘go ahead'. I also talk about myself. And there are no curse words."

Ask him about preparation, and he responds that he's experience with performance and the spoken word. "When I say I've written the piece, I actually just jotted points down and spoke them. I've been practicing in front of my team a lot." We discuss whether it is necessary to use unparliamentary language in stand-up comedy… a debate as old as the art form itself. "It's low-hanging fruit," says the gentleman. "We're all filled with inhibitions and when someone breaks them, it feels good. I find it unnecessary. It [foul language] can be used, I have no problem with it, but I don't want to."

WHAT: Sit Down Ashish
Where: Veda Kunba Theatre, Andheri West
When: March 31, 7 PM and 9 PM
To Book: bookmyshow.com