Becoming first Indian to host International Emmys, actor-comic Vir Das on how he’ll soon begin writing the material and the pressure of getting it right
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Last year, Vir Das bagged the International Emmy for Best Comedy for his special, Vir Das: Landing. Come November 25, the actor-comic will head back to the prestigious gala in New York—this time as the host. With this, he becomes the first Indian to achieve the feat. It’s quite an honour, but Das says he is “pretty chill” about it. “We just announced it, but I’ve known about it for a few months. The expectations are high and I’ll celebrate if I get it right. I’m now starting to put pressure on myself. I’ll write it myself. The jokes will be a mix of things—it will be a few weeks after the American elections, enough things would’ve happened in the world. Plus, there will be many nominees and content makers in the audience whom I want to talk about. I want to get something like this absolutely right,” he shares.
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It has been an eventful month for Das, who also featured in Call Me Bae, led by Ananya Panday. Creating the character of TRP-hungry news anchor for the Collin D’Cunha-directed series was deeply satisfying. “I’m not the first person you think of when you think of a Dharma show. I didn’t want to make my character a YouTube sketch version of a journalist. So, Collin and I decided to make him a badass when he is in front of the camera; he can deliver lines. But we made him an idiot off camera. I played it with authenticity and a little bit of menace.”
Tell him the references for his news anchor act are obvious, and he says, “My first job was at CNBC. So, I’ve been in the newsroom long enough to know how journalists operate. At the core, he idolises and resents privilege at the same time. He wants to wear Prada, but he also hates people in Prada.”
His next is a yet-untitled film that he has directed with Kavi Shastri for Aamir Khan Productions. Did he enjoy direction? “This project is the toughest and the most fun thing I’ve ever done. I fell in love with it, like I did with stand-up comedy. Now, I want to try and write the next five things I star in. I want to start doing what an Adam Sandler or a Ben Stiller does, which is creating projects. Also, I want to play a dark villain in a movie.”
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