Paresh Rawal, who is currently starring in the recently released horror-comedy ‘Bhooth Bangla’, feels that comedy films today are facing strong competition from television and digital content, particularly ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’. Known for his memorable comic performances like Babu Rao in the ‘Hera Pheri’ franchise and Ghungroo in ‘Welcome’, Rawal noted that performers such as Sunil Grover have taken humor to a higher level.
Paresh Rawal says writing comedy is more difficult than it seems
In a conversation with Moneycontrol, Rawal stated that writing and maintaining good comedy is much tougher than it looks. He said, “Abhi when you look at Kapil Sharma Show and when you look at Sunil Grover kind of talent, these guys are bloody huge talent. It is a bloody volcano. If you have to compete with comedy, you will not have to think too much. Writing and maintaining comedy is very tough. Even those who write comedy have a team of 10-15 people. There is no point in keeping a writer like this, it is in the hands of the producer. Where will you give it to 15 people,” he told us in a video conversation. (“Now when you look at Kapil Sharma Show and when you look at Sunil Grover kind of talent, these guys are bloody huge talent. It is a bloody volcano. If you want to compete with that kind of comedy, you have to change your thinking or else it won’t work. Writing comedy and maintaining it is very tough. There too, the comedy that’s written, they have a team of 10-15 people. Here, producers don’t even have the budget to keep one writer. So where will they get 15 people from?”
“It is a tough time for comedy. Everyday there is competition. Kapil Sharma’s show is everyday competition to any comedy film. Sometimes he goes over the top but that’s besides the point. But there is competition and there is benchmark,” he added.
Paresh Rawal recalls his early Bollywood days
Looking back at his early years in Bollywood, Paresh said the working environment was far more unpredictable, adding that he enjoys working much more now. “It was very scary. If you worked with Salim Javed you would get a bound script in 70s or 80s. But with others you did not know what to do. That time was very bad,” he smiled.
Paresh Rawal on Bhooth Bangla release details
On the work front, Paresh Rawal is currently featuring in ‘Bhooth Bangla’, which recently hit theatres, alongside Akshay Kumar, Tabu and Asrani. Helmed by Priyadarshan, the film was released on April 17.
