Varun Grover paces the green room at Kamani Auditorium, a hub of Delhi’s theatre action. The Mumbai-based stand-up comedian is focused on Aisi Taisi Democracy, a Hindi comedy-cum-musical show that his group has brought to Delhi. While the other two stars of the show, musician Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean fame and comedian Sanjay Rajoura, look relaxed — Grover doesn’t.

But under the arc lights, the lanky, brooding man transforms. Bollywood lyricist and scriptwriter Grover now looks charged as he regales the audience with great one-liners.

The two-hour satirical show Aisi Taisi Democracy has been successfully touring India for a year now. While Grover and Rajoura make digs at politicians, caste, religion and the mall culture, Ram strums his guitar, sings and jokes. “If the first two minutes of the show work, then the rest will rock,” says Grover.

A joke that never fails to draw laughs is this: “On my Facebook feed, I saw that an uncle from UP had added a rainbow to his profile picture. I asked him why and he said: ‘The monsoon is here.’ I explained to him that the rainbow signified support of same-sex couples and marriage. Strangely, he was okay with that. ‘As long as the couples were from the same caste.’”

Conceiving one-liners for his comedy acts is just one of the many hats that Grover, 35, wears. He’s the scriptwriter of the super-serious Masaan that won top awards at the 68th Festival De Cannes this May. He’s also the lyricist of the quirky O Womaniya from Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1 and has written the songs for the 2015 films, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and NH10.
Aisi Taisi Democracy is his latest passion. “It’s an honest show with lots of earthy humour,” he says.

It all began when he met Rajoura during a comedy act in Mumbai and connected instantly with him. The two decided to start their own comedy act and roped in Ram as well.

Aisi Taisi Democracy played for the first time in June last year and to date they have staged 12 shows in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta. The trio now plans to take it to the Hindi-speaking belts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The show is presented by Culture Machine, an online digital video entertainment company.

Grover meets his teammates a day before the show but they stay connected on WhatsApp and Skype. “We exchange notes and select topical issues,” Grover says with a distinct eastern-UP accent for effect.
 

A civil engineer from the Indian Institute of Engineering, Banaras Hindu University, Grover decided to dump his software job in Pune. “I quit the job within 11 months,” he says. He moved to Mumbai in 2004.

Grover started visiting producers with his sample scripts. He didn’t have to struggle much and, in 2005, got his first break as one of the scriptwriters for The Great Indian Comedy Show. His other scripted comedy shows include Oye! It’s Friday! (2009) and Ranvir Vinay Aur Kaun? (2008). “I was inspired by actors Gaurav Gera, Shekhar Suman, Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak,” he says.

But soon the medium started to bore him. “Television had lost its edge by 2009,” he says.

In 2009, Grover took part in Hamateur Night — an open-mic talent contest for stand-up artistes organised by comedian and actor Vir Das — and won. “That gave me the confidence to continue with comedy,” he says.

Grover joined indie film blog Passion for Cinema, where he connected with filmmaker Anurag Kash-yap and director Neeraj Ghaywan (of Masaan). “Anurag wrote regularly on the blog and we exchanged ideas,” says Grover.

He got his first break as a lyricist in Kashyap’s film starring Kalki Koechlin, That Girl in Yellow Boots, and later wrote lyrics for films like Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1 and Part 2.

Masaan director Ghaywan says that he didn’t take much time to bond with Grover. “I was working as assistant director in Gangs of Wasseypur when I met him,” he says.

Masaan went on to win the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award and a Prix de l’Avenir (a special jury prize for promising debut films) at Cannes. “It was a dream run,” says Grover.

Ask him how he switches from a comic script to a dead serious one like Masaan and he says: “It’s as easy as switching from eating South Indian for breakfast and Italian for lunch or dinner.”

While currently Grover is writing the lyrics for upcoming films Zubaan and Gurgaon, he also hopes to direct a film one day and is ready with a script tentatively titled, Maa Bhagwatiya IIT Coaching. But right now he’s enjoying the space he’s in.

Photographs by Rupinder Sharma