In Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, Swara Bhasker plays the titular character who ditches a comfortable but boring life to pursue her passion for stand-up comedy. The Netflix show, that’s now streaming, also stars stand-up comic Varun Thakur (who does no comedy on the show!) and content creator and influencer Dolly Singh. We chatted with the three over a Zoom call on the six-episode series and about following their passion in life.

Swara, did you ever think that in a show that has Varun Thakur in it, you would be the one doing stand-up comedy?

Swara Bhasker: I most certainly didn’t think that! That was my biggest challenge, that was my biggest fear about this show... the comedy bit, doing all those sets on stage. My biggest takeaway was the fact that I got to dabble with, learn and understand the world of comedy a little bit. Varun, of course, was a darling... I leached off his craft and his wisdom a lot (laughs). It’s a fun, heartwarming, uplifting show and that, for me, was the nicest part about it.

While shooting the stand-up bit, was it intimidating having a consummate comedian like Varun around?

Swara: Varun is very sweet... he’s not intimidating at all! I took full advantage of his niceness and my shamelessness (laughs), and even for my prep I sought advice from him. He gave me so much time. Once he even came home and sat and heard my entire set!

Varun and Dolly, what were your reasons to sign on Bhaag Beanie Bhaag?

Varun Thakur: Netflix! Having a Netflix show on your resume is always great. My mom has seen me in films, YouTube, Instagram, stage... but her biggest problem always has been, ‘Why don’t you have a Netflix show yet?!’ (Laughs) The minute I landed this part, I went and told her, ‘Ab khush? Yeh lo Netflix show aapka!’ Everything was perfectly in place for me to come on board and have a good time.
Dolly Singh: Same... Netflix! It’s created such a space for itself that everyone wants to be on it. Deep down, I’ve always wanted to act, and this was my chance. I gave multiple rounds of auditions over a span of eight months. To finally get that call that I was in was worth everything.

What was the vibe on set like? It seems like such a fun show to make...

Varun: Oh ya! Swara’s vanity van was our meeting point. Swara would get the most amazing makhanas on set... I was just telling her how much I miss them! (Laughs) The atmosphere was such that work didn’t really feel like work. We were having fun constantly. For a show that’s as easy, carefree and laidback as Bhaag Beanie Bhaag is, I think that dynamic was very important.

Swara: I think we were having so much fun on set that even when we were dying of exhaustion, we would be shooting videos! Everyone was so easy to get along with, whether it was these two or Ravi (played by Ravi Patel), who is hilarious. It was really enjoyable.

Swara, did Bhaag Beanie Bhaag give you a peek into what the world of stand-up comedy is really like?

Swara: The prep I did gave me a peek into this world. Meeting all the comics, talking to them.... One thing I noticed about all comics I met, including Varun, is that they put so much pressure on themselves! They have this internalised self-pressure to perform, produce, succeed, it’s very self-inflicted. I have also noticed that Dolly is very productive. It’s very impressive, because I do just about three things a year... max! And these guys are on their feet all the time.

While prepping, I went for a lot of open mics, but the show, per se, is not really about comedy. It’s about Beanie’s self-discovery. Comedy is just a location, in some sense, for this story. For me, this show is about adulting.

Varun, after Bhaag Beanie Bhaag, do you think Swara could have an alternative career in comedy?

Varun: I told her this the second I heard her! We were jamming on how to do things and I suggested that she write some bits based on incidents from her own life. And the next time we met, she had four pages of handwritten stories with jokes worked into them! I am genuinely telling you that if she wants to — with more open mics and more practice — she can very well become a comedian herself. She’s a natural act, she’s super confident, she has hilarious stories from her life which I won’t get into (laughs). She’s someone who takes up a challenge and goes into it full throttle.

Beanie is someone who discovers her calling in life and takes a shot at it. From the looks of it, the three of you seem to be following your passion in life, but have there been moments of self-doubt?

Dolly: All the time! I think Varun will agree that content creators like us have come up with so much content every day in the last few months that there has been this whole thing of working for 10 days on the trot, and then suddenly breaking down. And those are the moments that make me feel, ‘What am I doing? Is it worth it?’ But the next day I wake up and have a go at it again because I love my job.

Varun: The lockdown has affected creators, actors, performers. To take that problem and turn it to your advantage, one needs to be diligent. There are days when I don’t feel funny at all and I feel I have lost my mojo... I don’t make a video, write a joke or create a reel. But these are problems faced by every creator....

Do you always have the pressure to be funny?

Varun: One hundred per cent! Suppose I am in some kind of gathering and someone finds out I am a comedian, they just start looking at me! (Laughs) They expect I will crack a joke at that moment and everyone will be on the floor laughing, but it doesn’t always work like that. I try and be myself, and a large part of me is being funny, and so if it happens organically, it happens. I don’t take the pressure to make people laugh because the day you start doing that to yourself, you will be the least funny.

Swara: To answer your previous question, I feel grateful to be doing the job that I do and that some amount of success and fulfilment has come out of it. When I took this career decision 11 years ago, it was basically about gambling away the best years of my life. I was 23 when I reached Bombay and it’s crazy that one jumps into this career knowing that one will spend the next decade or more just struggling, and possibly failing. I remember when I met Naseeruddin Shah for the first time, he asked me, ‘Do you love acting so much that if you can’t do it, you will die?’ And I was like, ‘What?! Who dies for things like this?’ (Makes a face and laughs) I found it so melodramatic.

And then four years later, when I was living with this constant uncertainty about my career, everything is unstable here and your success could also be a source of anxiety, I had this epiphanic moment when I was feeling really shitty and I realised, ‘Oh, this is what Naseer sir meant’. He meant that if you don’t spend your life regretting that you are not an actor, then don’t do it because it’s so f****ing hard! So in this context, I am grateful that I have more reasons to celebrate than to be anxious about. The reason why I have a voice and an opinion of weight today is because being an actor has given me that platform. I never forget that.