Shekhar Suman denies he is back. Shekhar Suman denies he is funny. He also denies being a television host.

But one thing is clear — Shekhar Suman is concerned, if not outright angry.

He says, in a democracy, people should be able to speak their mind.

Everything that is happening in the country, its people and around him has found a way on his personal YouTube channel via Shekhar Tonite, a show that Suman says is not a talk show.

“I am talking about things that I want the Prime Minister to talk about,” he said. “I was always impressed by RK Laxman’s common man. I saw him as a mute witness. I am giving the common man a voice. It is not a comedy show. If a smile appears it is coincidental.”

Nearly three decades ago, then already a familiar face in Indian homes courtesy Doordarshan serials and programmes from the mid-’80s onwards, Shekhar Suman presented a mix of comedy, impressions and chats with guests on Movers and Shakers. Launched in 1997, Movers and Shakers had a successful TV run before the plug got pulled.

“I did not stop. I did not go anywhere. This is not a comeback. This is rediscovering my core,” he said.

It has been over a month that Shekhar Tonite dropped on YouTube with Nitin Gadkari, the Union minister for road transport and highways as the celebrity guest and has since generated 51,420,281 views and counting.

Nitin Gadkari All pictures: Sourced by the correspondent

There have been eight episodes (the episodes drop every Friday) so far with guests like actors Manoj Bajpayee, Bobby Deol, filmmaker Farah Khan and Amruta Fadnavis, the wife of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Suman says his show has nothing to do with the late night shows on American television, many of whom have been vehement critics of the Donald Trump administration.

“I am just having an intimate conversation with my audience. What I think about the country, the people whom we have elected, those whose incompetence has made the system what it is,” said Suman. “I don’t sensationalise. I don’t want to stir the pot. There is no need for me to stir the hornet’s nest. But, if our democracy has to grow strong, we need to speak on things that are happening around us.”

The first episode was aired right after the Bengal poll results were declared and Raghav Chadha crossed over to the BJP.

Referring to the BJP’s campaigning with fish (the Trinamool had campaigned that if voted to power BJP will ban fish and meat), he said, this was the first instance of fish being used as bait.

“Raghav Chadha speaks nineteen to the dozen about samosas. What do I say? It is natural to have tea after samosas (a sly reference to the BJP’s tea-seller campaign centred on Narendra Modi ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls). I am not saying anything against him. It is satirical.”

In the latest episode which dropped on July 3, he spoke on what is an Indian identity card that passes for citizenship and the question paper leaks, clubbed together.

“It is not a wonder that we have so many exams in the country. The question papers of all these examinations have been leaked,” he says wryly.

“Students had assembled at Jantar Mantar (in New Delhi where the Cockroach Janta Party is on an indefinite protest). Now teachers also have to reach there (referring to the teachers eligibility test question leak in Maharashtra). All we need is a blackboard and chalk to start the classroom.”

In the same vein he continues, what is the proof of Indian citizenship?

“Voter card? No. Even Bangladeshis have it. PAN? No. It is only your financial identity. AADHAR? No. Those are being found in Pakistan? Passport? It has been reduced to a travel document these days,” he says. “If you dance on the streets holding the Tricolour after India defeats Pakistan in a cricket match, then you are an Indian,” he says and goes on to add some more criteria like voting in favour of freebies, worshipping and polluting rivers, and break into traditional dances outside international airports.

Bobby Deol and Shekhar Suman

The show does follow a template: an opening act where the actor, who made his film debut with Girish Karnad’s Utsav, opposite Rekha, speaks on select issues before a guest walks in and the two converse.

“Subjects and issues come from what we read in newspapers, social media. What people are talking about,” he said.

Though there is a format, the duration of each episode varies. And that brings the question to why he chose YouTube and not the more lucrative OTT platforms or private channels, with some of whom he was associated with earlier.

Farah Khan attends Shekhar Suman's YouTube show

“I didn’t want anyone to dictate to me what I can say, what I can do. They know nothing about the craft, the creativity. They are a bunch of ill-informed people who are running a business. They are incapable of understanding. YouTube offers me freedom. I am responsible for what I am saying,” he said. “I do it as long as I enjoy it. The day I don’t want to, I won't (shoot).”

Stand-up comedians were not in when Movers and Shakers first aired. Then came a whole bunch of comedians and many of them had a brush with the law or faced the wrath of supporters of political leaders, the venues vandalised and cases slapped.

Is Shekhar Suman not scared?

“No. I am not scared. I am discreet. I know where to draw the line. If I feel somebody will take an umbrage (to something I say) I don’t say it. I don’t personally run down anyone,” he said. “Atal Bihari Vajpayee had once stepped out of the car and said whenever I did an impression of him or said something about him, it made him laugh the most.”