A funny view of Indian history - courtesy comedian Vir Das

MUMBAI - Actor and stand up comedian Vir Das has rewritten history, but with a comic touch. His forthcoming show, called “History Of India - VIRitten”, is set to tickle the funny bone of the audience with a journey from ancient times to modern day.

“For this show I’ve written the history of India through stand up comedy. It’s chronologically written major events in history through stand up comedy from Mohenjodaro and Harappa to the present times,” Vir told IANS.

“I’ve always been a history buff, I’ve always enjoyed seeing History Channel. So I just started taking down notes on history. I also did a big tour last year called ‘Walking On Broken Das’ and I knew that my next show must be on a much grander scale, so that’s how I decided on this show. Have been writing about it for a year now,” he added.

The show, which is an Ashvin Gidwani Productions’, will be staged Sunday at the Sophia Bhabha Auditorium. The show takes a look at India’s rich history, like the dressing style of the Mughal kings, how the British won India through violent use of flags and how the Lodhi dynasty’s greatest victory was a flower-garden.

However, it was not an easy task to put it together.

“It’s a lot of reading and writing. We comedians are not the most academic people in the world. I got into comedy so that I wouldn’t have to study, but for this I had to read a lot of history books and do a lot of research so that was pretty tough,” explained the 31-year-old.

But isn’t he scared that he might offend people because the subject matter this time involves the history of the country?

“I always offend a few people who come for my shows, history or no history. There are always people who forget that they are coming for a comedy show and take offence. But the shows are just for entertainment.

“This show too is entertainment and is all about the celebration of India. I’m a very patriotic person. I love my country and won’t do anything derogatory,” revealed Vir.

“One in 2,000 people do get offended. They don’t create a scene but they write about it, I’ll get an email etc, but I trust in my content and I trust in my audience. If 99.9 per cent of my audience is having a good time then that’s good enough for me,” he added.

Vir, who has performed shows like “HAMateur Night”, “Weirdass”, ‘Ek Rahen Bir” and “Brown Men Can’t Hump” among others has studied acting and has been part of films like “Badmaash Company”, ” Love Aaj Kal” and “Mumbai Salsa”.

Next he will be seen in Aamir Khan’s production venture “Delhi Belly”.

“In the film I’ll be playing an important role with Imran Khan. I’m quite excited about it. I also have have two more films but can’t divulge any details about it just yet,” said Vir.