Kiku Sharda, who plays Manav in SAB TV’s Partners Double Ho Gayi Trouble, tells Shalini Saksena what makes him laugh

How would you define your character?

If you have been watching the show, you would know that my role is that of a goofy cop. My name Manav Desai—Mad. He doesn’t know much about his job but he is a cop because he passed the required a test. Also, his brother in law is a DG of Police and he wants to get rid of him and posts him in the station where the Commissioner is played by Johnny Lever. The reason why Manav has been given a partner, played by Vipul Roy, is to keep him in control.

How difficult has it to maintain the thin line between a goofy cop and yet ensure that the audience doesn’t lose faith in the real system?

Even though Manav is goofy and absent-minded, he is not a bad person. We have not shown him to be corrupt. The show has also shown him to have the desire to catch the bad guys. We have not shown cops in a bad light. Even in FIR, we had goofy policewallahs.

How does it play a cop again?

With no disrespect to the real cops who are out there to protect us, the kind of cop that I have played, I don’t think they really exist in real life. So, I really enjoy myself playing these characters. Being the mad and goofy guy, is creates humour and the essential thing in life is to have a good laugh.

Has humour become slimmer down the ages?

I don’t that this is true. There was a time when mimicry was the only kind of humour that was available. Today, things have changed. Humour has many facets now. If one wants slapstick it is there. If one wants English humour, that is there, there is Hindi and Hinglish humour. If one wants basic observational humour that is there. There is stand-up too. These are good times where everyone has a space and market. You have a Vir Das and slapstick humour in films and both are just as appreciated. You have Govind, Varun Dhawan and even Akshay Kumar doing comedy.

Heroes doing comedy. Is that not taking away the job of a comedian?

If you take Johnny Lever, he is there in almost all the movies whether it is Judwa 2 or Golmaal series. He is able to make a space for himself in all these movies. Take Sanjay Mishra, he is also there. When it comes to the likes of Akshay Kumar, he is able to carry the movie on his shoulders. But it is not as if, the work of a comedian has gone away. I have been in this field for so long. I love what I am doing. But the space that I have been offered in films has not been juicy enough but when it happens, I will take it up.

What makes you laugh?

I laugh at what my children have to say. They have such goofy conversations. I find that children have bizarre questions. They are so creative. But once we grow up we lose it, probably because the stress in life catches up with us. There is a lot of humour around us but we can’t see it. We just need to open ourselves to it. Materialist attitude has made us lose focus on the masti around us.

What kind of shows would you like to do — Kapil Sharma kind of shows or daily soap?

I enjoy both genres. I have never given up on one to do the other. When I was doing FIR, I started doing Comedy Nights with Kapil. While doing this, FIR ended and I started doing Akbar Birbal. I just want to do good stuff, happy stuff and do something innovative.

Any reason why you choose to do comedy?

I enjoy doing comedy because when the day ends on a happy note it makes me happy. I can’t be serious for long. I get bored if the atmosphere remains serious for long.

Is there a character that you would love to play?

In films, it would be the kind of work that Boman Irani or Paresh Rawal do or be part of films like Bheja Fry.