BENGALURU: Imagine walking into your house all drunk from the bhaang on Holi and being interrogated by your parents. What more, it could be much worse than a police investigation. That’s not exactly what happened in the case of comedian Kaushal Dayani. He recalls trying bhaang for the first time and coming home. Fortunately, his father just pulled his leg and his mother didn’t realise anything. His sister just dragged him to his room and locked him up.

In his latest video Holi Aur Saste Nashe, Dayani shared many such Holi jokes. Uploaded three weeks before the festival of colours, he has already received over 2,500 views. He writes in the description, “Putting out an experience on Holi from one of my comedy shows at home, shot by friends. I cannot afford a bigger stage and production as of now, but I believe that any constraint should not stop me in pursing what I live for – comedy.” (sic).

Ask why he couldn’t afford a better video production, he explains, “I had a team to shoot and edit my video at one of my shows in January end in Puducherry, but they shared the video after a month and it was edited very badly as it was in bits and pieces. I had paid about `12,000 for the show and lost that money. So, I had to arrange one at my house and get my friends to do the post-production.”

Dayani has always been interested in comedy but wasn’t sure of a career in this field. He says, “In school, I would make fun of speakers after their debate sessions. I joined Toastmasters, a group that helps you develop public speaking skills, during my college.

I was part of it for three years. When I started working as a professional CPA and an auditor with Deloitte, I couldn’t manage to do comedy side by side as I wasn’t getting enough time. I had to cancel many of my shows.” Dayani went on to pursue stand-up comedy full time after quitting his job in 2016. He said his parents weren’t initially aware that he had quit his job to pursue comedy. “When I finally told them, they weren’t sure how I would make a career out of stand-up comedy. But now when they see I am receiving good response, they are okay,” he says.  

In the coming weeks, he will shoot videos with comedians Dr Jagdish Chaturvedi and Praveen Rao on their journey in comedy and how people can pursue their career without losing financial stability.