Amit Tandon is travelling with his show 'Tour Masala Sandwich' in India. (Photo: Amit/Instagram)Comedian Amit Tandon is performing his hit show ‘Masala Sandwich’ for the last time in India. In a chat with indianexpress.com, he shared that he has spent enough time with the material and wanted to ‘move on’. However, he does plan to stage the act on foreign shores before pulling the curtains down.
The conversation made us wonder how comedians write given the ‘expiry date’ on subjects. To this Amit said, “I genuinely write stuff around my life, my relationships. And that’s why it doesn’t change much and is relatable across the globe. The set also remains relevant with time as experiences don’t become dated. I also make sure to write content that one can watch at least five years down the line.”
A Google search on Amit Tandon and the first link leads to his website, which flaunts the words in bold — ‘The Best Stand Up Comedy in India’. As we quizzed him about his humble approach on the internet, he laughed, “It’s embarrassing. I have not created the website and I think they just added it using SEO and keywords. It’s almost six or seven-year-old and I really have no hand in it. Unfortunately, I never got the time to focus on it and make the alteration.”
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Taking the discussion to the current comedy scenes in the country, Amit Tandon said that while there has been an influx of comedians, there is no competition as each one brings their own voice, and own audience. “Thanks to the new comics, the market is opening up. Now it’s no more the big cities that have shows but we can perform in smaller towns too. Probably for the first time now, we are seeing the culture of buying tickets for a live show. Even if one comedian performs in a small town, people are aware about the stand-up. Also, I think we can never have competition because there are enough people in India for everyone.”
The comedian also added that they have the advantage of loyalty as most fans keep coming back to their favourites. “They watch me because they relate to me, they feel I am talking to them,” he shared.
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Amit Tandon has also shouldered a show on television — Good Night India. However, he said that he did not quite like the medium as the final product that is aired is not always in his hands. “There are 100 people involved and even though I was given the full content freedom, there is the director or editor also there. Sometimes what goes out is not the same way you intended it to go. Hence, it’s a game of Chinese Whisper. And then of course the TRPs are monitored and hence more things come into play. With my YouTube channel, everything is my responsibility.”
In recent times, comedians have been under the scanner for being ‘vulgar’ and cracking ‘below the belt’ jokes. Amit Tandon said that while he has no issues with the ones who do adult comedy, he has made a conscious decision to write material that he can perform in front of anyone. “The first couple of years I have also done edgy stuff. But since I live with my parents, I wanted to write stuff that I could do in front of them too. However, like movies, comedy too has all kinds of genres. And while some of them you’d love watching with family, others you can watch alone with headphones on. The choice is completely for the audience to make.”
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On a final note, the comedy star revealed that he is writing a feature film, a satire that’s largely about how people go to any extent to get more followers on social media. He shared that he’s presently on his second draft and the script will take some time before it goes on the floor.
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