Social media is a minute reflection of the real world: Vir Das

“I’ve spent so much time shooting and touring, I didn’t really get the time for writing and development and this [lockdown] was like nice four months to write,” says Vir Das. Ask the actor-comedian what is the first thing he wants to do after the lockdown ends, and he says, “I want to go surfing. Over the past five years, I have taken up surfing seriously. Once the monsoon ends, I want to go to a beach for about 20 to 30 days and surf from morning to night.” 

Does this lockdown period put an added pressure on comedians to deliver better on their social media platforms? “No, I don’t think so. It is your platform and you choose the content you want to put up. How much pressure you want to undergo is entire upto you. I realised a long time ago that social media is a very minute reflection of the real world,” he opines. 

Das, 41, feels that “because of how much my [show] tickets costs, expectations are always high”. “The last time I was allowed to have a bad show was about 10 years ago. Front row costs too much. If you spend Rs5,000, I better be bloody good,” he laughs. Das, who has done countless shows till date, says that he gets his motivation by “scaring” himself. “For me, it’s always like, ‘am I scared of this?’ then let’s go for it. And then it motivates me,” he adds. 

Over the past months, a lot of negativity has surfaced on social media, and Das says that it is “understandable”. “You are at home for a very long period of time and the people you are staying with don’t want to put up with your sh** anymore, so you need some place to throw your tantrums and that has become social media. The tantrum you used to throw at home, you are now doing it on social media,” he signs off.