The happiest comedian

JOVIAL STREAK

Despite being diagnosed with partial blindness at the age of eight, Sundeep Rao took things in his stride and today, he is one of the best stand-up comedians in the City.

  Besides, he is also the only partially blind stand-up comedian in the country. “So that’s my space and there is no competition there so far,” he jokes.

When he was working in the marketing department of an IT company, Sundeep would dabble with comedy whenever he got free time. “But slowly, I became addicted to it,” he says. It has been two years now since he took to it. Ask him how hard is it to get into the field full-time and he says, “It’s more of a mind shift and a lot of discipline is required. You have to be professional and more structured. You also need to have a plan of context about where you are going with humour,” he informs. “You need to promote yourself well. So it’s a lot more than just getting on stage and making people laugh.”

On being asked if partial blindness poses as a challenge in the profession, he says, “One has to come to terms with it. As opposed to being frustrated about it, I crack jokes on it and that is a lot more fulfilling. I actually observe the society through my ‘filter’,” he says jovially. “More than a challenge, it has become my tool. Nothing in life is smooth. I may not be the most successful comedian but am certainly the happiest! There are a lot of ‘downs’ in the profession but many ‘ups’ too,” he adds.

According to him, “Everyone has a disability in the form of insecurities and inhibitions. If everyone becomes the best, who will be average? So my only advice to people is to keep making mistakes and don’t learn from them!”

The scene in the City has certainly become better according to him. “When I started in 2010 with Sanjay Manaktala and Praveen Kumar, we used to do only two shows a month. Now, we do around 16 shows! Like any other business, it has a long way to go. It is growing not too fast but in a healthy way. But compared to the United States, the scene is still young, almost 25 years behind,” he says.

Apart from making people laugh, Sundeep also likes to share his opinion. “The recall value should be there. Instead of stating the obvious, I want turn things around. I want people to laugh with me and not at me,” he adds.  

His latest show is called ‘Blurred Lines’. “It’s obviously about what I have been through,” he laughs. “It’s also about what I have experienced since my last show ‘Out of Sight’.”

Catch Sundeep Rao’s ‘Blurred Lines’ today at 8.30 pm at BFlat, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar.