Sunil Grover on low moments of his life

MUMBAI: Comedian-actor Sunil Grover has been bringing smiles on people's faces with his funny acts for long but he has now opened up on the low moments of his life.

Comedians are like everyone else have their high and low moments too, he shared.

"The important thing is to learn from each experience. I have seen my father struggle every day to pursue his dreams and that has taught me to never give up on mine," Sunil told IANS.

"When I was struggling in the industry, I learnt that there were many others like me, who were ‘superstars' of their town - and ‘strugglers' here (in Mumbai). But I kept my calm and believed in myself, I tried to reach out to people in the industry for work. Soon I started getting work and realised how fortunate I was and regained my strength bit by bit," added the artiste, who has done TV shows, movies and web series.

In films like "Baaghi", he has gone beyond comedy. Does Bollywood give him more opportunities as an actor as compared to television?

"All my roles in films or comedy shows, have been different. Yes of course, this ('Baaghi') was a challenging role for me as I played the lead actress' father, a character that was years older than my real age. I streaked my hair grey and picked up a Punjabi accent for the part," recalled the "Bharat" actor.

He is happy doing "well written characters that make my audience laugh" irrespective of the platform.

"The objective for television, theatre or radio, is the same - to entertain. Television is a medium where you have to work on your character on an everyday basis and films is medium where when you get to work, you have to work before it starts," he explained.

Elaborating further, Sunil said: "In television, character grows with time because it's a long-running affair most of the time but in films, the character's story has a beginning, middle and an end and then after some time a new journey starts with a new character."

"For me, both the mediums have their own charm. Working on films and television, both give opportunities to explore myself as an actor and enjoy the journey," he added.

He has played many comic characters but Gutthi remains a favourite of many.

"According to me, the audience connects with this character the most because it is an amalgamation of various characters that you come across in your day-to-day life. Guthi is a whole package, a blockbuster entertainer," he said.

He has donned the sari or a suit to play other women characters too. When he was first asked to play a woman character, was he a bit hesitant?

"I have been someone who has always been good at mimicry, acting and making people laugh. While playing a character, I don't think of the gender. Till the time I can make people laugh without offending anyone, I am not hesitant. I only take 10 minutes to get dressed for a male character and 20 minutes in total to be ready as Gutthi. Also, I like it when people call out my character name as it is very overwhelming that they are aware of the characters I play," said Sunil.

He has also been on multiple tours, the latest being Imperial Blue SuperHit Nights Season 6, which brought together music and comedy.

"This is a unique combination not just for the audience, but also for me as a performer. What made this most exciting is that I got to perform with legends such as Vishal and Shekhar," he said about working with the composer duo.

SOURCE: IANS