Exclusive! Sumaira Shaikh: I don’t think any comic sets out to offend people

Sumaira Shaikh has released her stand-up comic show for the first time on an OTT platform – Amazon Prime Video. Titled Dongri Danger, it will be talking about the place, which is one of the most feared places in Mumbai. She brings her experiences into the stand-up comedy.

While talking to OTTplay, Sumaira also spoke about the current situation with stand-up comedians. She believes that while people do get offended at jokes, no comic actually sets out with that intention. Excerpts from the interview…

What is Dongi Danger all about?

It is basically a stand-up special. Every comic has one goal in stand-up comedy, which is working towards releasing their video either online or record it. Some comics are really lucky when an OTT platform picks it up and people get to stream it. Dongri Danger has all the jokes that I’m writing since 2016. I started comedy full-time in 2016. The show was complete after 2017 because my brother had died that year. It added a different comedic style and it wasn’t just jokes for the sake of making jokes. It has brought in the personal aspects like mine and my father’s experiences growing up in Dongri. This show is a mixture of both. It’s almost like Sumaira before 2017 and after it.

Giving up councelling for stand-up comedy, did you do it for your own healing ya logon ko hasaane ke liye? Because being a councellor can definitely get too much, listening to people's life stories and seeing the world from a larger perspective.

(Laughs) It’s a good question. I am a psychology graduate. I wanted to become a therapist/councellor. Therapy is basically when people come and tell you their problems and you get paid for that. I wondered why am I doing this? I would rather go and tell people my problems on the stage. It is why I chose stand-up. It's a more selfish career but I truly enjoy it and love it.

Did you ever get to hear a nasty story that made you go 'wow, did that just happen?'

I haven’t been able to practice councelling. My friends did and it is quite intense. The experiences they have had with their clients, they share it with me and I feel relieved I did not pursue it any further.

Since you haven’t done councelling, what was your life like before 2017? What will we see in Dongri Danger?

I will always funny but nobody knew about it. I have a lot of angst that youth has, in the sense that I’m passionate to let people know that I’m funny too. I did stand-up because I was the person in the crowd who wasn’t recognized. I didn’t have power and nobody listened to me. That’s why I took the mic and told myself that everybody will listen to me now. What you expect from Dongri Danger is a lot of jokes and a lot of honesty. That’s also who I am as a person. If you ask around the comedy circle, you’ll hear that I’m one of the most honest people. It is why people like talking to me. They talk to me about other people because I’m so honest I will say how I feel. Expect a lot of honesty and jokes from the show.

No but honestly, did you ever witness the don culture? From what I hear, things are a little different now - not that the terror has gone, most definitely not, but it's not as bad as people make it to be. Tell me your first-hand experience.

There are no dons. I’m the only don over there. I’m from Dongi and live there. My relatives are from around the area. Outside the Dongri world, Muslims are minority. In Dongri, they are majority. They don’t know they are minority and are just living life. It’s so amazing to come from that background and then come out and have the outsider’s perspective and then again, go back with a new mindset. The show has a mixture of all the perspectives. I’m very excited for everybody to watch it.

People usually stay miles away when they hear about Dongri. In fact, when I was roaming around Byculla, because you know, there is this huge parsi colony there and I had to meet someone, when I got out and into the cab, the cab driver was like, madam aapko Dongri pata hai? And I was like yes. And he was like, wahan kabhi mat jaana. You understand, there's this legit scare around the area. However, you are bringing it in comedy. They are different genres. So how do you plan to mix them up?

I have a sense of humour so not matter what genre you give me, I can do comedy. Even if it’s a thriller, I would like to write a comic-thriller. I like to bring comedy aspect in anything. The great thing about comedy is that now people are taking it seriously. They want dramedies. The best part about comedy is that you can convey heavy subjects with a light tone. People hear you out and you manage to convey a serious subject. I won’t do anything else other than comedy in my life because I really like it. As a writer also, I like to pursue projects with the comic aspect. I would like to write jokes about every subject I touch. I want to see how it goes.

Since you are a writer, I would like to ask you this. Even if you are funny and have a sense of humour, which I completely agree to, it is still not possible to always be funny. So, as a writer, you could get a writer’s block at that point, where you need to be funny but it just doesn’t come to you. How do you deal with that?

You could be writing something and there are things that you can’t make jokes about. You tackle that differently and aren’t making jokes around the subject but there could be something happening where you could get the humour out like a moment where all the characters break and they laugh about something else. It happens in life also, right? When you have a heartbreak, you want to take a break in between and laugh about something else. Somewhere, you learn to integrate comedy. You also can’t be tone-deaf. If there’s something heavy going on, you can’t break the tension. With experience, you learn when to break the tension and keep it. It's the same with comedy and stand-up, where you learn when to keep the tension and when to break it.

You know, people have started taking offense to stand-up comedians these days. Even the smallest things could offend anybody. To top it up, you are going to be talking about Dongri, a place where people have been raised among violence and you also know that the residents are very sentimental when it comes to the place. Aren't you afraid of death threats or venue vandalism? How would you deal with those situations?

I have been around a lot of comics and I speak to them on a regular basis. Their intention is never to offend. It is always entertainment. If, for example, someone still takes offense, I would love to then as an artist, comic or writer, go out there and explain my intent behind doing it, which was very honest and clear. It was just to entertain and no offense. I’m not going to deny that I wouldn’t be open to apologizing because if somebody has taken an offense, it’s okay, I will apologize. Many artists are dead-against it. They believe it is their freedom of speech, which I understand. I exercise my freedom of speech too and by taking offense, they are exercising theirs. I would like to explain my side and be fine to apologize. The intent is always entertainment. I don’t think anybody sets out to offend.

Where will you be after Dongri Danger? Will you continue stand-up comedy, take up acting simultaneously? What does the future look like?

For me, I would have crossed a milestone by having my own special on an OTT platform. I’m co-creating a show next, which is a huge step in my career.