Interviw : Ankita Srivastava : An engineer who can tickle your funny bones!

In the last few years #StandUpComedy has gained immense popularity. The tremendous success shows like #TheKapilSharmaShow has given lease of life to many comic actors and stand up comedians who were into oblivion. But in a male dominated world of Stand Up Comedy, a girl has been creating ripples with her Stand Up acts. She is #AnkitaSrivastava. Ankita hails from #Kanpur, #UttarPradesh, and has been in the acting field from her school college days. She is an Engineer and now has taken Stand-Up as a profession. A new comedy show, Madness Machayenge, India Ko Hasayenge has hit the small screen wherein number of comic actors make viewers laugh with gags and stand up acts. Ankita is part of that show and her work is being appreciated. Ankita Srivastava is an engineer who can tickle your funny bones. Our Sr Editor Keerti Kadam met Ankita Srivastava for a chat. Here are the excerpts.

Tell us something about your initial stages…

I always liked acting and had been taking part in school and college plays. But I realised, in fact my friends made me realise, that I had a comedic streak in my conversation. It often happens that each group has a person who makes everybody laugh. I was that person in my group. Everyone used to be in splits when I used to narrate incidents. Once I narrated a funny incident on stage and it received massive response. That prompted me to start my YouTube channel, ‘Filmy Chokri’. When I started living in Mumbai, I used to travel by local trains. I recorded my observation and made a video, ‘Bombay Girls, Local Trains’. It received a lot of love and within days it crossed 4 million views. I think with Mumbai ‘Local Train’ my Stand Up ‘Gaadi’ too started gaining speed.

You have done films and serials, how come you have chosen Stand Up comedy path?

I have done films and television serials like, Sarbjit, Welcome Back, Life Is Good, Dastaan-E-Mohabbat, Salim Anarkali, Darr Sabko Lagta Hai etc. I have done around 200-250 Ad films, e.g. Dairy Milk, KGC, Dominos, Tata Sky, LG, New York Life Insurance to name a few. In fact I was doing quite well doing Ads and serials. But I thought of taking a risk to keep all of that on back burner and give Stand Up comedy preference. That’s the reason I am part of Sony’s Madness Machayenge, India Ko Hasayenge. In fact it’s a huge responsibility as we are allotted The Kapil Sharma Show slot. Kapil Sharma has contributed immensely to give Stand Up comedy respect and all of us are grateful to him for that. He is the only one, no one can match his stand up. MMIH show will bring new energy as there are stand up comedians and social media stars who’ll offer pure entertainment to the audience. The responsibility is huge. So it’s little scary but I am confident that we all collectively will win hearts of viewers by making them laugh.

Stand Up comedy is usually male dominated. How do you place yourself in that scenario?

There has a been a perception that women can not do comedy or women are not funny. And I want to erase that notion. But of course being a girl I have to put in five times more efforts in my acts. If a male performer fails to land his joke effectively, he’ll be pardoned saying, it’s not his day. But for a female stand up performer this leeway is not offered. It is tougher for females as they are expected to deliver each time they take the mike in hand. But fortunately things are changing because of the Internet explosion. The viewers do not discriminate here and a lot of female comics are getting noticed,

Do you write your own scripts?

Yes. I do write all my scripts. But before presenting them I bounce it with my writer friends. This helps to tighten the loopholes and make the script more impeccable. Sometimes, when I am confident of the content, I straightaway take my thoughts on stage. There are instances when your joke doesn’t land effectively, then I have learnt to crack a joke on myself and save the situation. But such instances are very few. I am aware that people buy ticket to watch me perform and it’s my moral duty to not disappoint them.