Believe it or not, Cyrus Broacha, the funny man of desi humour is actually quite a serious guy.
In his riotous world of spoofs there exists a solemn man working diligently behind news stories, sifting, identifying causes that the common man will empathise with. Giving a funny spin to it thereafter comes easy to him.
Cyrus who has been entertaining millions of viewers with his inimitable brand of comedy through his TV shows, MTV Bakra and the current one CNN IBN's The Week That Wasn't, is all set to perform in the city this Sunday, in a play called ‘One out of Six'.
Scripting spoofs, enacting them and remaining on the right side, does entail some responsibility?
“I hate responsibility. I run away from it,” he says categorically, over the phone, adding that he wakes up every morning, figuring out how to work lesser than he did the previous day.
For a split second you wonder what gibberish that is but then that's Cyrus who, with a straight face, gets away with rib-ticklers that rope in celebs, politicians, issues, just about everybody.
Cyrus does not spare himself too.
He is happy being the butt of jokes and makes light of his parental and husbandly duties.
“If you can't cheat your family then who can you cheat?” he asks disclosing that being a role model father to his kids Mikhaail and Maya, and a good husband to Ayesha, his wife, is a huge responsibility. He has a crazy piece of advice for children, and that's not to keep quiet in class, something he never did. Being a motor mouth, he says, has paid off for him . Cyrus encourages kids to take their own decisions.
Ask him if we as Indians take ourselves too seriously or do we have a sense of humour?
Of course we do have a funny bone, he says, referring to the hilarious satires found in our literature and arts. “Besides in a country like ours where many don't have square meals, clothing and housing we still wear a smile. So we do have a sense of fun.” But what Indians don't like, says Cyrus, is being made fun of.
“Do we like laughing at ourselves? I would say no,” he says matter-of-fact.
So what does he recommend? A laugh-at-yourself day when each Indian makes a complete fool of him/herself and laughs to their heart's content. “Of course this has to be outside the Parliament,” he adds.
Though he satirises public personalities and their foibles, his shows are not moralistic for he doesn't wish to change anybody. “Our show is to make people laugh.” And with that in mind he goes about taking the wind out of everybody's sails.
Can one take humour out of Cyrus? Health problems, he says make him serious. Ask him more definitively about his health and he in his casual, ‘shrug-off' tone, says, “The problems faced by a 40-year-old male.”
Theatre is his first love.He has done a few films, but it is with anchoring that he shot to fame.
His three professional options? Anchoring is his bread and butter. Films are a tough ballgame and theatre is out of pure love. Cyrus got his theatre training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.
He calls Kerala a paradise, “which should retain its beauty, culture and tourism. It should not go the Goa way”, and comes here for family holidays.
Cyrus has penned his second book, ‘The Average Indian Male,' which is to be launched next week. . “It is my take on the male species…… we should not lose this wonderful animal….like the Bengal Tiger or the Asiatic Lion.”
Whacky! Yes, but then that's Cyrus for you.
