Three South Indian boys make their voyage to space. And discover mundane, ordinary life. Make no mistake, this is as much fun as discovering constellations. Star Boyz , a collaboration between the popular stand-up comedian, Bengaluru boy Kenneth Sebastian and Them Boxer Shorts has gone viral on YouTube. StarBoyz is also one among the many web series on YouTube called #Laughtergames. In a first, nine comic groups, including SNG Comedy, East India Comedy, Enna Da Rascalas, Random Chikibum, Arre and Put Chutney, will launch nine web series as part of #LaughterGames.
“ StarBoyz is a combination of dead-pan American humour and South Indian humour,” says Kenneth over phone. “The characters are very Bangalorean, very Chennai and very Kochi kind of guys. The way they speak is an urbanised South Indian style.” Kenneth always wanted to do something with science fiction and that is how StarBoyz came to be. “There are no big science fiction shows, so I wanted to do a show I would like to watch.” He is quick to add that the show isn’t a spoof of Star Trek . “It’s a ‘what if’ of it. To look at a day when nothing happens, when you are perhaps doing laundry.” But the focus is on the fun rather on the technique. Kenneth honestly says that they haven’t gone overboard with special effects in the video, and that it has worked well for them. “We’ve done some over acting on purpose. If you make it look silly, then anything can happen.”
English comedy has seen a massive change in the last decade. With stand-up comedy taking the urban Indian audience by storm, comedy has taken on various forms, including web series. Mumbai-based Anuvab Pal, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, playwright and novelist, has created scenes from Indian life for #LaughterGames. “Three have already been done. I will be doing four more as part of LaughterGames,” says Anuvab over phone. “One is on a single woman in Mumbai looking for a flat and the other is about old Indian uncles bothering people on an airplane. The scene of the single woman involves a broker showing her seven different houses in Mumbai, and with every place, depending on what the house owner wants, the broker introduces the girl that way.
“I try to stay away from comedy that states the obvious,” says Anuvab, when asked about how he creates humour from everyday observations. “I go away from a topic and adopt an angle cleverer than what the media is saying. I am more interested in specific Indians and their experiences. I am not interested in comedy laughing at others. I like to write complicated situations in which the protagonist is in the system.’
Bharat, also from Bengaluru, is part of Put Chutney’s Control Alt Del. “It is about four people’s lives. One of them is Gautam who wants to fall in love rather than have an arranged marriage. It’s not easy for a software engineer to fall in love!” says Rajiv Rajaram, Creative Director (south) Culture Machine.
