Like many among us during the lockdown, comedian and actor Danish Sait has also been occupied with cooking and cleaning, while feeling a bit bored. Which is why he decided to make fun videos on relatable topics, all in a typical Bangalore accent (that means liberal use of bro, macha, and da, and uh to end sentences). The number of views has rocketed (the most popular video has 3,80,276 views on Instagram) and appreciation has poured in from all quarters, including celebrities Rana Daggubati and Murali Karthik.
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Says Danish, “All of us, in the initial days of the lockdown, were catching up with friends, asking ‘what’s going on’, ‘how are things’ and saying ‘these are the things happening here’. It was the same conversation on a loop. I figured there was a pattern to it. When you study improv, there is something called ‘finding the game’. Here, the game is about the same conversations that everyone is having.”
So far, Danish has uploaded 10 videos ranging from running out of alcohol (Bro, you have some alcohol uh?), conversations with slightly rich friends (My domestic help. I gave her salary three months ago and said don’t come for the next six months) to locked-out couples (You’re online on Instagram, you can’t reply or what?).
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“For these videos, even I’m stretching it out but you get the vibe. A lot of people who have grown up in the Cantonment side of Bangalore sound like that. I was talking to a friend and he went, “No, Danish I’ll tell you one thing, uh. And he was like, ‘Now I sound like you’. But I told him, ‘You don’t sound like me. We all sound the same.’ I have always been proud of the accent and whatever the city brings. It’s cool to be distinct.”
As for how he feels about the positive response to the videos, Danish says, “For something that’s being made at home, I’m extremely happy with whatever is happening. The accent is one part. That brings the Bangaloreans together. But the situations are the same. And it doesn’t matter to me whether you’re from Bangalore, London, New York or Sydney. It is the same thing that everybody gets.”
Since the lockdown began, Danish has uploaded other videos, including Covidiot Positive, a short film shot in isolation (he had to take the help of the building security guard to shoot his part) with Saad Khan who directed it, Disha Madan and Vamsidhar Bhogaraju, which has garnered 297k views on Instagram. Danish and Saad have also been posting Shivajinagar News Central reports as Razia and Razzaq respectively.
Laughs Danish, “That was really cool. I know it wasn’t the greatest story (the short film) but we were just piecing it together and saying let’s see where it goes. The same team was working on Humble Politician Nograj, two days before the lockdown. I did not expect the (response to) Razia and Razzaq to be that crazy either! I’m just having fun. If you have fun, people will also have fun.”
On his post-lockdown plans, he says, “I have some projects lined up. Hopefully, all of that will come back into action. Then I’ll say thank to all this fun and go back to doing that.”
As for whether he has any advice for anyone going stir-crazy, he says, “My only two-bits is that this too shall pass. I think people only focus at the end, they don’t look at the beginning. I know I’m coming from a place of privilege and that’s why I can say this. But what people need to realise is that we didn't really bother to sit down and appreciate each other, appreciate our homes, appreciate what our domestic help does, appreciate the security guards and delivery persons. I think this is a great detox from how consumed we have been. To understand the world around us and to be more empathetic towards people. So that means the end has actually brought about the beginning of realisation. And the end of this realisation will only result in a new beginning.”