If not for the lockdown, noted standup comedian Atul Khatri would have been on a 16-city tour in the U.S. The cancellation of his U.S. tour was followed by the cancellation of all his shows in India. “I was literally on a lockdown situation post Holi. I was obviously angry and anxious about the entire situation but there is nothing much we can do about it. The lockdown is for our own good; it will help us save lives collectively,” says Atul.
As news of COVID-19 spread, all that one could watch and hear on TV all day long was the new about coronavirus — the rise in the number of cases, the hatred and the panic. “This is my first pandemic lockdown and hopefully, the world never sees another one. I pray this situation never comes up again. Like most of the others, I too was tired of all the negative news. We are already in a bad situation, we didn’t need any more bad news. So I decided to look at only positive news,” says Atul.
Balanced approach
Soon after Holi, on March 11, Atul began his Only Positive News on his YouTube, Facebook and Instagram handles, with the focus on positive news and to bring cheer and help people look at the bright side. In the 31 episodes of his personalised news delivery, Atul advises people on why we shouldn’t hoard or indulge in panic buying, the importance of abiding by the lockdown rule, the good efforts of public health, sanitation workers and cops across the country and most importantly “the need to be united as a country to fight the pandemic”.
Without sermonising or using negative terms, Atul has been able to earn a lot of cheer from viewers across age groups. “I also decided to avoid cuss words because a lot of my viewers are young children . Theyare the most affected because they are forced to remain indoors. I also do a lot of planning and scripting to make sure the content is up to date. This is followed by pulling out all the props I have collected over the years,” laughs Atul.
In the 10 minute-videos, Atul is sometimes seen dressed as Superman, sometimes in a beach body (T shirt), and sometimes hanging out from his balcony as if doing a stage performance (with no audience from across his street). “That’s because I do it in the afternoon when everyone is taking a nap. I don’t want my neighbours to think I am a weirdo,” he laughs.
Imagination knows no end
The businessman-turned-comedian also gives out personal nuggets from his childhood and young days to connect better with the young audience for whom social media is the only source of news. “I make it a point to take tips on mental health from my sister Dr Anjali Chhabria who is a clinical psychiatrist and daughter Dr Diya Khatri who is a clinical psychologist,” he adds. In his 30th episode he stressed on the need to use a table for WFH. “Please use the bed to sleep and do “jhik jhik jhik” only,” he suggests. He ended his news session with the video of the monkeys taking a dip in an apartment pool. For the 31st episode, Atul stressed on education and experience and spoke about the many online free courses one can enrol to. He also appealed to his fans to help a 65-year-old farmer who rode from Tamil Nadu to Pondicherry with his wife on a bicycle to provide cancer treatment for her.
Atul says it is important to maintain a routine during the lockdown, especially for a performer like him. He looks forward to the preparation on screen from his living room/ bedroom/balcony. “I shave every alternate day for my screen look,” he laughs.
Is he up for live shows on Instagram and Facebook? “I don’t think that would work well for standup comedians. Unlike other artistes, we need instant gratification to work on our jokes and stage presence. Lives on social media are a good medium but I am not up for it,” he adds.
Apart from spending quality time at home, has the lockdown helped him in anyway? “Yes. I have learnt video editing. With the help of a friend, I downloaded an app and experimented. Now I edit my own videos; I never thought I would ever do this on my own,” says Atul who likes to memorise his script rather than read it from a paper.
Did he ever consider doing a real performance from his balcony? “If I do, my neighbours will surely think I have lost it,” he laughs.
