Heard of Lolbagh? No, not Lal Bagh, Lolbagh.They are Bengaluru’s largest Kannada comedy group and have conducted 117 shows ever since their inception in December 2016. “We observed that 10 to 15 English and Hindi comedy shows were being held over the weekend, but there were hardly any in Kannada,” says Anup Maiya, co-founder of Lolbagh.
The idea to start the group came when one of Anup’s friends suggested a show be organised, and he took up the challenge. Anup organised a show at Rangasthala on MG Road. “It was sold out,” he says, adding that they haven’t looked back ever since. They have even been invited abroad to perform in Germany, and have shows planned in the US, Australia, and Singapore.
Kannada stand-up comedy is definitely not a new phenomenon. It has a long tradition, with luminaries such as Gangavathi Pranesh, Krishne Gowda, and Richard Louis performing for decades. However, there was a gap in themes from urban, popular culture. “We wanted to address contemporary issues such as the IT industry, social media, Kannada films, relationships, and break-ups, and so we started Lolbagh,” says Anup, who also runs a Kannada learning website called kannadagotilla.com.
Pavan Venugopal, another co-founder of Lolbagh, was doing stand-up comedy in English and Hindi and conducted open mics around Koramangala before he ventured into Lolbagh. “I wasn’t aware at the time if there was Kannada stand-up comedy. It was when Anup approached me that I was inducted. The joy of doing stand-up in my own language is unmatched. There are many Kannadiga stand-up comedians who are performing in English and they struggle. I wonder why they are doing so. It comes naturally to perform in Kannada than in English because you have to be conscious of your grammar and usage of words.” . Pavan adds that Lolbagh began to include other artistes. “Later, Sudharshan Rangaprasad, Karthik Pattar, Hampa Kumar Angadi and Vinayak Kulkarni came on board. Seema Rao and well-known Kannada dubbing artiste Surekha Pandit, joined us later. Slowly we started making our mark in the Kannada stand-up market.”
All the members of Lolbagh pursue stand-up comedy as a passion. “All of us have day jobs. I am a software testing engineer,” says Pavan, adding: “Anup is a technical trainer, Sudarshan is a manager in sales, Hampa works in IT, and Seema is a housewife.”
Lolbagh is easily among the top five groups in Bengaluru, evident from their Facebook page which has a 15,000 following. “We have also been a part of TV shows. Members from Lolbagh have performed sets on Voot’s ‘Comediga’, a play on the words ‘comedy’ and ‘Kannadiga’,” says Pavan. However, they do not always have housefull shows. Anup candidly speaks about their performance last week at Rangasthala. “It was the first time when we performed to an audience of only six people. We took it as a challenge as it is easier to perform to a large audience than it is to six people. We gave it our best shot.” Anup says. Lolbagh caters to all kinds of audiences of all age groups. “If audiences have to choose Kannada stand-up comedy, we would have to give them a really good reason to watch it,” says Pavan.
He adds that a good comedian adapts to the audience. “We take feedback seriously. As soon as we get a response, we have a team meeting to discuss how we can resolve the problem. If as a comedian you think you know everything, welcome to comedy!” He then takes out his phone and says: “I use the notes section the most. I observe everything around me and write it here.” As he scrolls down, he points to two-line sentences on a dose shop and a joke stating: “You have to be so famous in your life that you should come on TV not on CCTV.”
Pavan adds that Lolbagh has come a long way since their first show. “From going out and telling people to come for our shows, now people ask ‘is your next show?’ With the evolution of Lolbagh, Pavan too has grown as an artiste. He performed solo for over an hour recently. “From a guy who started doing one-to-three minute material to someone who has done an hour’s show, it’s been quite a journey,” he concludes.
