Thangadurai - Comedy Is Not About Entertaining People Alone, Instead It Provides A Peace Of Mind (Comedian)

I have done around 200+ shows. Among those we did one concept on interview. My name in that concept was 'Kaapu Kanian' where I would say a lot of poems, in that one of my dialogue 'Puliyamaram Adiyilae Pushpalatha madiyilae' became very famous and I loved that character very much.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

My life can be described by a movie called 'Vaanathapola' and 'Samuthram'. We are a family of eight members. I have four brothers and one younger sister. Our parents raised us with a great difficulty. I did my schooling in Sowkarpettai.

At that time I used to entertain others with my jokes and my teachers and friends encouraged me a lot. To help my family financially, I used to work in Sowkarpettai during my school holidays. I really faced a lot of difficulty those days.

I can narrate one experience of mine. When I was working in a Saettu shop, he used to order me to buy Betel leaves for him. He tells the name in hindi so I wasn't able to capture it fully.

I just whispered the word till I reached the shop but unfortunately when I was about to reach the shop, it was very crowded and I instantly forgot the name and I spelt it wrong to the seller. When I bought it and gave it to my master, he ate it and just spitted on my shirt and yelled at me. It was the time where I felt very bad about myself.

I did my higher studies in B.Sc Biotechnology in Vivekananda College. My friends encouraged me again that I am very good at entertaining people. At that time my friend Ganeshan suggested me to take part in a show called 'Kalakapovadhu Yaaru' in Vijay Tv.

I attended the audition where there were around 3000 participants and I was really scared whether I would be able to perform well or not, but my friends were there with me and cheered me that I would be able to do well and I got selected and I performed in the show.

The show became a great hit and that particular season was over and they were about to start the new one so I was not able to proceed further. My parents advised me to concentrate on my studies and to leave all that. I had a interest in media so I did mass media and journalism in Madras University.

After my studies, I tried entering into the industry but I wasn't able to do due to my family situation and I was forced to go for work. I joined in ICMR as a temporary consultant. I couldn't concentrate on my work because my passion was fully on media but I just worked for 2 years only because of my family situation.

Then after a 2 years long journey, my interest in media increased and I left my job and again joined in Vijay tv. I participated in a show called 'Adhu Idhu Edhu' by the guidance of Director Thomson and from that only I am doing my shows regularly. Recently I am working in many films too.

2. What type of content do you enjoy producing the most and is the most challenging?

I have many favorites. I have done around 200+ shows. Among those we did one concept on interview. My name in that concept was 'Kaapu Kanian' where I would say a lot of poems, in that one of my dialogue 'Puliyamaram Adiyilae Pushpalatha madiyilae' became very famous and I loved that character very much.

Another one is we did a small drama of the film 'Muthu' where I played the lead role. That role was very challenging for me. Apart from that we did lots of shows ' which are of my favorites in 'kalakapovadhu yaaru champions'. Listing a few may be 'Thoulu thongayaa thooku maati thongaya' and 'Sakthi Nadaga Saba'. These two are very close to my heart and my dialogues reached great heights.

3. Tell us your experience of working in the film industry.

I have done around eight films. They are on hold due to lockdown and I hope that it would be released soon. Recently I have done a film titled 'Panni Kutty' with Actor Yogi babu and my other projects include 'Plan panni pannanum' with Riyo, 'Partner' with Actor Aadhi, Hansika and Robo Shankar, 'Silpi' with Madhimaran, 'A1' with Santhanam, 'Salpetta' with Arya, 'Senorita' with Ashok Selvan and many more. I'm currently working with Actor Suriya too.

4. How stable is being a stand-up comedian as a profession in India and what is the future of this profession?

It is quite a difficult task but it can be achieved through our untiring hard work. We have many platforms for it because this profession is not about entertaining people alone, instead we are providing a peace of mind to them as in this busy world most of the people are filled with stress. So, this career can be made stable but we need to work more for it.

5. People who are interested in taking up stand up comedy as a profession, do they need a funny bone or they can develop one?

It is not necessary for them to make their appearance physically attractive. They need to have a great humour sense and timing is very important while delivering their content. These are the things that are absolutely essential for a comedian.

Being physical is just an added advantage. They don't contribute fully. We can take 'Vivek' and 'Koundamani' as a live example. They don't contribute physically but deliver their content at the right timing and with a good humour.

6. What advice would you like to give to the future and aspiring artists?

My only advice would be to learn and practice more and read many comedy articles. This fits to all growing artists at any stream.

7. Tell us more about your recently launched book 'Thangadurain Tharkolai Jokkugal'

This idea came to me when I had a prank call in Vijay tv where I was asked to narrate few jokes and those jokes would be published in a book. This really created an impact on me to create my own book since only few tamil books related to comedy are in existence.

I thought that this would be very useful and as per my expectation the book was published successfully and I got positive reviews from the critics and especially children. This book is currenty available in Amazon and Flipkart.