This one-of-a-kind stand-up show in Kerala tackled the struggles of staying single. (Supplied)
On September 11 2023, Trivandrum Club’s P Subramaniam Hall was set to witness a grand wedding. But what transpired was an uproarious stand-up show which saw Kochi-based stand-up artist Deepak Mohan team up with his fellow comic friends Aneez M Latheef, Mahadevan, and, John Joe. Wondering how?
Deepak was to get married on September 10, this year. The wedding was to be followed by a grand reception the next day at the aforementioned venue. People were invited, hall was booked, and services paid for. All was good until the fateful day in February, earlier this year, when Deepak’s life took an unexpected turn.
Deepak teamed up with fellow comics Aneez, Mahadevan, & John for ‘Sadhanam Kayyilundo.’ (Supplied)
“I was in a relationship. We decided to get married. Our families met, the date was fixed and the hall booked. But unfortunately, the relationship didn’t work out and the marriage got called off,” Deepak recalls.
But the worst was yet to come. Soon he had a first-hand experience of the stigma attached with a wedding being called off. Deepak didn’t lose hope, instead, he had a Eureka moment.
“I had this auditorium that was already booked and non-refundable. So I thought, why not create a whole show around this concept — that if you can celebrate weddings, you can celebrate weddings being called off as well,” shares the comic, who’s been pursuing stand-up since 2018.
Titled Saadhanam Kaiyilund, the show saw over 500 people turn up, that too on a Monday evening.
The event saw over 500 people turn up. (Supplied)
“This is the first time my parents are seeing me perform. So even though my wedding didn’t happen, my long-term love for stand-up could be showcased in front of them,” Deepak laughs.
He shares, “Trivandrum is a place where there isn’t much of stand-up culture. Kerala is still at a nascent stage when it comes to it. There has been some kind of a buzz in Kochi over the last few years but very few shows happen in Trivandrum. The fact that people turned up for the show on a Monday night was surprising. We even had to turn people away as the show got sold out.”
While the show was conceived around his wedding being called off, the set that was performed didn’t include any details of Deepak’s previous relationship or why it didn’t work out.
Deepak Mohan (Supplied)
He shares, “My material was mainly about how it’s okay to stay single even after a certain age, and the struggles and the constant judgements bachelors face. Even though staying unmarried is entirely an individual’s decision, it is seen as a defect or a mistake by many. I have relatives who believe that if I don’t marry, I’m disobeying them. I talked about all these. The unhealthy stigma, the unrealistic timelines that people set for others, and how this narrative is fed to us from a very young age. I even made a few jokes about my parents. I think that was the high point of my creative career (laughs).”
As an academically inclined person who went to IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad, comedy wasn’t the obvious choice of career for Deepak.
“I wanted to do something creative. At first, my idea was to launch a brand of colourful quirky socks with some friends. It was a brand based on humour, and so I had done some writing for it. That’s how I started writing jokes.” Later, through TV shows, Deepak came to learn more about stand-up comedy.
“I have always watched stand-up but never knew about the craft behind it. After my interest piqued, I found an open-mic platform in Kochi. I enrolled for it and did a set. It was love at first gig,” he proudly admits.
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Coming from a city where stand-up isn’t considered a viable career option, Deepak thanks social media for his following. “People notice the content that we put out, there are reels that have gone viral. When I moved to Kochi in 2021, there were no groups doing open mic. That’s when we started Cochin Comedy Project as a production that puts up open mics,” he shares.
Once the team became confident in their material, they started travelling. They have performed in eight cities in Kerala and also did a show in Dubai.
“I believe the September 11 event was a big inflexion point,” notes Deepak.
Stand-up might look like a lone job but it’s a highly collaborative art form.
Comedy is a collaborative art form for Deepak. (Supplied)
“That’s why we operate as a collective. We are always hanging out, and if someone says something funny, we make a note of it. Even before the show, we sit as a group and discuss the material. In doing so, we get multiple angles to build the content further,” he informs.
For now, Deepak and his team are working on several stand-up videos, besides live shows. They hope to do a multi-city tour and are in the process of creating content for that. They are also working on a web series, which is a semi-fictionalised life of stand-up comics. There are also a few podcasts in the works, Deepak shares.
For an idea to be communicated in a funny way, Deepak doesn’t consider language to be a barrier.
“A lot of my pop culture references are in Malayalam. As Keralites, we are very attached to our movies. A lot of my jokes are around Malayalam films and Kerala politics. So even if I do a set in English, it’s still very much a Malayalee thing. For me, it’s not a limitation but a great opportunity.”
For aspiring comics to grow, what’s needed is more open-mic opportunities, which is lacking. Shares Deepak, “Beginners should get more stage time and a forgiving set of crowd who is willing to take bad jokes also. We should understand that it’s a work in progress. For aspiring comics, the most important thing is to get on enough stages so that you get good at your craft. If the craft is not there, no amount of technology or infrastructure will help you.”
After a successful show in Bengaluru last week, Deepak and the team are planning to take their Mallu jokes to other Indian cities in December.
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