Yes, our shows can be borderline cringe-worthy but audience loves it

Chaitanya Varad is no stranger to those who frequent the city’s theatre events. Equally loved and hated for his admittedly “borderline cringe-worthy” productions, Chaitanya and his team created quite a stir and ruffled quite a few feathers in the city’s cultural circles, before disappearing from the scene for close to a year. Back now, with two much-loved productions, the theatre artiste and stand-up comedian, tells us that the hiatus was due to a break he took to act in the film Brahman Naman, which premiered in Sundance Film Festival in July this year.Hyderabad Times caught up with Chaitanya for a quick chat on his journey from theatre to celluloid, why he returns to Hyderabad and of course, why he calls his content cringe-worthy. Read on...
Tell us about how you landed the role in Brahman Naman...
The Brahman Naman team was looking for actors with roots in Bangalore, because it’s a movie about the Bangalore of the 80s and they were particular about casting from there so as to get the the accent and the lingo right. Another thing that worked for me was my background in theatre. There was an intensive audition process. The first two rounds of audition were recorded and sent to the makers who were in the UK. The next round was with the director Qaushiq Mukherjee and the last round was with the cast.
The movie did not have a big screen release though...
It premiered at the Sundance film festival, and from there it was picked up by a popular online movie streaming site. So yeah, it didn’t have a big screen release.
Does acting in a film change the way you look at theatre now...
Theatre will always be my first love. The instant reaction you get from the audience is something films can never provide. The intimacy of the stage is something I will always enjoy.
Your stage acts are almost always about ‘sex’ or ‘virginity’; you seemed to have picked a film on similar lines as well... (Laughs) I know, it was uncanny how similar the movie was to my plays. But trust me, it was sheer coincidence that my debut feature was a sex comedy. Talking of my work on stage, when we started off, we were adamant that we were going to write and perform plays that are original, fun and relatable. To be honest, we provide what the audience wants and these are the subjects the audience wants. (winks)
The movie had quite the cast, with the likes of Sid Mallya and Biswa Kalyan Rath...
I would say the best part of doing the movie was working with an amazing director, Qaushiq Mukherjee. And yes, it has the the greatest cast anyone could for, which included Shashank Arora of Titli and stand-up comedian Biswa. Working with Sid also made it a memorable experience. He was the most professional guy on set. we were all surprised how humble he was. He had no airs. He got along with everyone cast and crew. All my preconceived notions about him were destroyed (laughs).
Now, that’ve you return to Hyderabad and shows us some more of your tried-and-tested plays, is there anything new coming our way?
Both my plays Sex Ke Side Effects and Sweet Tinder Love are crowd favourites, so we decided to come back with it and build some momentum before we get new content out.
I might have been born and brought up Bangalore but for the past few years Hyderabad has become second home for me. Having spent a considerable amount of time here, I have built a good loyal fan base here. I am looking forward to doing some more good stuff...
But let’s face it, Underdog Entertainment does seem to rub a lot of people the wrong way...
(Laughs) If you are referring to the ol’ school theatre lovers, I understand where they are coming. They think that we hardly practise, or that we are not very ‘professional’. And, for them, our content can be borderline cringe-worthy, what with all the sex jokes and all. we break every rule of theatre. But then, that also is our usp even though that can be mind-boggling to some. At the end of the day, whatever we do we do to entertain the audience, not to impress elitists.