My favourite comedian is Santhanam: Kuraishi

Mohammed Kuraishi of Kalakkapovadhu Yaaru (KPY) fame was in the city recently for an event. The 2016 Kalakapovadhu Yaaru title winner spoke to CT about his life as a comedian, challenges and what the show taught him.
“I was a notorious kid at school. I used to imitate my teachers and class leaders, it continued in college as well. More than mimicry, I was good at imitating.When people started appreciating me, I learned mimicry. I tried a couple of voices and it came off well. But, once I completed my engineering, I concentrated on work,” shares Kuraishi.
Kuraishi admits that he never thought of being a comedian. “I never thought of becoming a comedian or getting into media at any point in my life. But, I continued to entertain people at office on special occasions. That’s when one of my friends suggested me to take part in KPY auditions. I was reluctant and said the auditions will have many talented people and I won’t be able to sustain. But, he wanted me to give it a try. My too encouraged me. That’s how it all started.”
When quizzed about the experience and what the show has taught him, Kuraishi says, “Before the show, I just used to mimic a couple of voices and fool around with people. I developed the script knowledge in the show. I learned how to script a performance, how to play different characters, dialogue delivery and more. Since, we continuously used to rehearse for the performance, I got used to it. It helped me a lot because I wouldn’t even have imagined movie opportunities coming my way if it was not for the show.”
Kuraishi believes that he is good at performing conceptual comedy. “I love performing conceptual comedy. I can’t mimic a lot of voices. I am also good at delivering counter dialogues, which is a plus in conceptual comedy. I perform slapstick comedy well.”
And, what are the new projects that he has signed? “I have signed a film called ‘Munnarivan’. Malayalam hero Adil Ibrahim, Erode Mahesh and I are playing the lead roles in the film. Vijayabaskar, assistant director of Karthik Subbaraj is the director and the shooting will begin in March. I think it’s easy to act in films, because in the show, we used to perform the whole concept in a single take. Here, we have the luxury of going for a retake, so it gives artistes many opportunities to improvise on dialogue delivery or when it comes to giving counters.”
Kuraishi has been doing his share of stage shows as well. “There is a difference while performing on stage and while performing for a TV show. In stage shows, you directly interact with people and you have to talk about day to day problems they face in life. The topic will also keep changing for different venues; you can’t repeat the show you did for corporate audience to college students. Initially, I struggled to understand all this, but now I know what works and what doesn’t.”
Kuraishi thinks surviving as a comedian in film industry is a huge challenge, “It is the biggest challenge, even though you make a good entry, it’s difficult to sustain. So, you have to keep working hard and updating your skills, otherwise you will be easily thrown out of the competition. I also believe you have to do selective roles to make the audience like you. You can’t keep doing all the roles you get.”
When asked his favourite comedian, Kuraishi says, “I like Santhanam sir. He is a trend setter. The film industry saw legends like Goundamani, Senthil, Vadivelu, Vivekh before him, but even after that he was able to shine in the industry. His counter dialogues are excellent and he has his own style that became a huge hit among the audience,” says Kuraishi, when asked about his favourite comedian.