Akarsh Khurana on 'Stand Up': It was a very smooth shoot because the cast has been doing the play for about two years

Director Akarsh Khurana is an acclaimed writer and director of various shows, and also performs in theatres. The filmmaker's new teleplay 'Stand Up' recently aired. In an exclusive interaction with ETimes, Khurana opened up about the show, the cast and his overall shooting experience.

Speaking about the teleplay, the director said, ''Stand Up' was a play that we did a few years ago. We used to call it a 'serious comedy'. It is a play about a group of stand up comedians. Back in the day, about 10-15 years ago when standup started getting popular in Bombay, we used to perform at the same venue as stand up comedians and we got to know a few of them. I always find it fascinating about these people who go up on the stage every night and they make you laugh and they have to be very funny. They have to come up with joke after joke. So, we wanted to show what their lives were behind the scenes. And that's how 'Stand Up' plays along. It did rather well, after that we shot it as a teleplay.''
When we quizzed him about an interesting anecdote from the show, he said, ''It was a very smooth shoot because the cast has been doing the play for about two years. They all were very comfortable and they all were friends and really got along very well. When we were putting the play together it was really fun because when I was writing the play, I had already got the actors in mind. I was writing for those actors and actually, a lot of the play was improvisation. A lot of time, they tried their own hand at writing comedy. It was a very engaging experience. They were actors who were playing standup comedians. I encouraged them to develop their own stand-up content for the show. It was quite a different and enjoyable experience.''
When asked about his biggest takeaway, he stated, ''A lot of plays that my company produced in the last 10 years were mainly comedies, simple plays to watch. They had an underlying message which was put out not in a preachy manner but in a subtle manner. The best kind of content is that you enjoy while you are watching and later on it makes you think about it. It leaves you with something to think about. 'Stand Up' is one of the plays that manages to do that. It deals with a lot of relevant issues.''