Vir Das gets candid on his 'Sounds of India' Tour, his memoir and future projects in an exclusive chat

At a purely clinical level, this show is faster, edgier and far more immersive. It’s fast because I’m not just moving through sounds from every state in India, but also sounds from every time of day in India. We’re covering a lot of ground — about 60 to 65 topics in a single show — which means the jokes have to be rapid-fire. It’s edgier because even when I tread familiar territory, like the unmistakable buzz of the mosquito racket — a sound every Indian knows — the joke can’t be the first or second thought that comes to mind; it has to be the most innovative one. That pushed me to dig deeper and work harder on the writing. This time, we’re also bringing technology into the mix — samplers, sound design and light design — to make it feel like you’re watching your favourite band in concert, but in the format of a stand-up show. We even have wristbands that light up. It’s a complete experience overall. Thematically, the show is about you. That’s what I love most about it, it’s not about me; it’s about us. Typically, when you go to a stand-up show, you’re hearing the comedian’s life story and finding moments where you relate. After five specials, I wanted to flip that lens to create a show that’s unapologetically about you and about coexistence. Think of it as coming to see a show about yourself. That, I think, is the biggest difference.

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with writing stand-up specials about India — Vir Das for India, History of India and so on. I’ve always wondered if it’s possible to create one show that any Indian, no matter who they worship, vote for, where they studied, or what their background is — can laugh at together. One morning, a bird woke me up at 3:45 am. It was a cuckoo. Now, no matter where you live in India, no matter your faith or politics, it’s the same sound that wakes you. We all hear that morning cuckoo — the same call — and in that sense, sound becomes the thread that connects us. That idea stayed with me for five years and became the seed for this show. After Mind Fool came out on Netflix, I had a choice: write a show for a massive world tour, or write one unapologetically meant for India. So I wrote both the shows — Hey Stranger, which debuts at Lincoln Center (New York) soon, about being Indian in the world; and Sounds of India, which is entirely about India. Altogether, that’s over three hours of comedy.

One of the advantages of doing a show five years after conceiving the idea is that I’ve had time to travel across India and take notes along the way. I’ve also done a fair bit of research and spoken to people everywhere. Every now and then, I’ll put up an Instagram post saying, “what’s the sound of your state?” and get around 5,000 responses. I surf through those responses and some of them will end up being commonalities. Then I see if there’s something funny hidden in there. Out of the 72 sounds from different states that we explored, we ended up including 28 in the show. And of those, six or seven actually came directly from those Instagram replies. For example, only someone living in Chhattisgarh could tell you about the sound of the thinthini patthar, which we’ve included. You could visit the state and still miss it but someone who lives there will instantly recognise it.

No. I am not going to lie they are very different sides of your brain and different parts of you. But outside of stand-up, the nice thing is that most of these art forms require collaboration with other people. In films, you’re collaborating with 300 people on a set. In a memoir, you’re collaborating with two different publishers and two different managing editors from across the world are giving you notes and feedback. After doing six live tours, it’s the first time I have a director on stage for my debut in Broadway as it needed to be more theatrical. The nice thing about collaboration is that it opens you up to other people’s mind and their point of view. After which when you come back to your own mind, you’re a little more open.

It’s the toughest thing in the world. I’ve acted, toured but writing is the hardest. Especially as someone who’s dyslexic, it is a hell of a journey. Writing a book takes two and a half years and seven rewrites. So, I’d love to not write a book for a while. Did it change me on stage? I don’t know. I’m not a retrospective person, I focus on what’s next. Even before I wrote a book, I was always open to how much of an idiot I am; and the book is about being an idiot in the world. The book isn’t just about me; it’s about feelings of cluelessness that I hope people relate to. It was important for me to write a book that made people feel included and the feeling of being lost that we all seemed to share.

The honest answer is nobody really knows what’s going to get them into trouble. Ironically, it’s never the thing you expect that does; it’s always the one you least see coming. So, your best bet is to just say what you want to say and deal with it later. There’s no grand plan behind it, it’s really about having no clue and saying it anyway.

Usually, my stage setup only really comes into play when I’m doing a Netflix special. But for this tour, since it’s such a tech-driven experience, we’ve gone all in with a pretty wonderful setup. It’s a tree not with leaves, but with cans. You know, like those tin cans we used to play with as kids — two cans connected by a red string, where you could hear the other person if they spoke into one. That’s the motif. The idea is that sounds from all over India have converged into this one tree. Every time I play a sound, one of the cans lights up, each can representing a different sound in the show.

This show kicks off now and I’m touring it alongside Hey Stranger, which will debut at the Lincoln Center (New York) before heading out on a world tour. Then there’s Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, an Aamir Khan production where I play Happy Patel — and I also got to co-write and co-direct it, which I’m really excited about. I also start shooting for Call Me Bae Season 2 in a few weeks, so that should be interesting; and there’s another series I’m starring in that’s set to release sometime in the first half of next year.