Tête-à-tête with VJ Yudi

'Indians don't know how to laugh at themselves' - VJ Yudi

Yudhishtir, popularly known as VJ Yudi, was in Bangalore recently to promote a new drink. Puja Goyal caught up with Yudi on a tête-à-tête to talk about comedy, life after VJing and more…

What do you think of the stand-up comedy tour?

No one has done it before and it's very risky, because Indians do not know how to laugh at themselves and comedy is all about picking from situation like your day at work… Indians are a little tight on these matters; they get very touchy when it comes to laughing at themselves. But things are now slowly changing… tonight we have some gags, stand-up comedy and theatre exercises, which will involve the audience.

What do you think defines the essence of comedy for Indians?

Initially the trend was of slapstick humor, and silly antics that people laughed at, like, falling down, could be funny… now comedy is moving to conversational humor like "chutkuleys", we do more reading and research on material that makes people laugh.

What are the themes in comedy that work well with the audience?

One would be current topics; something they can relate to. The other would be something that would be a mood breaker, something that will take you away and transport you to a new world.

You are known as a "Youth Icon" and the youth look up to you…

Who has been spreading rumors about me being an icon?? Anything that you do in life… be responsible for it, that’s what I would like to tell the youth. Nobody can tell you what to do; you have to be responsible for yourself.

You've come a long way since being a VJ…

Indeed, I have come a long way since VJing days… it was getting monotonous and boring after five years. I do not want to go into a place of work and complain… so I want to move on and challenge myself, right now I'm working in two movies which will be releasing next year… I'm really keeping quite about it, so don’t ask me about them… (Yudi Laughs) Besides this, I love to ideate… I have this book of ideas, and whenever I feel that I have the time and the energy, I open a page and go ahead and try one of them.

How do you think VJing has changed over the years?

What's happening is, everybody wants to be somebody and they're forgetting about being themselves. They want to imitate instead of being honest about who they are. The newer people coming in are affected by accents and other people's styles. The older ones had there own personality and style, and we recognize them for it; the younger ones cannot sustain themselves because they imitate a lot. I want to watch a person on TV because of what he can bring to the show not because he reminds me of someone or looks like someone else.

Anything you'd like to change…

In retrospect, I have enjoyed everything I've done because it has made me what I am today. I want to look ahead and see what life has to offer to me.

How would you define yourself in three words?

OH MY GOD!

Source: Vijay Times

Copyright © 2005 Puja Goyal