“After a lifetime of mostly negative roles, I found myself enjoying a comic role and thought, why not do something here? That led to the next thought: Don’t wait for it to happen. As actors, we keep waiting for roles to come our way. I always ask filmmaker friends whether they are waiting for me to die so that they can talk about how I wasn’t used enough,” he says, breaking into a throaty laugh. Thought led to action, and he wrote the script, and zeroed in on the venue.

“It’s a fledgling space,” says the Vittal Kaniya from Mahesh Manjrekar’s Vaastav. “They just started having plays. It’s a very personal trip, and is largely observational. Much of the material is about how the old perceive the young, and vice versa. I told my son and he was gung-ho. I told him he’s in some of the jokes; he just laughed and said, ‘go ahead’. I also talk about myself. And there are no curse words.” 

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Ask him about preparation, and he responds that he’s experience with performance and the spoken word. “When I say I’ve written the piece, I actually just jotted points down and spoke them. I’ve been practicing in front of my team a lot.” We discuss whether it is necessary to use unparliamentary language in stand-up comedy… a debate as old as the art form itself. “It’s low-hanging fruit,” says the gentleman. “We’re all filled with inhibitions and when someone breaks them, it feels good. I find it unnecessary. It [foul language] can be used, I have no problem with it, but I don’t want to.” 

WHAT: Sit Down Ashish 
Where: Veda Kunba Theatre, Andheri West 
When: March 31, 7 PM and 9 PM 
To Book: bookmyshow.com