More Salman Khan than real Salman and as much a perfectionist as Aamir Khan: Sunil Grover’s journey through comedy and mimicry

The audience is no stranger to Grover’s celebrity impersonations — a staple on Netflix’s The Great Indian Kapil Show. Yet, this is not just another funny act. Not only does the actor-comedian inhabit Aamir’s public persona brilliantly with this character ‘Unees-Bees Aamir’ but, in a sort of double bill, appears on a big screen as ‘Unees-Bees Salman’, a character that mimics Salman Khan and who some have called more Salman than the real Salman. This act, which was so convincing, went viral, with the internet wondering if Grover was an AI-generated figure. In the world of content creation that’s constantly chasing ‘viral’ moments, this was just another day for Grover. “I don’t know how to make anything viral. I only know about one ‘viral’ that I get twice a year and one requires me to take antibiotics,” says the actor-comedian.

Sunil Grover as ‘Unees-Bees Aamir’

Ever since The Great Indian Kapil Show, which combines conversations with celebrities, parodies and gags, started streaming on Netflix from March 2024, Sunil Grover has been a regular. His characters though, keep changing with each episode as he transforms into both fictional as well as real-life-inspired characters with amazing precision. “Copy, mimicry or impersonation — what’s the right word for it, I don’t know. For me, the thrilling part of such acts is about becoming that person for some time. While doing mimicry of a real-life person, I try to think from that person’s point of view and feel the way that person feels. The process of becoming that person is meditative for me. Of course, there is a team that helps me in creating the look and dialogue,” says Grover.

Comedy continues to be a serious business in the Indian entertainment landscape. That’s evident in the way both the industry and people have embraced Kapil Sharma and his gang of comedians through the show. It also set the stage for the Grover and Sharma reunion seven years after a fallout. In less than two years, the show has had four seasons — while the fourth one is ongoing and a new one is scheduled for later this year. On the show, Grover has appeared as Kushpa Raj, a parody of the titular protagonist of the successful Pushpa films starring Allu Arjun; Fuljaar Sahab, an impersonation of legendary lyricist Gulzar; and Rajagoli inspired by filmmaker SS Rajamouli. He has also brought to life Engineer Chumbak Mittal, who likes to tipple, and Dafli, who is looking for love.

When the first episode of the show’s fourth season dropped on December 20 last year, Sunil Grover brought back his Diamond Raja persona, an orchestra singer in a snazzy jacket. He made Priyanka Chopra Jonas croon Drive slowly slowly with him. Recalling the shoot with Chopra Jonas, he says, “I did not tell her about the act beforehand. We had written that song the previous night, keeping New Year’s eve celebrations in mind. She had to sing the third line of each stanza. Credit goes to her for such a natural performance.” After creating the trending song, Diamond Raja returned to give AR Rahman an orchestra-style welcome and presented a parody song about hair loss set to the tune of AP Dhillon’s Teriyan adavaan.

Calling him “deeply original”, actor and comedy show judge Archana Puran Singh praises his “quiet confidence and beautiful madness that only true artistes possess”. She says, “What moves me most is how Sunil has evolved without losing his innocence as a performer. In every season of The Great Indian Kapil Show, you see a new layer to his avatars. They have become richer, more nuanced, yet still rooted in unique and effortless humour. When improvising with a live audience, he reads the room like very few can and suddenly throws in something so unexpected that I find myself laughing and clapping at not as a judge or co-actor but as audience.” Ask Grover to unpack his process and he shrugs. “Each character I play demands a different process. I have been watching these popular figures for years. My observations stay in my subconscious. I can’t figure out how it happens. It’s a gift,” he says. What trends is “unpredictable… but that’s the fun part of this job.”

Born in Mandi Dabwali in Haryana, Sunil Grover, 48, discovered his knack for mimicry early. “At family gatherings, I copied my teachers and relatives. I did not know why that made people laugh but I was happy with the attention,” he recalls. While he was doing his graduation in commerce, a friend asked if he could entertain guests at a wedding function. “I was told they will pay me Rs 200. I sang three songs. No one danced. I enacted Raj Kumar and Dilip Kumar. No one paid any attention. The organisers were not happy. But I got the Rs 200 and I was happy,” he recalls. In 1994, his family moved to Chandigarh.

For his masters degree, he wanted to study theatre at Panjab University. This was not an easy choice. A relative even warned him, “Aise koi actor nahin ban jaata (No one becomes an actor just like that)” but his father, who was a State Bank of India employee, supported him. During his masters, Grover played several iconic characters, including the titular protagonist in Hamlet and Kalidas in Ashadh Ka Ek Din. The exposure to comedy, however, came when he started performing with the late Jaspal Bhatti. Grover acted in Full Tension (1995), a satire directed by Bhatti. “I used to travel with Jaspal Bhatti’s team and perform at live shows. From him, I learned the art of using the right phrases and words,” he says.

When one of his classmates called to say that he was living in Juhu and needed a roommate, Grover thought of moving there. He did bag a TV show in Mumbai, only to be replaced after three days of shooting. He was then cast in another show but was replaced again. It wasn’t very different in movies. In the early 2000s, he started doing voiceover for ads and even hosted a radio show called Hansi Ke Phuware. Simultaneously, he kept doing small film roles. When he was cast as a barber Totaram, who accidentally shaves off Ajay Devgn’s moustache in Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998), he was erroneously credited as ‘’Surinder’ Grover.

Sunil Grover as Gutthi.

By his admission, films have not propelled his career growth. It was television that made him a household name. He played Balu on Gutur Gu (2010-12), India’s first silent comedy show. However, his breakout performance was on Comedy Nights with Kapil as the salwar-kameez clad Gutthi. Subsequently, on The Kapil Sharma Show (2016-17), he played characters such as Dr Mashoor Gulati, Rinku Devi and Piddu. While the small screen audience was lapping up his acts, he essayed the character of Dipper, a troublemaker with a heart of gold in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha (2018). The following year, his performance as Vilayati in Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bharat (2019), headlined by Salman, too was appreciated.

Director Sabbir Khan, who worked with him in Heropanti (2014) and Baaghi (2016), believes Grover’s dedication to his craft is the secret of his success. “Though he features in one scene in Heropanti, it required a terrific actor. In Baaghi, however, I cast him in a meatier role — Shraddha Kapoor’s manipulative father.” Talking about how meticulous he is, Sabbir reveals how in one scene, where Grover spilled something on himself, he exchanged his lungi with another passenger on a train without the other person realising it. “We had barely finished talking about it but he started figuring out with a junior artiste how he could perform it,” the director recalls. Grover was later seen in Goodbye (2022) and Jawan (2023), besides delivering compelling performances in two web series — Tandav (2021) and Sunflower (2021-24).

Yet, nothing quite makes Grover endearing to his audience as his hilarious sketches and mimicry. Advait Chandan, director of Secret Superstar (2017) and Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), believes that when others do mimicry, “they tend to turn it into caricature” but Grover “gets into the mind of the man who he is impersonating and he develops that personality. It is not just about copying the mannerisms or looks. He becomes that person. He approaches the whole act like a perfectionist,” says Chandan, who recently directed him in a promotional skit that also features Vir Das and Aamir. He is now “dying to” cast Grover in a feature film as lead.

Actor Kiku Sharda, who has shared the stage and screen with Grover for years, echoes the sentiments. “Sunil is not just a comedian who delivers punchlines. He inhabits characters. Whether it’s through subtle expressions, body language, voice modulation or sheer unpredictability, he brings an authenticity that makes every character feel real. Many people can be funny; very few can create characters that stay with audiences.” Underlining Grover’s “tremendous emotional depth”, Sharda called him a “generous collaborator”. Krushna Abhishek, another fellow comedian on The Great Indian Kapil Show, finds it fascinating that Grover never repeats himself. “Every performance of Sunil paaji feels fresh and lived-in. Sharing the stage with him is like getting a front-row seat to a masterclass in comedy,” he says.

Given Grover’s confidence on stage, it is hard to believe that he ever goes blank during a performance. But for a special episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, he recalls, he was supposed to quiz its iconic host Amitabh Bachchan. “I had dressed up like him and he was laughing. But I had goosebumps before I went on stage. I forgot my lines and jokes for some time.” Apart from being overwhelmed occasionally, there are other challenges too. “I am lucky to receive so much love. I hope this stays. I have put in so much hard work. But you can’t anticipate everything, especially on a live show. We want every joke to work but it depends on the audience. If you are shooting after lunch, no matter how good your joke is, it just can’t be better than the rajma-chawal they had,” he says.