Comedy reloaded

The story of Ratan Noora, aka Sunil Pal is the quintessential rags to riches story except loaded with humour. "I found the character of Ratan Noora when I first came to Mumbai in 1995," says the comedian.

Laughter Challenge winner Sunil Pal8217;s performance left the old pals of COEP in fits of laughter, as they met at the alumni fest

The story of Ratan Noora, aka Sunil Pal is the quintessential rags to riches story except loaded with humour. 8220;I found the character of Ratan Noora when I first came to Mumbai in 1995,8221; says the comedian. 8220;Noora was a regular customer who came in peeke tight, every night at an eatery where I worked as a waiter. I entertained my friends imitating him and they loved it! From that day to today, this character has helped me scale heights, I never imagined.8221;

Pal was in town to perform during the Alumni Fest-08 of College of Engineering, Pune COEP. His signature Ratan Noora act, got him applause even before he started.

The Piegrave;ce de reacute;sistance was the enactment of Madhuri Dixit being kidnapped by Veerappan where Pal imitated Bollywood actors like Sunil Shetty, Nana Patekar Naseeruddin Shah and so on.

Although having worked as a junior artist in films with Aamir Khan, Priety Zinta and Aishwarya Rai, it wasn8217;t till he won the first Great Indian Laughter Challenge in 2005 that he finally arrived! Making time for films as well as stand up shows he talks about the challenges in both. 8220;During a film shoot you have to focus on many things at once, camera angle, script, co-artists and many other things, so focus is divided. In stand up performance, your script has to be packed with punches, it8217;s a live audience and one cannot afford to let the act drag anywhere, I usually choose common topics like saas-bahu and husband-wife quarrels that people identify with.8221; Not content with waiting for grand offers to come his way, Pal has embarked on a new venture on a grand scale.8221;Bhavnao ko Samjho, is a film written, directed and produced by me. For the first time 54 comedians will be shown together on the silver screen. It might even get us a mention in the Limca Book of Records,8221; says Pal.

Speaking of the new crop of comedy films doing well at the box offices he feels that it is not just a phase, 8220;Where there are tears there will be laughter, comedy has always been an integral part of cinema, be it Akbar-Birbal stories, Charlie Chaplin, slapstick or risqueacute;. It is just the representational styles that keep changing.8221;

One wonders what makes the King of Laughter laugh, 8220;Almost anyone or anything can make me laugh. Everyday life can be turned into a humourous situation. I love watching Johnny Lever and Rajpal Yadav on screen though.8221;

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So what does this funny man do when not making people laugh? 8220;I just sleep8221; is his rapid response. Getting ready to leave for a performance at the event, he leaves with a parting shot for youngsters, 8220;In today8217;s fast paced competitive lifestyle even fun has taken new meaning, mainly partying, drugs or alcohol. The term 8216;clean fun8217; is almost redundant. Don8217;t take tension, the only person you should compete against is yourself. Bas haso aur hasate raho.8221;

The fest was 60 minutes of pure entertainment. Also commendable was the performances by the students of COEP 8212; classical dance and music, skits as well as dancing to popular numbers from Rock On, besides a hard-hitting message on the bomb blasts. Enjoying the evening thoroughly were R Vasudevan, president COEP Alumni, Anil Sahasrabuddhe, director, COEP, Prof Harish Shah from Stanford, Lila and Firoz Poonawalla, Narendra Kale, chairman, Kale Consultants, Sanjay Inamdar, managing director, Flucon, to name a few.