‘Mumbai vibes suit me’: Stand-up comic and actor Sumukhi Suresh on the city that never sleeps
The monsoon mania aside, the actor, stand-up and writer who moved bag and baggage from Bengaluru to Mumbai two years ago, believes it’s one of the best decisions of her life.
Sumukhi Suresh has bought an umbrella for the first time in her life. “And if you can believe what a loser I am, it’s for Rs 2,000. If only you’d seen me in Bengaluru – I would wear a sad poncho. Bike pe ladki nahi, gareebi jaa rahi hoti thi!” she exclaims with a laugh. The monsoon mania aside, the actor, stand-up and writer who moved bag and baggage from Bengaluru to Mumbai two years ago, believes it’s one of the best decisions of her life. “Physically, the move wasn’t a major issue. My hometown is Nagpur, but I have moved around a lot since I was 18 or 19. Mentally, I think the vibe of Mumbai really suits me. Nobody sleeps here! I got a major shock initially until I realised it was normal,” says the artiste.
Sumukhi will soon be seen hosting Comicstaan, a talent hunt on a digital platform that will be looking for India’s next big comic talent. Recalling her initial days of struggle when they tried out all kinds of comedies, Sumukhi says that a platform like this would have definitely given them boost, had there been something like this when they were starting out. While Abish Mathew will be her co-host, Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Sapan Verma, Naveen Richard, Kaneez Surkha, Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath will be the judges and mentors.
Sumukhi believes comedy is a lot about collaboration. “We learn a lot from each other. In terms of writing, I have learnt a lot from Naveen, while Biswa has taught me about joke structure. When I started writing the character Behti Naak, I remember running it majorly by Kanan. He suggested that I write the series,” says the artiste who is working on a sketch show with Naveen and wants to strengthen her stand-up act.