HOW BOLLYWOOD'S SPY BOOM MADE HAPPY PATEL POSSIBLE

Comedian-actor- director Vir Das on timing, adult comedy, Aamir Khan's script rules, and why the film endured a decade-long wait

- Husain Rizvi [e-mail]

Vir Das was crisp and straight to the point when we were discussing Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, his upcoming spy comedy and co-directorial debut with Kavi Shastri, and it quickly became clear this film has been a long time coming.

"Comedy has to be counterculture," Das tells City Times over a Zoom conversation. "But something has to become mainstream culture before comedy can do that."

That idea sits at the heart of Happy Patel. Long before India's current obsession with slick, musclebound spies, Das was nursing a script inspired by the likes of Johnny English — films that poke fun at the genre while still revelling in it. Ten years ago, when he first tried narrating the idea, the response was confusion. An Indian spy comedy? The genre simply hadn't taken hold yet.

So the script waited.

Then came War, Tiger, Pathaan and now Dhurandhar—spy cinema became dominant, and synonymous with star power.

Das' only 'A'

Two years ago, Das looked at the pile of old drafts and realised the timing had finally aligned. "Spy is the biggest genre in India right now," he says. "So I rewrote the script and decided it was time." Happy Patel is an action comedy, Das says, with five to seven major action sequences, and it recently earned an 'A' (or adults only) certificate from India's censor board. The comedian and actor joked publicly that it's the only 'A' he's ever received, but there's an intention behind the rating.