PROUDLY TAMIL IN THE NORTH OF INDIA
PROVOKE Lifestyle|July 2020
SUMUKHI SURESH IS ONE OF SOUTH INDIA’S MOST WELL-KNOWN, LOVED AND APPRECIATED COMEDIENNES. THIS MULTILINGUAL PERFORMER HOWEVER DOES NOT SHY AWAY FROM USING HER MOTHER TONGUE LIBERALLY WITH AN AUDIENCE THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN EXPOSED TO CONTENT IN HINDI AND ENGLISH ALONE
PROUDLY TAMIL IN THE NORTH OF INDIA

COMEDIENNES IN INDIA ARE A SMALL BUT AMAZING COMMUNITY – HOW DID YOU END UP BECOMING ONE?

Well, it sounds like a cliché, but I happened to find comedy. I was working in Bangalore and I wanted to have better evenings and I wanted a hobby and I had already done some theatre in Chennai… so, I thought: let me just try out theatre in Bangalore and I auditioned for this group called The Improv… and at that time I thought they were a play, but it turned out that they were an improvisational comedy group… and they liked my audition. So, I performed with them for a year… along with my job, just for fun. The real beginning happened after an incident with the team, however. There was this show that was about to be called off because some of the older performers couldn’t make it and us newer performers were told that we couldn’t carry the show-off. That was not okay with me. I knew I wasn’t that bad. We went ahead and did the show and that show was one of the best I’ve done. That show convinced me that there was something here and I should pursue it. I continued my job till 2015 and then quit my job to pursue a career in comedy, full-time.

FROM COMEDIENNE TO CONTENT CREATION TO PRODUCTION TO ACTING – HOW WAS THE JOURNEY AND WHAT NEXT?

I am all of them even now and I think that’s what comediennes and artistes do all across the world – they do as much of all of these roles as possible. The bigger picture involves doing all of it and I am glad that – very inadvertently – I chose to do all of these things. I am still learning and I know I am not an expert at any of these roles, but I am always excited about each of them. I am hoping to do a new show this year and I have my stand-up specials lined up and I am having fun on Instagram!

This story is from the July 2020 edition of PROVOKE Lifestyle.

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This story is from the July 2020 edition of PROVOKE Lifestyle.

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