Comedian showcases his singing prowess at ‘The Kapil Sharma Live Show’
We know Kapil Sharma as a top comedian who can bring on the laughs, but we discovered another facet to his personality during his live act at Dubai’s Coca Cola Arena on January 24: singing.
In an entry that would put any seasoned musician to shame, he crooned his way onto the stage with an earnest rendition of singer Arijit Singh’s stirring love anthem ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. It was an unusual song — one about passion and heartbreak — to open ‘The Kapil Sharma Live Show’ with, but the self-made comedian sold it stirringly. He was good, but it was his jokes tailored to Dubai’s reality that had our hearts.
He took an irreverent swipe at Dubai, its iconic landmark The Burj Khalifa and its police force that drive souped-up luxury cars.
“Their Lamborghinis might swish past the thieves’ car and the thieves wait for them to turn around,” he quipped in Hindi. While his jokes don’t translate well to English, all of it landed smoothly in a largely Hindi-speaking audience. A few Arabs, who could understand Hindi, found themselves at the centre of his playful ribbing. How do they manage to get their impeccable designer beards was one of Sharma’s playful digs.
The nature of the show was episodic in nature. His much-adored characters from his eponymous television show, which hit a milestone of 100 episodes, also managed to keep us invested.
Bharti Singh as the loud and raucous Titli Yadav, wife of milkman Bacha Yadav and the mother of his 11 children, was at her comic best. She made uncouth look cool and her chemistry with Kiku Sharda (her on-screen husband) was spot on.
The gags with Krushna Abhishek as Kappu’s (Kapil Sharma) sister and an owner of a beauty salon was enjoyable. Abhishek, who was dressed as a woman with an elaborate wig and make-up, prescribed different kinds of massages to the audience. The biggest laughs came when he prescribed the ‘Pati, Patni Aur Woh’ massage where he joked about shady massage parlours and men in illicit relationships.
The best part about the show was Sharma’s easy chemistry and camaraderie among his teammates. While the show would have benefited from tighter editing and more stage time for Sharma, he made good by a cracking climax.
Sharma seems to have reserved the best for the last. He demonstrated how various acclaimed singers such as South Indian talent SP Balasubramaniam and devotional singer Anup Jalota would have sung racy, item numbers like ‘Munni Badnaam Hui’. It was a hoot as Sharma sang his way into people’s hearts.
Sharma, who has battled alcohol addiction and volatile temperament in the past, proved that comebacks can be fierce. All you need is an intoxicating concoction of clean jokes and heartfelt singing. Consider us sold.
