Comedian Aakash Mehta: It’s very difficult to find people who take me seriously

Comedian Aakash Mehta, who recently made his OTT debut with the reality show Social Currency, is set to explore another avenue- films. “I am doing a small role in a film, which will be released next year.I cannot talk a lot about it but that is my effort to explore new spaces and show the non-funny side of me to the audience. It’s very difficult to find people who take me seriously,” says Mehta adding that his persona is quite the opposite of how people think.

“I am a very sensitive and emotional person. And I want people to see me that way. Agar mujhe comedy karna hoga toh main stage par chala jaaunga. That’s why, when I am not doing comedy, I am mainly into serious stuff like research, reading about things that I do not know. I am a nerd that way,” says Mehta, whose standup comedy special Nasty was released earlier this week.

Talking about the show, he says, “Nasty is my oldest show and I have been performing this since 2019. It is about something I genuinely care about – sex education. It talks about consent, health, bad behaviour, bad language, Indian society and more. This show was my way of spreading the knowledge about this very important subject across the country. And today, when I go to small towns and colleges, I realise how these jokes made a big difference in the life of youngsters. Jokes are a great way to talk about things that you generally cannot and that’s what I have done with this special”.

While his jokes have a high relatability factor, Mehta says making it relatable was never his intention. “Jo bhi ho raha hai bahut galti se horha hai. I love comedy and want to reach to a point where I can bring something to the comedy, which it does not already have. Agar joke accha hai, toh accha hi rhega. Relatable hai ya nahi, wo mera concern nahi hota,” he tells us.

Comedy for him is a “great way to process his life”. He adds, “I can talk about anything and there is no restriction as such. It’s not about what’s allowed and what’s not allowed. It’s about whether or not you can get away with it or not. It’s about being able to talk about things that you otherwise cannot, without offending anyone.”

While joke on sensitive issues might be a way to educate people, it not landing well may sometimes backfire, resulting it criticism. But Mehta says he very well understands that sometimes “there are people who get offended because they just want to”. So he tried not to do anything that might trigger anyone. “Isme padhna hi nahi hai mujhe,” he wraps up.