4 days ago
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Ramkumar Natarajan has seen a batch of applause and claps. But what does helium bash erstwhile helium is surrounded by silence, and reaching retired for a telephone that isn’t there?
When this Chennai stand-up comic went for a Vipassana retreat precocious — successful which helium was wholly chopped disconnected from societal media and different distractions — helium underwent a batch of realisations — astir of which volition diagnostic successful his upcoming show.
While his archetypal drama peculiar — Alt + Tab - Life of Ram — was astir his carnal transformation, which yet led to his prime of career, his upcoming peculiar volition absorption connected matters of the mind. Titled Retired Not Hurt, it volition zoom connected the mindset displacement helium experienced station quitting a comfy IT career. It volition besides person an full conception connected the beingness lessons helium learnt from his caller acquisition astatine Vipasana.
“For the archetypal 48 hours, I was restless. I was ever searching for my phone,” helium says, astir the Vipasana acquisition that had him chopped disconnected from the satellite for a fewer days, “But erstwhile I got utilized to it, my caput focussed better. I anticipation to speech successful item astir this successful the show, peppered with humour, of course.”
It was hard for him to region the stand-up comic chapeau erstwhile helium was determination arsenic well. “I instantly thought of a conception imagining however large governmental leaders would consciousness successful here,” helium guffaws. His caput started playing games, but slowly, the 41-year-old Ram came to the fore, with memories and self-realisations that helium ne'er knew was wrong himself.
The filmi connect
Ramkumar volition soon debut successful a Tamil film, titled Moonwalk. Starring Prabhu Deva and with euphony by AR Rahman, the movie features the stand-up comic successful a large quality role. “It volition diagnostic successful the beginning, mediate and climax, and the makers mentioned that it was written keeping maine successful mind. I changeable a mates of sequences with Prabhu Deva, and helium made maine truthful comfy connected set,” says Ramkumar, who is besides starring arsenic a Tirunelveli-based autobus conductor successful an upcoming Tamil movie starring Gouri Kishan.
Ram records his observations astir beingness successful his YouTube and societal media — his ‘Being a Kamal Haasan fan’ has garnered much than a cardinal views — but successful his specials, helium follows a circumstantial theme, with a connection successful the end. “I americium precise comfy being susceptible connected stage. I besides program to springiness a sticker to each subordinate of the assemblage that says, ‘I americium retiring from...’, truthful that determination is simply a takeaway.”
Is it important for stand-up comics to extremity a amusement with a message? “It depends connected the worldly and the comic. I watched a Louis CK amusement successful Bangalore recently, and determination was perfectly nary pleasantries oregon messages. Closer home, Alex (Alexander Babu) spreads messages successful his material, portion Praveen Kumar is simply a storyteller with puns. I consciousness my audiences expect immoderate benignant of takeaway astatine the end.”
Ramkumar Natarajan
Both the names helium mentions harvester 2 aspects to supply comic alleviation for audiences — portion Alex uses euphony liberally successful his shows, Praveen employs tropes of a relatable household antheral to bring successful the laughs. Ramkumar’s USP has the information that helium liberally draws from his acquisition successful the IT sector, frankincense making him relatable to ‘IT dudes’. Isn’t Retired Not Hurt avoiding that niche helium has cautiously built implicit the past fewer years? “I americium dilatory moving away,” helium agrees, “It’s been a portion since I was successful IT, and things are changing rapidly there.”
That does not mean helium volition wholly debar it; successful fact, his astir fashionable on-screen quality remains ‘IT manager Annachi’, utilizing which helium often does Reels and abbreviated video comic contented taking disconnected from quality events. In these and his specials, helium puts himself astatine the centre, isolated from weaving successful characters. “I see myself an anecdotal comedian. I request characters to archer a communicative successful a comic way,” helium says, pointing retired a fictional Divakar successful his flat analyzable oregon fresher Ramesh successful his IT content, “Storytelling is my forte and my audiences emotion it.”
Retired Not Hurt volition premiere connected June 12 successful Chennai (Medai – The Stage, Alwarpet), followed by shows successful Bangalore, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Salem, Erode and Nagercoil
