EXCLUSIVE | Vir Das on directing Aamir Khan's spy-comedy 'Happy Patel- Khatarnak Jasoos': 'One had to wait for Pathaan and Dhurandhar to...'

Vir Das is many things at once. He’s an actor, a stand-up comic, and an author too. He ticks another box that belongs to writing and directing a feature film. His Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos bankrolled by Aamir Khan Productions is now in cinemas. It’s about a bumbling spy who discovers a lot of things once he comes from the U.S to India.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor and director opened up on directing the film, giving Imran Khan his much-awaited comeback, the idea of the spy comedy, and Aamir Khan’s submission to self-deprecating humour of late.

Edited excerpts from the interview

Before I talk about Happy Patel, I want to ask you about the advantages
when an actor is also the director and the writer of the film he is working in.

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The budget is low. [laughing] The cost stays in control, because you’re only paying one fee, so that’s it.

And how did the idea come about? how did you think of it because going by the trailer, there is a lot of comedy, there is a lot of chaos happening. It may not have been an easy film for you to put together.

The idea I had about ten years ago Johnny English came out, and Happy Patel tonally is kind of like a Johnny English meets Tees Maar Khan. It is really ridiculous and absurd and mad, but it is a spy comedy. And the problem was when one thought of it, there was no mainstream spy culture. One had to wait for War and Pathaan and Tiger and Dhurandhar and all of this stuff to become the mainstream, you know? And when that becomes the mainstream, then you get to do your own absolutely ridiculous version of the mainstream.

You spoke about Tees Maar Khan. It is a film that is really popular today, and people call it brain rot humor. What exactly does it mean?

I think it’s a huge compliment- to call your film brain rot. I do not perceive that anything negative. Happy Patel is brain rot.

From Delhi Belly to now, Happy Patel, how much do you feel the landscape of comedy has changed? 

I want to clarify, Delhi Belly and Go Goa Gone, the reason they popped at the time, right is because cinema was very soft back then. You know, Guzaarish, Parineeta, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. So suddenly when we came in with gaalis, that was a novelty back then, you know? Today, we live in a world of Paatal Lok and Mirzapur, and being edgy is not really [chuckles] a unique thing. There are far edgier things in the world. And when you’re doing a spy comedy, you need to lean more towards the goofy. You need to lean more towards the madcap. You need to lean more towards the silly and stupid of it all. So we have to commit to the ridiculous.

During the Lagaans and the Dil Chahta Hai, I used to perceive as Aamir Khan somebody who is very serious and cerebral, but what is your take on his sudden submission to self-deprecating humour?

I think it takes an incredibly secure superstar to do what Aamir Khan does at every level. I kind of look at it with awe and admiration. I can’t think of another superstar who’s that funny and that self-aware and that secure.

And how did Imran Khan come on board? Because it has been more than a decade since we saw him on the big screen.

In Imran’s words, he did it because of FOMO. [laughing] And, and I’m quoting him directly. It’s an Aamir Khan production, so buzz was good in the office, and then Imran knows about six or seven of the people in this movie, and because he’s done a lot of gravitas, he’s done a lot of romance, he’s done a lot of quintessentially commercial things, I had to make him something which you’ve never seen before. So we really designed a very flamboyant action piece around Imran.

It has a very interesting ensemble, Imran, Aamir, Mithila, Mona Singh. What were the discussions like?

The nice thing about Aamir Khan productions is every actor that’s in the movie tests for the movie, right? So even for me and Kavi to direct the movie, we did a test shoot where we shot four scenes of the movie with me as Happy Patel. We lit it, graded, mixed it. And Sharib is at an another level in this movie. He’s fantastic. He’s the scene stealer. You know, he gets the best line in every scene. For me, hopefully, if you think my comedy is even remotely intelligent, he’s really just an idiot.

And are there any qualities of your character that you wish you had in real life?

There’s an innocence to him that I really like. There’s a curiosity about India that I really like. You know, at some level it is a stranger comes to town type of a movie, right? Think of Sholay. There is a villain- there is a village, two strangers come to town, and the village comes together. That is the structure of my film. There is a villain in Mona Singh. There is an area and a spy is sent in, and the village comes together.