Fan of 'The Office'? Watch 'Better Life Foundation' with Kanan Gill, Naveen Richard

Among the plethora of web series that we are bombarded with, Better Life Foundation is a breath of fresh air. The mockumentary show follows the antics of the team of a fictional NGO, Better Life Foundation. Neil Menon (Naveen Richard) plays a condescending philanthropist who thinks he is out to do good but does not know what damage he causes in the process. [caption id=“attachment_2835756” align=“alignleft” width=“385”]  Still from the series (via Youtube)[/caption] He is joined by Sumukhi Chawla (Sumukhi Suresh), the no nonsense programme head, Jerry Pinto (Utsav Chakraborty) the Operations head, Aditi Goyal (Sindhu Sreenivasa) the intern and the current audience favourite Kanan Gill as Armaan Garewal, a rich brat volunteering at the NGO as a part of his community service. Firstpost had a brief chat with Naveen Richard about the new web series and here is what we found out: Though the web series does draw inspiration from the format of shows like The Office, Richard said he has always dreamed of being a part of the cast. “We were surprised when people pointed out the resemblance between a scene from The Office where Dwight’s hands are covered in fake blood being compared to Jerry’s bloodied hands in his introductory sequence in the first episode,” said Richard. Utsav Chakraborty’s character Jerry’s name was supposed to be a reference to national award winning author Jerry Pinto. Kanan Gill had a copy of the book by the author, so they decided to stick with the name. A graduate from Christ College, Bangalore, Naveen Richard started the Youtube channel Them Boxer Shorts with his friends to put up their short sketches. Their previous sketches like Three Many Cooks and What If Bollywood had logic have gotten a lot of views. [caption id=“attachment_2835778” align=“alignright” width=“385”]  Naveen Richard in Better Life Foundation. (via Youtube)[/caption] “Better Life Foundation was meant to channel in the brilliant way in which shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation find humor in the mundane everyday-ness of life,” When asked if they were going to integrate the current political and social issues into their comedy routine like their counterparts do_,_ Richard said, _"_We want to concentrate more on bringing out humor in little things of everyday life like quirks and emotions of the characters that our audience can relate too. Also the web medium caters to a bigger demographic as compared to the usual stand up sketches, and we want to do our best at not offend." Here’s the pilot episode: