Kapil Sharma says he is not worried about Zwigato failing: 'I will not lose anything, dukaan to apni chal hi rahi hai'

Kapil Sharma plays a delivery executive in his upcoming film, the Nandita Das-directorial Zwigato. in a recent interview, Kapil spoke about the film's commercial prospects.

Kapil Sharma has a reputation of being a funny man. The stand-up comic turned talk show host has earned that reputation after years of being one of the funniest men on TV. But in his upcoming film Zwigato, Kapil plays a sombre man, very far removed from his persona. In a recent interview, Kapil spoke about why he does not feel doing an indie film like that is a risk as he has ‘nothing to lose’.

Kapil Sharma as a delivery boy in a still from Zwigato trailer.

Kapil is the host of the popular and successful The Kapil Sharma Show. He also regularly performs on tours in India and overseas, the last for an upcoming Netflix special. Zwigato, directed by Nandita Das, is not a commercial entertainer and casts Kapil in the role of a delivery person. Many have wondered why the popular comedian chose a ‘non commercial’ independent film.

In an interview with Rediff, Kapil said, “I recently told my wife, if this film doesn't work, I will not lose anything. But if it succeeds and is a hit then I will get a lot from it. People will say 'Kapil ne bahut accha kaam kiya ha’ (Kapil has done good work).' It is important that more and more people watch the film. Comedy shows are my bread and butter. But because of that, I was motivated to look for something else to do. Socha kitchen safe hai. Pange lete hain thode se (I thought the kitchen is safe so let’s experiment a bit). Someone asked weren't you afraid? I said why should I be afraid? Woh dukaan to apni chal hee rahi hai (My shop is running smoothly). I am just adding on to that.”

Kapil added that it was a challenge for him to get under the skin of his character and get used to the shoot schedule though. “When we started shooting the film in Bhubaneswar, Nandita set the call time at 6 am. In Bombay, we don't sleep before 3 am. First two days I struggled a lot just to follow the shooting schedule,” he added.

Zwigato, which also stars Shahana Goswami, was recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is expected to have a theatrical release in India later this year but no official release date has been announced yet.