Vir Das says he gets described like Covid-19 by the paparazzi, fans love his hilarious acceptance speech at IFFM 2025

Vir Das was honored with the Disruptor Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2025 ceremony. The comedian gave a hilarious acceptance speech on stage.

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2025 hosted its annual awards night on Friday, giving prizes to the best in Indian cinema and streaming from 2024-25. Comedian and actor Vir Das was honoured with the Disruptor Award, and he took the stage to deliver a hilarious acceptance speech, comparing himself to Covid-19. Vir posted the clip of his acceptance speech on his Instagram account.

Vir Das shared that it was his honour to get the Disruptor Award at IFFM.

Vir Das at IFFM

Accepting the award on stage, Vir began his speech by saying, “My name is Vir Das. I think this award answers the question that I have been asking myself, which many of you are asking yourself… which is, what is a random tiny comedian doing at a film festival? The answer is he is disrupting it. I want to thank IFFM and the Victorian government- you are not the first government to call me disruptive.”

‘I get described like Covid-19’

He continued, “I am not accomplished enough or talented enough to be at this festival with the people that you see here tonight. It is like they are your main dish, and I am your kadi patta (curry leaves). You will see the difference if you don't believe me when we all go home on the flight to Mumbai please watch the paparazzi caption for all of these famous people. They will say Aamir Khan returned home looking wonderful and refreshed with his family. Malaika Arora wore a wonderful jacket, she got into a green SUV looking happy, and mine while say, ‘Vir Das is back!’ I get described like Covid-19!”

The audience cheered for Vir as he continued his speech, where he thanked the film festival for the honour. He concluded, “I think humour is disruptive to the things that divide us. It is an honour to make people laugh, and so as long as anyone is willing to put my name on the side of a building in Australia, I promise I will show up. I hope you will show up too, and we can disrupt each other's lives. It is an honour to be your Kadi patta guys, thank you so much.”

Fan reactions

Reacting to Vir's speech, a fan commented, “Vir doing what Vir does best! Making people laugh, with some poignant food for thought thrown in!” Another said, “Who knew a kadi patta could carry so much weight? Only Vir “The Ultimate Disruptor”.” Someone said, “If humility, sarcasm, and intelligent humour had a face.” “Beautifully said @virdas! What a brilliant speech- hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time! Something only you can do,” read another comment.

Fool Volume, Vir's standup special, was released on Netflix on July 18.