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The 2026 reset with Vir Das. The comedian has an epic wishlist for the year
2026 is looking good for Vir Das. But it can get even better, he believes: Less GRWM, less AI, more IRL moments. Here’s what he’s manifesting in the New Year
Whatever your 2025 was like, Vir Das’s was probably better. In July, the 46-year-old comedian released a Netflix special, Fool Volume. In November, he released his memoir, The Outsider. In between, quietly, Das was also making a movie — his first as a director. He’s kicking off 2026 with the spy caper, Happy Patel, co-directed with Kavi Shastri and produced by Aamir Khan.
What perfect timing! India is in its spy era. You’re either a fan of Dhurandhar’s blood, brawn and chest-thumping, or aggressively not. We’re in the middle of YRF’s cinematic universe: Superstars playing RAW agents who either go rogue or keep getting dragged out of retirement for One Last Mission. The movies are glossy, high-octane, shot in exotic locations and kinda same-same. SRK has been Pathaan, Salman Khan has been Tiger, Hrithik Roshan has been Agent Kabir, Alia Bhatt is in Alpha. Keyboard critics have been having fierce debates about how the genre has become a space for jingoism, macho posturing and formulaic plotting.
Happy Patel wants nothing to do with any of it. Except to spoof it. The trailer opens with the song, Main Hoon Alpha Male. It also features Das, squeezing mayonnaise out of his nipples, which tells you everything you need to know about the film. “It’s the kind of movie that makes you happy, not angry,” he says. Das wrote the film years ago, but its time is now. “The counterculture can’t exist until the culture does,” he says. “This goes completely against the mainstream.” His spy, Happy Patel, is not cool. He does not have his life together. He is, by design, “a complete idiot”. “We’ve seen enough spies who have their shit together,” says Das. “But most people with a sense of humour don’t. And they don’t take life so seriously.”
Das’s 2026 looks sorted. He’s got an all-India tour of Sounds of India, his show that hilariously captures the country through its noise (truck horns, traffic chaos, classical music, Bollywood hits and historic speeches). He’s touring internationally with his second show Hey Stranger, about human connection and our shared quirks. So who better than the comedian/author/director to tap for a wide-ranging wishlist of what the world could do less of, more of, or just stop doing altogether? Here are his picks for 2026.
What should the world finally outgrow?
Get Ready With Me Reels. I think we’re all ready now. We don’t need to watch each other do it anymore. As someone who has zero understanding of fashion, there’s a lot of pressure being put on people to spend money on things, when they can focus on other aspects of life. I’m hoping for a more minimal, “it-doesn’t-matter-what-you- wear-if-you-have-the-right-attitude kind of 2026”.
What do people take too seriously that shouldn’t be serious at all in 2026?
In a world where we don’t take the important things seriously enough, we take comedy far too seriously. Comedy is an art form done by idiots, written by idiots, and catered to the idiotic part of your brain. Please remember that when you react to comedy: You’re watching a clown.
One term you’d happily retire.
Aura farming. We’ve farmed all the aura in the world. There’s none left. Let us please stop this aura agriculture.
One topic of small talk you’d ban for the coming months.
Right now, AQI is the big topic of conversation in every room, social media, and the metro. Hopefully, in 2026, the pollution gets to a level that is so manageable and so healthy that we have to never discuss air quality again.
One thing AI should actually do this year.
I believe AI is a lot stupider than we think it is. At best, it’s going to do admin work for you. If it could cook for me, so I could have a conversation, that would be great. Otherwise I expect nothing from it.
One thing celebrities should collectively stop doing.
Podcasts. There are people far more qualified to give gyaan on complicated topics. Celebrities should just act and create.
One texting habit you want to get rid of in 2026.
I like GIFs. I like memes. But let’s retire emojis. If you can’t express your emotions in three words, don’t let a yellow face do it for you.
One fix for modern dating.
Stop outsourcing every emotional need to a different person. Love is finding one person who plays different roles on different days. On Monday, they are your cuddle person. On Tuesday, they are your movie person. On Wednesday, they are your gossip person. On Thursday, they are your intimacy person. Maybe they will never fulfil all your needs. But even if they only meet 30% of your needs, that’s better than having eight people meeting 100%.
One comedy trend you want less of.
Crowd work. We’ve seen enough of it, including a lot of fake, made-up-on-the-spot stuff. I want more written jokes, more craft, more experimentation. Crowd work is the easiest form of comedy.
One thing you want to see more of on Indian roads.
Children wearing seatbelts. I see kids hanging out of cars or sunroofs — it’s terrifying. Buckle them up.
One trend you wish would come back this year.
I remember going to concerts at a time when people weren’t pointing screens at the artist. They were just using their eyes and ears. It made for a rich community experience. I’d love concerts that seal phones away so you can actually enjoy the music, comedy or dance.
One thing we can do for Gen Z in the future.
Stop sh***ing on them entirely. I actually admire how open they are about mental health and existence. They have more information at 15 than we did at 30. I’m a fan.
One thing that bosses should stop doing to their employees.
Ending their emails with a motivational quote. Umm, that’s your quote. Read it to yourself. Stop sharing it.
Double-oh-hahahaOur fav funny spies
Austin Powers, Austin Powers. Mike Myers’s groovy spy felt like a personal attack against James Bond. Velvet suits, useless gadgets, bad teeth and no rizz. And a ridiculous arch-nemesis Dr Evil and his mini-me to fight against. It’s genre memes, dialled it up to idiotic levels, with great dancing. We’d trust him.
Susan Cooper, Spy. Spying is a boys’ club, so watching Melissa McCarthy dominate is extra satisfying. She’s chubby, no femme fatale. So her bosses give her tragic covers: Cat-obsessed housewife, homophobic aunt. Her gadgets are disguised as toe-fungus spray and hemorrhoid wipes. Watch her prove everyone wrong and fend off villains with a baguette. Our queen!
Maxwell Smart, Get Smart. Steve Carrell’s double agent has zero spy skills. He’s also deeply uncool, unsexy and painfully clumsy. He accidentally ejects himself from planes, fries himself in laser mazes, mistakes birthday cake for uranium — and still saves the day and gets the girl.
Carmen and Juni, Spy Kids. If James Bond and Willy Wonka had a baby, it would be this movie. Carmen and Juni go from bickering, bed-wetters to super-spies. They fight thumb-shaped guards and villain Fegan Floop, who wants to turn them into Fooglies. We all wanted the rocket boots, the Super Guppy submarine — and whatever the director was having when he made this movie.
Napoleon Solo, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Man in question represents fragile male egos and petty spy battles. The CIA’s Napoleon Solo and KGB’s Illya Kuryakin turn life-threatening missions into arguments over whose gadget is better or whose fashion sense is superior. Espionage in a passive-aggressive flavour.
