EXCLUSIVE: Meet Jitendra Kumar, the man who mimics Arvind Kejriwal

We meet Jitendra Kumar (26) is one of the prominent actors to have emerged from The Viral Fever’s camp at the TVF Campus Andheri. When you see Kumar, it’s tough to believe he impersonated Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal. Kumar comes across as shy; far from the assertive personality of a politician. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

Updated on: Nov 01, 2016 12:13 PM IST

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Updated on Nov 01, 2016 12:13 PM

We meet Jitendra Kumar (26) is one of the prominent actors to have emerged from The Viral Fever’s camp at the TVF Campus Andheri. When you see Kumar, it’s tough to believe he impersonated Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal. Kumar comes across as shy; far from the assertive personality of a politician. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

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Updated on Nov 01, 2016 12:13 PM

Kumar grew up (in Khairthal, Rajasthan) practising mimicry as a child. But he never considered it a real talent. Until, during a more recent reading session for another show, Barely Speaking with Arnub ( TVF’s actor writer Biswapati Sarkar’s parody of Arnab Goswami), he impersonated Kejriwal. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

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The Kejriwal act holds personal significance for Kumar because both he and Kejriwal rely heavily on Hindi. For Kumar, not being comfortable with English, was a matter of insecurity. But his time at IIT Kharagpur changed that. He was recommended to the Hindi drama society, where he met Biswapati Sarkar, who, years later, invited Kumar to join TVF in 2012. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

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Even at TVF, Kumar started as a misfit — the concept of sketch comedy (TVF’s signature content) was alien to him. “I’d seen funny Bollywood films before, but thematic comic videos were entirely new to me,” he says. He took it as a challenge, and shot for Munna Jazbati, a 2013 TVF video that went viral with 2 million views. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)

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Today, he stars as the lead in Tech Conversation with Dad, a sketch comedy series where he plays a son who has to patiently explain the mysteries of new technology — online shopping, Twitter, finding the cheapest mobile internet plan — to his father. You see the appeal, of course. Each video has over a million views. (Photo: Aalok Soni/HT)