BENGALURU: Super guru”, “Dude I had this startup idea”, “put one scene”, “maga”... If you live in Bengaluru, chances are you’ve used these phrases in a conversation or been at the receiving end of it at the very least. An Instagram video called Famous Sounds of Bangalore captures these quintessential Bengaluru moods and moments in a short and sweet clip that has now garnered over 70,000 likes. The creators behind this – comedians Nirmal Pillai and Abishek Kumar B – put out this video as part of their sporadic series, which previously covered similar editions for Chennai and Kerala.
Pillai recalls how Kumar and he got together to collaborate on a short sketch about wedding videographers when the idea for this series came to them. Both Chennai-based, the two were standing outside Pillai’s house when they heard a vegetable vendor and started mimicking the dialogue they often say. “We both enjoy comedy and improv so we spontaneously decided to shoot a video about the famous sounds of Chennai, and of course, the vendor had to be a part of it,” says Pillai.
Just as the two suspected, the video struck a chord with people and got 60,000 likes, which then made way for another edition on famous sounds of Kerala (with over 1,40,000 likes). Bengaluru seemed to be the obvious choice for the next video but Pillai was hesitant, having had more lived experience of Chennai and Kerala. “I told Nirmal a video on Bengaluru would definitely work because this city is a cultural hub. There are people outside Bengaluru too who would relate to it,” says Kumar, who besides being the winner of Comicstaan Tamil, is an actor as well. Surprisingly, despite having never lived in Bengaluru longterm, the two manage to nail the accent and slang of the city.
Both Pillai and Kumar have family in the city, which made them frequent the city often, besides also spending some time here for their internships. “Even if you stay in Bengaluru for a week, the city and its vibe manage to stick on and the accent stays. Besides, we also did our research by reaching out to people we knew here to get the pronunciation and references right,” says Kumar, who has some Tamil movies lined up. Pillai’s day job involves him being a product designer for a Bengaluru-based company, and the 23-year-old is hoping to shift here after his vaccination.
“This city seems like the perfect place to transition from college to adult life,” says the comedian, who also guest hosted a segment for Netflix’s social media page. Having started these videos during the lockdown last year, Pillai has found them to be a good escape in these times. Calling it his “creative lifeline”, he says, “If it weren’t for these short videos, I would have gone crazy. It gave me something to look forward to.” So what can fans expect next from the two? “Maybe a similar video on famous sounds of Andhra. Something to close off the South India series,” says Kumar. To watch the videos, visit @ theabishekkumar and @mahlyf_ mahrules on Instagram