BANGALORE: While in school, he performed street theatre, that too at Tihar Jail for the inmates.
Sounds like he was among the more serious sorts, does he not? Well, the man in question is Cyrus Sahukar.
Need we say more? If you are conversing with Cyrus, you would probably not be laughing only when it gets absolutely necessary for you to breathe. Even the Tihar episode has comic overtones when it comes to Cyrus. “I always used to be scared that I would get lost inside Tihar and no one will find me. As it happened, once I did lose my way and I was dressed as a mantri in pink. People must have thought I was some mentally deranged being! Luckily, my director thought he should find me and he did.” It sure is a relief that we did not lose this wacky talent in the maze of the Tihar Jail.
Cyrus, one of the youngest VJs to have joined MTV worldwide — in fact, he got selected when he was 18 and his 19th birthday fell on the first day of work — is now ready to host another crazy show on Pogo called Pogo All Stars after the hit Hole in the Wall. “This show will have three absolutely mad games. It is taking Hole in the Wall to a different level.” Cyrus, an avid fan of children’s shows, especially Top Cat and Johnny Bravo, had jumped at the chance of being a presenter on Pogo.
The funnyman says, “Sometimes you want to be part of some good, clean entertainment. It has been so much fun on Pogo, no fighting or bickering. Also, Pogo made it a point not to call stars — just ordinary people having fun in some weird silver suits. I am loving this new-found connect with children.
Suddenly, I have a barrage of parents and kids who love me.” A bit of a sadist, he loves watching people fall into the water.
This Delhi boy had been working in radio and theatre since he was 15 and wanted to study films at Jamia Millia Islamia. He auditioned with friend Samir Kochhar (now a known face on TV) on MTV and got “plain lucky” as he says. “Talent? What talent? We are a totally nonmedia family. The peak of performing arts talent in our family was my uncle playing a grasshopper. All he had to do was moan and groan and he made quite a mess of that too.” After being selected it was hard, full-on work, lots of travelling, weird hours and tons of fun. “It is the only profession which usually doesn’t have a script. But after a point I got a little bored of just VJing and then came spoofs like Fully Faltoo and Semi Girebaal.” Now, he plans to do mockumentaries, which will look like reality shows but will be all fake.
Our man manages the “dramatically different” genres of VJing, films and kids’ show host very well.
It was great to see him as the struggling RJ and the photographer in Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6, respectively.
“I always want to try out something new and wanted to be part of good films.” Right now, he is trying his hand at cooking and says he cooks mutton jalfrezi very well — “just in case this career doesn’t take off”.
So that is being Cyrus — a man “stuck in some bizarre age of music of the 50s, 60s and 70s”, “an embarrassing dancer” but likes grooving to Bappida’s songs, loves travelling, hanging out at home and being surrounded by comedians. “After all, laughter is the best thing.” Aptly said, Mr Sahukar.
