BENGALURU: Making people laugh is not easy. But this 62-year-old anesthesiologist isn’t just effortless at it, but also makes sure people clutch their stomachs hard as they let out peals of laughter. Meet Dr Murali Chakravarthy, director of Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Relief, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road, who is also a well-known stand-up comedian among the medical fraternity in the country today.
“I did my first performance three years ago. It was during a Doctor’s Day celebration at my hospital and my colleague suggested I take stand-up seriously,” he recalls, adding that despite watching many comedy shows, he never knew about the amount of effort that goes into it.
“When I started considering it seriously, I came to know that some comedians prepare 30-40 pages of notes for a one-hour show. So whenever I come across any funny situations or I get some imaginary ideas or situations, I started making notes of them. Thus, my experiences with auto drivers and patients became the central themes of my shows.”
Though his introduction to the world of stand-up comedy was unexpected, Chakravarthy has always been a keen follower of comedians and their shows. “I watch Comicstaan and other such shows. Many of these artistes have inspired me. Once I got a chance to meet professional stand-up comedian Praveen Kumar at our hospital function. His style and performance struck me. At the same venue, I also rendered a 3-4 minute performance,” recalled the doctor, who credits the audience response for motivating him to continue his journey with comedy. “I have given hundreds of medical lectures but I still get tense before my performances,” he giggles.
Drawing inspiration from his professional life, Chakravarthy talks about things that happen in an operation theatre, doctor-patient interactions and his experiences with medical students. While some of his main performances are confined to national medical conferences for anesthesiologists at Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, and for cardiologists in Pune, the doctor doesn’t miss any chance to perform in public. “Today, I do half an hour shows for medical and non-medical audiences. When I include jokes about doctors, medical professionals can relate very much, whereas common public audience find the content to be new and different from other comedy shows,” he says.
While the stand-up comedy scene has evolved a lot over the last 10 years in India, we still have to be more mature in accepting jokes with regard to ethnicity, culture and politics, he says. “Last Valentine’s Day, I did a show for a senior citizen group on Cunningham Road. In such events, I am sensitive about the type of jokes I present. We should not be disrespectful about their age. I also use this medium to address social issues like potholes, city traffic jams and incidents of beating up doctors. Though our Indian audience has not matured to the level of US audience, themes such as obesity, body shaming, homosexuality, gender discrimination and stereotyping are accepted at least in cities like Bengaluru.”
Giving an insight into the favourite jokes of Bengaluru’s audience, he says, “Kannada jokes like ‘solpa adjust maadi’, ‘only in Karnataka you can order 2/23 coffee’ or ‘traffic jam in Silk Board Junction’ are the most popular.” The anesthesiologist is now preparing for an upcoming national conference in the city. In the coming days, he wishes to perform at open mics and other public events. “Till now, the largest gathering I addressed comprised 500 people. It’s interesting to explore our hidden talents and hobbies. At this age, this keeps me more active,” he says.