She was born Anuradha Menon but her critics and fans
know her more popularly as Lola Kutty. Years after leaving a mark playing the
oily-haired, bespectacled, heavily-accented Mallu girl clad in Kanjeevaram
saris and wearing jasmine flowers in her hair, Anuradha is nothing like her
alter-ego. And the change is visibly more striking now because Lola Kutty comes
to life only on rare occasions. When asked if Lola unknowingly appears from
within, at times, Anuradha dismisses it, saying, “Some people are happy I'm
nothing like Lola and some deeply disappointed. My mother used to say Lola
rocks but Anu sucks!”
After having disappeared from the small screen about
seven years ago, Anuradha spends most of her time doing stand-up comedy, along
with theatre. Married to a Gujarati and doting mother of a four-year-old son,
Anuradha admits that it allows her the luxury to travel more.
Over the years, while Lola Kutty has
earned Anuradha a lot of positive attention from her fans, she has also been
criticised by a few for making stereotyping fashionable. But the artiste has
been pretty vocal about how not all type of stereotyping is bad. Anuradha says,
“There is an orange man in the White House who thinks that all Mexicans are
drug peddling thieves. That is ridiculous stereotyping. On the other hand, if
you are playing a character from a certain geographical location of a certain
social milieu, looks and accent are trappings. They form part of the character,
not the whole character. That's the difference. I've seen Keralites angry at
Malayali jokes and laugh at Punjabi jokes, and vice versa.”
Anuradha feels that the current stand-up
comedy scene in India is buzzing and the industry has “grown so fast so
quickly”. She feels that ‘stand-up’ is now looked upon as a veritable career
option. Anuradha says, “Some comedians have rockstar status. There's major
camaraderie, minor tiffs and everything in between! A British comedian remarked
that they need to look at how India has done it and how proud we should
be.”
While stand-up comedy is a great form of
entertainment, in India, the art form has had a brush with controversy on more
than one occasion. Several police complaints have been filed against various
stand-up comics for ‘offensive content’ and, as Anuradha puts it, “taking offence
has become a national pastime.” She adds, “Social media has taken it to an
unholy level. I don't know sometimes whether people are genuinely so full of
hate or just pretend, because anonymity allows you that freedom.” While this
may push the stand-up comedian to think and rethink about the consequences
while curating their content, Anuradha is rather unperturbed; she relies on her
advantages of being a story comic. She says, “I have an anecdotal style. I talk
about things that have happened to me in everyday life. My husband warns me,
though, about saying politically fraught things!”
There’s good news and bad news. The good
news is that Anuradha Menon is performing in Goa today. The bad news is - Lola
Kutty isn’t. The reason - “Lola charges too much. But she loves Goa - it
reminds her of home,” says Anuradha, in a lighter vein. She will instead be
performing her stand-up act where she talks about being married to a Gujarati,
her four-year-old son and her travels.
Catch
Anuradha Menon in action today at Ignia, near Uddear Spring, Verna, 8 pm
onwards