It’s the 30th birthday party of well known Curtorim based musician Marwino Antonio D’Costa at a popular restaurant in Colva. Suddenly, all eyes and ears move towards 27 year old Kunal Raikar who takes centre stage. You have to spend ten minutes listening to the Navelim resident’s impromptu and unique style of wishing the birthday boy that left the audience and the other guests in splits. Standing on the makeshift stage, Raikar does an impression of Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar in his inimitable style enacting the man addressing a public rally. Raikar, a drummer by profession was egged on by the crowd recording his live stand-up comedy performance on their smart phones and asked him to imitate other politicians. Using the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd, Raikar improvised on suggestions as he switched imitations from Manohar Parrikar and Churchill Alemao to Rajan Naik. But according to him, the impersonation he likes the most is that of Parsekar. “When he mimics these politicians, it is superb. You feel it is the politician speaking as Kunal gets the tone, the pronunciation, the accent and the manner in which these politicians speak spot on,“ said Alacoque Morenas, a renowned singer herself. Raikar’s performances haven’t gone unnoticed. Quepem MLA, Chandrakant Kavlekar has appreciated his act after attending one of his band’s shows at Fatorpa. Raikar shows off his skill during shows with his band. Raikar has been doing this for the past three years and his popularity in the state has grown on account of this. “Mimicking is God’s gift to me. One plus point is that I can meet a person two or three times and my memory immediately captures his style of talking, his movements and actions and I can then mimic him at any given time. I can mimic anyone, I could mimic you also,” said Raikar. “I concentrate on politicians because today’s crowd accepts something different and unique. A lot of artists focus on TV and ilm actors. So in this way, I feel I’m unique,” he added conidently. The comedian has won several awards in school for his acting prowess and says he does this purely as a hobby. Raikar can do impersonations in Konkani, Hindi, English and Marathi and adds that he is ready to act in any movie or theatre if offered a role.
