Emmy-nominated Vir Das — who's been called India’s biggest comedy export — headlines the Indian Cultural Dinner at Illinois State University.
The April 11 event, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Brown Ballroom, will feature ISU catering several regional Indian dishes, followed by a conversation with Das, moderated by Roopa Rawjee, ISU executive director of international engagement.
Tickets are $20, and are available through Tuesday, or until sold out.
The cultural dinner is cosponsored by University Housing Services, the Indian Student Association and several other groups, said event organizer Donald Reed, associate director of residence life at ISU. The comic seemed a great choice, he said.
“Vir Das has a very strong and clear love for his home country India. And it comes across throughout his act, his speeches, his addresses,” said Reed.
The Mumbai-based actor and comedian has worked in Hollywood, Bollywood, and in other Indian films. American audiences might know him from Judd Apatow’s The Bubble, or the ABC series Whiskey Cavalier.
But he’s primarily made a name for himself as a standup comic: He was the first Indian to get a Netflix comedy special, and his third one on the streaming platform — Vir Das for India — earned an International Emmy nomination for Best Comedy in 2021.
Like other comics before him, Das has a sharp-edged wit that doesn’t always sit well with authorities. In Landing, his newest Netflix special, he recounts the uproar that followed his Two Indias video.
In the days following its spread on social media Das was called a terrorist, accused of defaming India, and even faced sedition charges.
Das' April 11 ISU visit is tucked into the U.S. leg of his Greenlight world tour. When he's in India, the comic spends his time between homes in Goa and Mumbai. He's working on a new reality series, The Field Dream, that follows his ambitious effort to play a large cricket stadium.
In this interview, Das talks with WGLT about the power of perspective, the strengths of being an outsider, and about his ties to Illinois’ own Knox College. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Vir Das: My act is sort of a global Indian voice. And I think — much like a comedian from the U.S. gets to take you to his hometown or her hometown — I'm going to kind of show up and take you to Mumbai. That means if you've been before, I'll take you home. And if you haven't been, I'll take you someplace new.
WGLT: It seems like in a lot of your standup, you bring in different elements about Indian history and current topics. But you also talk about your time in America. Will it be a blending like that, when you come here to ISU?
Das: I don't know. ... But I think Americans are newly open to an outsider's point of view on their country as the world can get smaller, and we have more and more common ground post-pandemic.
So I definitely think we'll be talking about America. I think some very interesting things will happen in America by the time I show up, vis-a-vis Donald Trump, and everything else that you guys have going on.
WGLT: You went to Knox College, in Galesburg. That's not too far from here, what led you there?
Das: Two words: Financial aid. That's it. They're just known to be this really diverse college that does a lot of financial aid — and there's no way I could have afforded to come to America without a serious financial aid package.
And then to arrive in America and have them give you the freedom to study what you like, while still kind of financially supporting you. That was great. I came in to study economics, and I came out studying econ and theater. And that's the magic of a place like Knox, a liberal arts college.
WGLT: What drew you to the performing arts, if you pursued an economics degree?
Das: I took a beginning acting course on a lark. I had a theater professor by the name of Ivan Davidson who taught that class, and he called me to his office. He was like, 'I say this to one kid, every five or 10 years — you're meant to do this. And I think you should perform and take this really seriously.' It really took that one teacher to really show belief in me because otherwise — coming in from India, that seems like an impossible task.
WGLT: After that you were in the Stanislavski program of the Moscow Art Theatre. So where were you studying that?
Das: It was Harvard, at the American Repertory Theater. The Stanislavski Theatre comes down. They kind of put you through theater boot camp, and you know, Russians can be extremely hardcore about their theater practice. It's really good training.
WGLT: Is that where you got your experience with the Russian accents that you do in some of your shows?
Das: I think so a little bit, I've always been a fan of accents. And I've always been watching. Robin Williams or Eddie Murphy — both of them do a serious amount of accents in their routines, and they're my early influences.
WGLT: One thing you have talked about in your shows is the stereotypes of Indians in American entertainment, something like Apu from The Simpsons, and the whole bobble head thing. ...But you do a lot of different accents.
Das: I like doing other people. I mean, you guys have had a lot of fun with my accent for about 55 years. Let me have about five years with yours, that's the way I look at it. I mean, sit back, let me do yours.
WGLT: Do you have a favorite place in America when you come here?
Das: I like New York, that's my city. It's got a Mumbai type vibe. Whenever I come to America, New York kind of forms the core. I do The Comedy Cellar, like Monday through Wednesday, and then I'll tour America on Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
WGLT: You've been all over the world. You've talked about this in your shows — feeling like you're an outsider in different places. (Das was born in Dehradun, India. But he spent his childhood in Lagos, Nigeria, and his teen years back in Delhi, before leaving for college in the U.S.)
How does that factor into your work, that lived experience?
Das: I think it feeds an outsider's perspective that I have. I've been an Indian in Africa, an African in India, an Indian in America — and then the guy who just got back from America to India.
So in that sense, you get to hopefully traverse these various different bubbles of entertainment, culture or community. And sometimes you take the best from the bubble — before the bubble takes the best of you. Comedically, because you don't really quite fit in, you get to see it from an outsider's angle.
WGLT: So let's go back a bit. In 2021, you were at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and you performed a piece that you had written that day called I Come From Two Indias.
How has your life has changed since that experience? I know it's something that's in your past. But it seems like it's probably got to come up in every interview
Das: I think it's a it's an undeniable part of sort of the artistic journey that I'm on. And I don't think you get to predict when you create a conversation or when you become a conversation.
Your best bet as an artist is to honor the conversation, try and learn from each side of the conversation, and maybe filter that into art, which I'm proud to say I did.
That was not an easy experience to filter into art, at all. And it took a lot of soul searching to be able to do so. So in that sense, I'm happy to be ahead of it. But yeah, I think it'll always be a part of the conversation as far as I'm concerned.
