Cyrus Sahukar: Lucky that I never had one specific profession

Itrsquos difficult to keep a straight face when you are having a conversation with Cyrus Sahukar Regardless of whether he is talking about his ldquocompletely dysfunctionalrdquo family or discussing the changing comedy scene he has a way of adding a generous dose of humour Itrsquos evident in his portrayal in SonyLIVrsquos Potluck as well As the show wins positive reviews the VJturnedhost looks back at juggling varied careers over the past 20 yearsEdited excerpts from the interviewWhen you started out as a VJ you became popular thanks to your spoofs Did you worry about how to take it forward once the hype around spoofs diedI began worrying about it while I was doing those shows because I noticed our working style was changing dramatically When I joined MTV the focus was on coming up with ideas Whether people would like it or not was not the primary objective But over time the shows moved towards reality TV I left MTV around 20092010 and immediately did Aisha 2010 and Love Breakups Zindagi 2011 and TV shows like Indiarsquos Got Talent So I was lucky that people gave me work That said it was sad to lose that wonderful culture of working with comedians with the approach lsquoChalo dekhte hain kya hota hairsquo We got into trouble back then alsoNow that comedy has come to the forefront again in newer formats do you feel the urge to return to itWhen I was at home during the first lockdown I did a video show called Moti the Dog which revolved around me seeing everyone through the perspective of a dog I also used a Snapchat filter to do a series called Karma the cat mdash a spiritual guru who was batshit crazy Social media is a fun place to attempt different forms of comedy I didnrsquot want to go back to doing the things I had done before because the world has changed Instead I chose to do other things I did Rajat Kapoorrsquos film Kadakh 2019 and also wrote the dialogues I shot for three series which took up a lot of my time apart from learning how to cut and cook vegetables instead of just baking banana bread laughsAlso read Cyrus Sahukar finds acting more relaxing than anchoringDid you worry about never being offered the central role in a projectIt takes only sixandahalf seconds to go into victim mode So how can I deny myself that emotion But I have been lucky that I never had one specific profession If I were getting bored with one thing I had 100 other gigs I could take up I canrsquot whine that I didnrsquot get to play a serial killer but that is because I havenrsquot put the wish out there Now I am trying to add a certain level of sincerity to my performances Irsquom getting roles that represent a category that hasnrsquot been talked about much mdash the average good guyPotluck revolves around a dysfunctional family How would you describe your familyMy family is completely dysfunctional I donrsquot know how they are allowed to roam around in society laughs My mother still doesnrsquot remember my birthday she calls my sister to wish her on my birthday Nobody in my family is fully listening to each other My fianceacutee will ask me the same question I have probably answered six times before There are all kinds of eccentric people and thatrsquos what adds colour to life As a kid I used to think that other families must be normal Then I realised they are crazier than mine itrsquos just hidden wellWas playing father to three children dauntingOf course they cry randomly in the middle of a scene and you canrsquot do anything about it Your parental instincts come out because you want them to have an environment where they are having fun The way you shoot is defined by the kids I happened to have twins on all the three shows I shot for during the lockdown Irsquom becoming an expert on twins laughsAlso read Cyrus Sahukar Sometimes you have a wonderful project but making it is traumatising