Mumbai's 'Aila Vatt' opens up on the challenges that come with mimicry

The students of Bandrarsquos MMK College of Commerce and Economics are busy with midsemester exams But on the Friday morning we drop in the lot is distracted their focus teased by an exstudentldquoWhorsquos sherdquoldquoChandni ChandnirdquoldquoWho ChandnirdquoldquoArey she does AliardquoPicsAshish RaneChandni Bhabhda 22 is back at her alma mater Petite with long hair that she tosses rather than combs shersquos flitting through the scattered crowd as she gushes to midday about the ldquohomecomingrdquoA blushing teenager we encounter stops her and says ldquoMy mother loves Marwadi momrdquo She is referring to a comedy short on YouTube that sees Bhabhda ditch the jeans and crop top for a Bandhani dupatta add two decades to her age and speak fluent Marwari to mimic a housewife obsessed with Mumbai rain admonishing millenials in the family for choosing jeans that donrsquot dry Someone asks for a selfie ldquoItrsquos like being with mini Alia BhattrdquoGeetika NarangIn a room on the ground floor Vice Principal Roma Wagh is surprised and happy to see her ldquoBut we had to push her on stage she was so shyrdquoThatrsquos tough to imagine about Bhabhda who is a bonafide blue tick influencer with 222000 followers Mimic emcee voiceover artiste and host she admits that as a little girl she was plagued by no show of support from those her age The teachers were encouraging But friends stayed away ldquoSome didnrsquot like my voice some my personality perhaps I had no friends when growing up not in school or collegerdquoRoma Wagh the Vice Principal of MMK College Bandra where Chandni studied says she was a shy teenager who had to be coaxed to get on stage PICpradeep dhivarSocial media justice though has ensured that those who bullied her are now sending DMs with a sorry ldquoThey singled me out pushed me towards depression I donrsquot open those messages They can become triggersrdquo she says as candidly as she plays characters in her sketches Her therapist says she neednrsquot force the grudge out of her system ldquoAfter all success is the best revenge Even Alia believes thatrdquoBhatt one of Hindi cinemarsquos most popular and successful young actresses is Bhabhdarsquos inspiration and hope They even share a name Aila Vatt is her social media persona attracting new fans every dayReuben Kaduskar Brown Bread CollectiveHer most recent reel surrounding Bhattrsquos multicrore Brahmastra has 11 million views It all started with Bhabhda ordering for a pizza in Bhattrsquos voice Ever since her reels are going viral Even Bhatt has acknowledged her ldquoduplicaterdquo saying ldquoshe is outstandingrdquo The actressrsquos biggest cheerleader and mentor producerdirector Karan Johar posed with Bhabhda at a recent eventShe says the chunni act dates back to childhood Sulochana her mother offers this writer a cup of evening chai at their Andheri East residence ldquoThere wasnrsquot a neighbour or relative who Chandni hasnrsquot mimicked One day she would say I want to dress like a rickshaw driver next day doctorrdquo says the poet and teacher But itrsquos her criminal lawyer father Madan Mohanrsquos passion for Bollywood that she inherited choosing to use her observation skills and train to behave and speak like Bhatt and then Ananya PandeyChandnirsquos mimicry has led to her being recognised on the streets PicPradeep DhivarBhabhda says imitating Bhatt has brought her fame 10 years after she first spoke like the actress who made her debut in Joharrsquos campus romance Student of the Year ldquoThat entry scene with the pom pomsmdash I wanted to be that personrdquoThe day she watched Bhattrsquos recent release Gangubai Kathiawadi in the theatres she spoke to the autowalla who drove her home in the brusque Gujarati accent tinged Hindi of Gangubai Kamathipurarsquos madam Ever since when the phone rings she has ditched the ldquohellordquo for ldquohaan rajardquoJayVijay Sachan and Ayush GuhaSince the film released in February she has watched the Sanjay Leela Bhansali biopic 40 times ldquoI didnrsquot like Brahmastra though But I have done so much free publicity for the movie at events I am always asked to just say lsquoShivarsquo I had no idea this would happenrdquo she says her eyes widening with incredulityThe first taste of success is evidently sweet for someone who struggled with low selfconfidence her mother having to quit her job to look after her ldquoShe managed to cope by actingrdquo says the mother ldquoWe are just very proud of what she has done all this while continuing with her law studiesrdquo says her father ldquothere is so much competition the young have to deal with including with peers in our own familyrdquoFormer dentist Sumedh Shinde who is known for his Hrithik Roshan impersonation feels that mimics actually have more aveneus to make money PicSameer MarkandeSurya Kumar is a musician and Chandnirsquos only friend from the past He calls her a ldquopacket of energyrdquo Hardworking determined are the words he uses to describe her ldquoWe have been friends since before she became famous She is extremely talentedrdquoThe modest family background hasnrsquot stopped the digital creator from dreaming big In addition to hosting interviews with stars and playing emcee and voice over artiste she harbours Bollywood dreams ldquoI want to be in a Dharma movierdquo she says plainly when we ask where she sees herself in five yearsMimicry is an art and it takes work Bhabhda says she practices most of the day trying to crack yet another nuance of Bhattrsquos personality Itrsquos taken many years to ride the wave and she is finally seeing money trickle in ldquoI wonrsquot call myself an overnight success I have been doing Alia for 10 years It just got noticedrdquo If she is worried about transitioning to varied content after the Alia craze dies down she doesnrsquot show it ldquoWho knows what will happen tomorrow I donrsquot plan But if you want Alia itrsquos going to costrdquoMimicry is defined as the superficial likeness of two species that are not taxonomically related The performance art demands that the practitioner master voice modulation facial expressions and comic timing In India Kerala has long been a hotbed of mimicry the communityrsquos love for satire having sowed the seeds Experts say that Chakyar Koothu a performing art from the state thatrsquos a refined monologue of episodes from the Puranas and epics could be the beginnings of standup comedy in Kerala The practitioners would use political satire and social critique and spare no one not even the rulersModern day mass mimicry has been long associated with imitating film stars Duplicate mimics of Shah Rukh Khan Dev Anand Sanjay Dutt and Shatrughan Sinha have managed parallel careers of their own in film and television Legends like Johnny Lever and Jaaved Jaaferi in Bollywood are poster boys for the performing art Late comic Raju Shrivastava who passed away earlier this month in fact was a fantastic mimic and became famous for his impersonation of superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Bihar politician Lalu Prasad Yadav But although a rage on stage and television he belonged to a generation not associated with modern urbane standup Mimicry gets you instant eyeballs but are comic impersonators secondclass citizens in Indiarsquos modern comedy scene where standup is perceived as the higher art associated with observational skill and opinionAyush Guha business head at Hypp Talent which handles Bhabhdarsquos work says mimicry succeeds because it can make huge impact in short timeldquoThey mimics command high engagement and their scope is not dependent on the platform Mimicry also connects them to a larger audience than standups For example Chandnirsquos Alia sketches will make it easier for her to move to the movies or an OTT platformrdquoBhabhdarsquos strength is also her weakness and mimics must live with that ldquoBrands tend to always ask for Alia but we push Chandnirsquos Marwadi mom character too We charge a super premium for her to play Alia and that helps us filter We are helping her attend events but thatrsquos solely for visibilityrdquo Guha agrees that standup comics may have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to mimics ldquoThat doesnrsquot take away from the fact that these guys are making 40second original content bytes every single day even if they are based on a character Most standup comics write a 120minute set and recycle it all year Chandni for instance can create content over a voice noterdquoGeetika Narang Abbasi made a documentary called Urf this year which follows the lives of the lookalikes and what it means to constantly be mistaken for someone else ldquoEven though people like Johnny Lever are so loved mimicry never enjoyed the regard that OG stars do Somehow in India itrsquos not seen as an art formrdquo she says adding ldquo I think it was TikTok that led to the resurgence of this form Social media has made it easier for artistes like Chandni but in the 1990s it was difficult for mimics to make money People had to come to Bombay make their name here somehow and then wait to be invited for events and stage showsrdquoMumbaibased standup comedian Rueben Kaduskar who heads the Brown Bread Collective says the honest answer is that all comedy begins with mimicry ldquoOne of our earlier introductions to comedy was mimicry thanks to Johnny Lever But as I got deeply involved in the industry I realised that mimicry could be an easier way to get ahead that doesnrsquot make it easy to do There is a lot of hardwork Writing wise yes perhaps it lacks nuance But if you were to combine mimicry and standupmdash imagine if Kunal Kamra had to tell a Narendra Modi joke as Modimdashit would take it to another level I hope we see that happen with some artistesrdquo Comic Shreemayee Das who cofounded The Grin Collective says they donrsquot have a mimicry artiste on their roster With standup she says the specialness comes from the fact that the joke is written by a comic ldquoThatrsquos why the pride But of course mimicry is very popular and there is merit to thatrdquoBalraj Singh Ghai who runs The Habitat in Khar a venue that regularly hosts comedy artistes recollects the time he first started work in the industry in 2016 Mimicry then was not considered comedy ldquoIt was a completely different art form We have never been able to do a show with a lineup that sees artistes who can do both standup and mimicry Standup comics wonrsquot like it In fact even improv artistes are considered a breed apartrdquo he says of the live theatre in which the plot characters and dialogue are made up in the moment Improv comedians perform without a scriptldquoOver time things are changing Now mimicry involves writing too We see that the jokes are now layered Mimics now take on a character but write a whole set inspired by the person But a standup lineup is unlikely to see a mimicry artiste If it does it will also have a poet mentalist and be ticketed as a variety showrdquo he explainsAt the justwrapped up reality comedy competition Indiarsquos Laughter Champion 2022 mimic Jayvijay Sachan proved this wrong The popular contestant on the show judged by Shekhar Suman and Archana Puran Singh says ldquoSome believe that mimicry is about speaking in voices but I create a story I have punchlines I am making a social comment through my jokes and I still make people laugh For example if I impersonate Pankaj Tripathi actor and tell people to wear a helmet thatrsquos getting across a good message through comedy Itrsquos only in India that mimicry is not appreciated but I think thatrsquos now changingrdquoSumedh Shinde 38 agrees The former dentist has turned into a viral sensation with his mimicry videos of Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan He thinks that unlike standup comedy mimicry offers performing artistes more avenues to express themselves while bringing in the money ldquoYou can do corporate shows dabble in dubbing perform on stage and even act I have dubbed for the Marathi version of Criminal Justice OTT show in Pankaj Tripathirsquos voice In fact the great Robin Williams had said the better you are at mimicry the more characters you can playrdquo says Shinde who has been mimicking for 25 years His only advice ldquoItrsquos no longer about coming on TV If you have talent and social media presence you can make it But itrsquos also about consistency You have to keep updating yourself stay relevant or leaverdquoBhabhda for now has her sights set on the big prizemdashmeeting Alia Bhatt ldquoI want to do a podcast with her Thatrsquos the planrdquo She is also working on putting to rest the ghosts of the past ldquoSometimes I canrsquot believe that I have got here is this me or am I trying to fit in I am still figuring out who I amrdquo