Meet Mumbai comedian Nitesh Shetty, a ‘knowledgeable person of railway’ and more

Nitesh Shetty who grew up in the quiet suburb of Chembur has found a new audience at the age of 34 Why Because he makes content every trueblue Mumbaikar can relate toldquoUntil 2024 Irsquod acted in two television shows and was doing corporate stand up gigs When I began to make reels last year I got a good response so I kept at itrdquo he says His handle nitesh_shetty99 is the epitome of good old clean comedy ldquoI wanted to keep it reel simple nothing too fancy mdash just everyday things that we see growing up in this countryrdquo he adds Shetty grew up in the city and says that it has inspired him to add to his routines ldquoGrowing up in Mumbai is a unique experience and there is no lack of inspirationrdquo he says ldquoWhich why from the getgo I had decided that there will be no overthetop production for the reels mdash just Mumbai in its full gloryrdquo he addsOne of his character is a ldquoknowledgeable person of railwaysrdquo who knows everything about longdistance trains In one he is seen telling his fellow passengers to not rush to get into the train since the train is refilling the drinking water supply ldquoDonrsquot rush the train will be here for 20 minutes all trains on this route fill up on water hererdquo There is another where he tells his copassenger ldquoYou get better wada at Chiplun stationrdquo When we ask Shetty about his love for the railways he laughs ldquoI get a lot of people DMing me and asking me if their tickets will get confirmed and that their waitlist number is this or that Often I donrsquot know what to say to them but I love that Indians still have a little bit of innocence in them I canrsquot help them but I donrsquot mind reallyrdquo he laughs Another favourite character Shetty plays is the Modern Day Parent mdash here he plays a helicopter parent between doing something with his son Jian he tells his friend Kamlakar how unique his child is In one such hilarious skit he is explaining to Jian that there ldquoYes Jian madhya centra rail and pashchim western rail meet at Dadar stationrdquo then he turns to his friend Kamlakar who is never on camera and says ldquoYou know Kamlakar Jian is so excited for his local train journeyrdquoThe background that Shetty utilises reminds us of a typical middleclass housing society ldquoMy childhood friend Pushkar Hebli and I record these skits in his housing society in Dombivli which makes it more relatablerdquo he says From that aesthetic he derives content such as lsquoNew family in societyrsquo lsquoHumble businessman in societyrsquo or lsquoFree uncle in societyrsquo The comments range from ldquoSociety jaam famous zhaali ahersquo this society is getting famousrdquo to lsquoAise hi videos bhejte hai uncle log jiske paas duniya bhar ka free time hairsquo These are actually the type of videos that a lot of free uncles in society often sendrdquoBut one of the skits that is closest to his heart is that of the jobless Mumbaikar aka the ldquoBerozgar in Mumbairdquo The one we liked was when a jobless man goes to the Taj Mahal Hotel to use the facilities Or the one where he pockets R20 that he was given to buy grains to feed pigeons mdash this was at the height of the feeding ban by BMC and a clever way to say something without commenting about the issue ldquoI didnrsquot want to make fun of those who were berozgar In the end he goes to Amitabh Bachchanrsquos house on a Sunday Bachchan comes there and he reactsrdquo he saysA believer in not punching down in his comedy he adds ldquoWhen you crack a joke it should be one where no one feels bad There should be a balance between being funny and selfreflectiverdquo he adds He was also sure he wanted to make familyfriendly content ldquoI want to make reels that people can watch with family at their side It can give them something to laugh about togetherrdquo he says Shetty who usually uploads reels by 930 am often gets messages asking if everything is all right when he is late in uploading ldquoItrsquos almost like a friend is waiting for yourdquo he chuckles