Amit Tandon is midway through the release schedule for his new six-part comedy special Masala Sandwich. Known for his observational humour, the New Delhi comedian has adopted a story-telling approach for this one, sharing some deeply personal anecdotes from his life. In fact, Tandon says Masala Sandwich—which premiered on YouTube on 4 August—is the work that’s closest to his heart. He even invited Indian comedy legend Johnny Lever, a childhood hero and inspiration, to a special screening of the show. “For me, Johnny Lever is the best comedian that we’ve ever had in India,” says Tandon. “So, this time when I was releasing my special for me the journey was coming to completion, and he was the best man that I could think of… This was the first time I shamelessly followed up to figure out if in some way he could appear. I’ve never done this for anybody in my life, but he came in and it made it very special for me. I’ve met all kinds of Bollywood actors and I was never nervous. But standing in front of him made me nervous.”
The special focuses on some of the more difficult situations that Tandon has experienced, with a darker edge that one wouldn’t expect from a comedian better known for his affable, family-oriented fare. Tandon highlights two bits from Masala Sandwich that help explain why he’s so emotionally invested in this one. The first is about lending money to a friend (Udhaar, the first installment to drop), and the other is about the lengths a father can go to in order to teach his daughter the harsh truths of life.
“It was a very painful phase for me, because one, I had lost the money and second because I lost a friend who[m] I had known for 25 years,” says Tandon about Udhaar. “It’s a very painful story, but we managed to pull it off very well in the special and I found that it was very relatable for people.”
Part two of Masala Sandwich—titled BTS And Shawn Mendes—sees him dig deeper into his relationship with his daughter. After the inevitable generation gap jokes, Tandon arrives at an even tougher juncture; acknowledging the murky ways his mind can work when his paternal instincts kick in. “I’m talking about watching a series with my daughter and the girl in that series is going to a party and I talk about how according to me the script is that a guy will take advantage of her and I’m kind of hoping that happens so that I can tell my wife and daughter that this is what happens. It’s a very dark story,” he says.
The raw intimacy of some of these stories—as well as the experiment with a new release format and a new platform—mean that Tandon was uncharacteristically nervous about a show that he’s already toured with across multiple countries, with over 200 dates over two and a half years. “I didn’t know it would be so stressful releasing a special but Abijit Ganguly put it very well, ‘shaadi karwaanein vaali baat hai.’” says Tandon, who has been keeping a close eye on the view count and YouTube’s trending charts. “You keep on checking all the time [to see] how the response is.”
So far, Tandon is happy with how things are going. This might be in part due to his release strategy: cutting up the special into multiple, serially-released clips on YouTube. We’ve seen a number of comedians adopt this tactic in the recent past, including Abhishek Upmanyu, Prashasti Singh and Aakash Mehta. Tandon—whose earlier special came out on Netflix—believes that both approaches have their pros and cons.
“When Kapil Sharma released his special [I Am Not Done Yet], which was a Hindi standup special, the only other special in Hindi was my special,” says Tandon. “So, a lot of people were recommended my special on Netflix after they watched Kapil Sharma. That’s the advantage with a platform. [But YouTube is] like long-term real estate that you’re building on, which you can monetise. When somebody comes on my channel and watches one video, there are 35 more standup videos that I have. So, they discover more of me through that.”
The comedian isn’t waiting on the YouTube ad revenue to start piling up though. He’s already back in action with new observational comedy show Hamare Zamane Mein, into which he hopes to channel all his nostalgia for the good ol’ days. He’s also got a 20-city tour in the pipeline and is looking to hit bigger venues this time around. He’s performing at Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai and Siri Fort in Delhi, amongst others. There are also five other projects—including movies, series and a reality show—that he’s developing with OTT platforms. But shhh, that part’s top secret. “One is already commissioned for development and the others are still in the pitching stages. There are no deadlines, you never know!”
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