When I first clicked on Hasmukh, I thought that it was a Vir Das stand up special. I love Vir Das’s comedy (check out his POTcast on Youtube for comedy gold). In fact, the only thing he’s done that I haven’t liked is his Netflix Stand Up Special. So I clicked without even reading what the show was about. I thought it was time for him to redeem himself. 

The opening did not lead me to believe that the show was anything else. It’s only when I saw his unlikely character clothing and the mic burning did I realise that this is a new show.

Hasmukh starts out as the story of a small town man who is a doormat. He dreams of becoming a comedian, but has a stutter. In order to grow in his profession and learn how to become a better comic, he works for a famous local comedian named Gulati. In his fantasy, he tells a joke about a woman asking her husband about her clothes, when he notices the mic burning. Bad in reality, he has burnt his shirt as his dreams carried him away. 

The manager of Gulati who is the guy trying to make everything run smoothly. He asks Hasmukh to stop daydreaming and burning clothes. The boss will get drunk if they aren’t keeping a close eye on him. Ranveer Shorey plays out his part beautifully. Just then commotion is heard downstairs. 

Gulati is fighting with the caterer at the wedding he is about to perform at. Why?, asks his manager. Because “Pakodey Thande The”. His pakodas are the magic pill he needs to get on stage and perform. Gulati is a selfish, egotistical man. And because he’s not getting his pakodas he is telling the caterer that his child is not his, screaming at everyone and creating a ruckus. 

His manager tells Gulati that he will deal with the situation and takes him upstairs to get ready. He asks Hasmukh to watch Gulati’s drinking and make sure his clothes are done, while he goes to deal with the caterer. 

Hasmukh goes to Gulati and asks him when he will get a chance to perform on stage. Gulati asks him to recite a joke to show him what he’s got. Hasmukh starts with the same husband-wife joke except he is nervous and stuttering badly. Gulati laughs at him and tells him that he will never get a chance to be on stage with that stutter. Interestingly, despite shitting all over his jokes, he doesn’t throw them away. Instead fold them carefully and puts them in his pocket. It seems to me that he plans to pass them off as his own. 

Vir Das brilliant portrays a man who’s dreams are shattering. Gulati has taken money from Hasmukh promising to fulfil his dream. Hasmukh asks for the money back and Gulati, knowing that it’s stolen money, tells him that he will never see the money and cannot go to the cops. Hasmukh stands there like a child, bitter that a promise could be broken so uncaringly. He is adamant about going on stage, at which point Gulati loses patience and tries to physically overpower him. At this point they get into an altercation which ends with Hasmukh killing Gulati in cold blood. 

Almost in a daze, he walks in on stage. His nervousness continues. The ghost of Gulati appears to him and just like that something changes. Hasmukh has no guilt for killing a bad man - a man who fought with a caterer, stole his money, laughed at his dreams - instead he starts speaking with a confidence he didn’t have before. It is an inspector’s sisters wedding, so the stakes are high. He delivers lines effortlessly and is able to entertain the audience so much that when he’s done, no one misses Gulati. While he’s speaking the manager realises what he’s done and discovers the dead body. He ends with routine with the same joke about husband and wife. Except this time, it makes everyone laugh loudly. As he finishes, the inspector hugs him and shoots bullets in the air with jubilation.

The next day, the guilt of what he’s done wakes him up. Hasmukh cannot believe that he murdered someone. At home we see that he lives with a physically abusive chacha, a chachi who sexually harasses him and their fat kid. Chacha tells him to come to the factory in time. 

At the police station, the inspector is investigating the murder of Gulati. He believes that the caterer from the wedding is responsible because of the humiliation he has faced. He asks the manager to sign a witness form accusing the caterer. The manager knows that the murderer is Hasmukh. He tries to get out of signing but the inspector forces him to sign.

They visit the factory together. Hasmukh believes that he is going to jail when he sees them together at his workplace. However, the manager comes to him and shows him the bottle with which he smashed Gulati’s head. Together they burn the bottle in the large factory ovens destroying the only evidence tying Hasmukh to the crime. The manager then informs him that they are officially in business - he is inspired by Hasmukh’s comedy routine and the inspector is there to personally thank him for doing a great job at his sister’s wedding. And what’s more…they get paid Rs 1000 for it!

Manager quickly lines up a lot of gigs for Hasmukh. And he begins bombing at every single event. Hasmukh is booed and tomatoes are thrown at him. Manager and Hasmukh are driving to a show and they’re trying to figure out what made him good that first night. Manager is asking Hasmukh what gives him the right “feeling”. For Gulati it was the pakode. The phone rings to inform that the this gig has very high stakes and if they don’t perform well, they will be beaten up by bodyguards. The hall is packed and all the laborers including Hasmukh’s abusive uncle are in the audience. The event organiser walks in and once again repeats that they better not screw up. This is make or break!

Manager has an idea that it is the murder of Gulati that triggered his confidence. Taking a life installs power and it is this power that shows up on stage. So he calls a butcher to come with animals. Hasmukh kills a hen. He repeats the husband-wife joke and the butcher has no reaction. That failed!

Then he kills a goat. But that fails too. This is played to perfect comic timing by Vir Das. It is a moment of dark and very witty humor.  

He is explaining to manager that killing animals is not the same as killing a human being when you feel like your life is on the line. Just then his chacha enters and starts mocking him about being a failed comedian. This triggers the anger and resentment Hasmukh feels when Gulati mocks him and he knows what he has to do. 

In the next moment, he comes down and sees the ghost of Gulati once again. This instills the same confidence - calm, cool, confident and starts speaking to his audience. They laugh and love his standup. He then talks about the abuse he has suffered at the hands of his chacha. His chacha used to get drunk and beat him up relentlessly. As he talks they show how he brutally strangled this man just minutes ago. Maybe he’s trying to justify to himself what he’s just done. It is a strange moment because your heart really goes out to poor, bumbling Hasmukh. Except the man standing in front of us is a cold, hard killer. He finishes this standup with the same husband-wife joke. And it lands very well with the audience. 

This paradox is interesting. We feel for Hasmukh because Gulati was a bad man who stole his money and jokes and mocked him for years. He also abused a caterer who derailed his inspiration (read: hot pakodas), a ploy obviously used to paint him as a selfish egotistical man. But does that not mean that Hasmukh is at a worse level of morality? He is actually killing people (and those poor animals) in order to get his own inspiration. 

The episode ends with the obvious. Manager and Hasmukh take chacha’s body back to the factory and burn him in the same oven where they destroyed evidence. What is going to happen next? They can’t keep hiding murders and burning bodies. 

Episode rating: 3.5/5