Sumukhi Suresh

Sumukhi Suresh
Sumukhi Suresh
Born (1987-10-18) 18 October 1987
Nationality Indian
Years active 2013–present
Genres Satirical, Deadpan

Sumukhi Suresh (born 18 October 1987) is an actor, stand-up comedian, writer and director from India.[1] She is popular for writing and acting in comedy sketches, creating viral videos on YouTube, starring in a movie and creating a web series for Amazon Prime India.[2] In an article, the media portal, Hindustan Times, has called Sumukhi Suresh "India's Tina Fey".[3]

Early life

Sumukhi was raised in Nagpur. She finished her graduation from M.O.P Vaishnav College for Women, Chennai. Sumukhi moved to Bengaluru in 2009 and started working at Hippocampus, a Children's Library. She then worked as a Chef and then eventually at a food laboratory.

In 2013, Sumukhi joined The Improv,[4] which was an improvisational comedy show in Bengaluru, while working at the Laboratory. Along with the rest of the Improv team, Sumukhi performed in 100 shows in Bengaluru, Dubai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Sweden.[5] In 2015, she quit her full-time job to start a career in comedy.[6][7]

Career

Sumukhi's first video was Anu Aunty- Engineering Anthem with Varun Agrawal. She then did the Maid Sketch with Sanjay Manaktala as the boisterous Parvati Bai. Sumukhi rose to fame after portraying the character of 'Sumukhi Chawla', an NGO employee, in India's first mokumentary style YouTube series—Better Life Foundation.[8][9] Sumukhi has performed comedy shows with Naveen Richard, the writer of the show Better Life Foundation.[10] She also gained popularity for her property "Disgust Me" a by invite, women-only stand-up comedy show.[11]

After getting appreciation for her role in Better Life Foundation, Sumukhi launched a video series called Behti Naak on her own YouTube channel. In the video series, she plays Behti Naak - a 10-year-old girl with deadpan style of humour.The videos became viral.[12]

Sumukhi was approached by Amazon Prime, India to make a web series. Pushpavalli, created by Sumukhi Suresh, was released on December 15 on Amazon Prime in India and received positive reviews.[13][8] The show is directed by Debbie Rao and stars Naveen Richard, Manish Anand, Preetika Chawla and Shraddha.

Sumukhi has acted in Humble Politician Nograj a political satire Kannada film in 2018. She plays the role of Lavanya, wife of the Nograj (Danish Sait).[14]

Stand on feminism

In India, where stand-up comedy shows are generally dominated by men,[15] Sumukhi is known as one of the very few successful female stand-up comedians.[2][16]

However, Sumukhi has spoken against the tag. In an interview with Verve magazine, she was quoted as saying,

Comedy, like any other industry, comes with a set of challenges that you have to face, regardless of your gender. Creating regular content, writing as much as possible and drawing a crowd for your shows are some of the many points on your checklist. Then why was it that when I achieved even one of them, I was lauded for being able to do so "as a woman" and also congratulated for being the first woman to have done that? While initially you enjoy the attention, soon enough you should want to be the best at what you do and not be limited by your gender. Thus I gave myself the goal of becoming the best comic rather than best ovary-producing laughter generator. The only way for me to break gender bias and related discrimination is by being so good at my work that I am unavoidable.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "There are more of us now: Sumukhi Suresh on female comedians". New Indian Express. 27 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Sumukhi Suresh on battling stereotypes the 'Pusphaavalli' way". The Hindu. 20 December 2017.
  3. ↑ "Meet India's Tina Fey: Comedian Sumukhi Suresh". Hindustan Times. 22 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Giggle with these gals". The Economic Times. 6 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Bengaluru improv in Sweden". The Hindu. 2016-03-16. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  6. ↑ "Meet the rising stars of the Indian comedy scene". The Economic Times. 6 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Humble Politician Nograj will make you think whether you have voted the right people into power". The Times of India. 11 August 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Sumukhi Suresh on her web series Pushpavalli, and playing characters that are flawed yet real". Firstpost. 16 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "6 female comedy stars you need to know, by Sumukhi Suresh". Elle. 31 March 2017.
  10. ↑ "LOL with the sketch duo". New Indian Express. 3 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Queens of Comedy review: TLC's new show is a milestone in comedy of, by and for women". Scroll.in. 30 September 2017.
  12. ↑ "This Comedian's Sketch of an Average 10-Year-Old Indian Is Hilarious And Hard Hitting". Huffington Post. 16 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "Sumukhi Suresh's Pushpavalli is an admirable attempt at inverting a tired tale". The Hindu. 23 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "How a prank landed Sumukhi Suresh a role in Humble Politician Nograj". The Times of India. 14 December 2017.
  15. ↑ "India's Trailblazers: The female stand-up comic". BBC News. 30 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "4 unapologetically wonderful women the Indian internet has given you". India Today. 8 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "Battling Gender Stereotypes Is No Laughing Matter For Sumukhi Suresh". Verve. 21 April 2017.
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