When a satirist gets his point across with a smile

 

Last photo: Anil Abraham with his family

The Bengaluru-based dermatologist Anil Abraham has made his name as a stand-up comedian. His Instagram reels have gone viral

By Shevlin Sebastian

Dermatologist Anil Abraham started doing comic reels on Instagram during the Covid pandemic. But it was the ‘Flight to Jamnagar’ that went viral, with over 10 lakh views. It was Anil’s take on the pre-wedding celebrations of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son, Anant, on March 1-3. It pushed Anil into the spotlight.

In that reel, Anil has long hair framing his face, a scarf around his neck, and a black coat. In a feminine voice, he says, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome aboard the Dindigo Airlines flight to Jamnagar. Yes, it is an international airport now for ten days or however long it takes rich people to party. The crew on this flight speak Gujarati and garishness, Punjabi and privileged English and entitlement.

“We have only VIPs on this flight. Mark Zuckerberg, ladies and gentlemen. Bill Gates, no Sir, you cannot open any windows. No doors either. That is only allowed for Indian politicians. You Sir, who are you? Oh, you are the rat miner who rescued people from a tunnel. You have been a hero for one day. Go back and sit in economy.”

Anil modelled the air hostess on a well-known personality on YouTube called Pushpalata Gaitonde.

Anil realised the reach of his reels when a pilot walked into his clinic. When Anil asked which airline he flew with, the man smiled and said, “Dindigo!” The patient confessed that Indigo pilots and cabin crew often played the flight attendant reels. They always had a good laugh.

Another reel which went viral was Simple Sudha. Anil pokes gentle fun at writer Sudha Murthy who kept saying she was a simple person.

“The city I live in is not Bangalore, but simplicity,” said Anil. “Two simple spoons I carry everywhere. One veg and another is a non-veg spoon... I made my husband what he is today and my daughter, she made her husband the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I do humble bragging.”

Anil also has a character called Coconut Oil Kesavan. He suggests coconut oil solves all problems. But the main character is a middle-aged Kannadiga called Kuppu, whose wife is Kamala, a bossy woman. Kuppu has a platonic affair with his neighbour, Pakkad Mane Parvathy.

“My inspiration for Kuppu has come from [legendary cartoonist] RK Laxman’s ‘Common Man’,” said Anil.

Asked to describe his reels, Anil said, “It is satire cloaked in humour. If I want to say something unpalatable or politically incorrect, I use humour and give it a domestic reference. Those who enjoy slapstick will enjoy it. They like funny expressions and costumes. Others can read between the lines.”

Anil said that he gets inspiration from reading the newspaper every morning. “The front page of a newspaper will provide enough material for at least five reels,” he said. “What I mean is that real life provides enough opportunities for humour.”

A few people had asked the comedian, “Why haven’t you been trolled?” Anil believes that so far, they have not understood the underlying meaning of the reels. Hence, they have left him alone.

“Thank God for that,” he said.

Surprisingly, Anil does not have a script before he speaks. He has an idea of what he is going to talk about. “For me, it doesn’t work if I write it down,” he said. “I prefer to do it spontaneously. And I do it in one take only.”

Regarding his make-up and costume changes, Anil smiled and said, “It is an Instagram Filter and takes all of five seconds.”

Asked whether his profession is reflected in his wit, Anil said, “I attend a lot of medical conferences. So I will speak about that. Then I talk about my practice, student days, becoming a doctor and violence that is meted out on us.”

Anil worked at St. John’s College in Bangalore for 30 years before branching out on his own.

Patients also offer him a lot of material. He said that a lot of times the problem is minor but for the patient, it is the most important issue in the world.

Once a lady came in and said, “Doctor, you don’t know how much hair I am losing. I lose hair every day. There is hair in my comb, in the bathroom basin and my husband’s butter chicken. Hair everywhere, except on my head.”

Anil said that they don’t realise they are being amusing, and he is storing those sentences for future use.

Anil, who has thick black hair, is a Malayali who grew up in Bangalore. He is married to Veena, a non-Malayali dermatologist. And they have their clinic in Bangalore. They have two college-going sons, Aaditya, and Anirudh.

(An edited version was published in The Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)