Vir Das Fool Volume review: Shah Rukh Khan-approved comedian struggles against contraints in self-deprecating and self-indulgent Netflix stand-up special

Indian Express

a day ago

Throttled by his government and abandoned by his peers — inanimate objects and abstract ideas get more support than Indian comedians — Vir Das seems to be in conflict with his past. His sixth stand-up special for Netflix, Fool Volume, combines his trademark self-effacing delivery with his signature ambition. Fool Volume was filmed in Mumbai, London, and New York, at venues of different shapes and sizes, in front of crowds with different thresholds of tolerance. But the elaborate production and occasional filmmaking flourish isn't the most impressive thing about the one-hour special. It's the comedian's ability to spin a story, to structure a narrative that serves as yet another reminder of his skill.
There isn't a dull moment in the hour-long set, which Das says was rewritten after he lost his voice, literally, six weeks before he was supposed to perform it. He abandoned the material that Netflix had paid him for, and, either by chance or by design, found himself gravitating towards the style of comedy that he does best. In Fool Volume, Das gazes inward; he glances at the world around him, and then, he gets down to business. The show isn't so much about a comedian finding his voice again as it is about a middle-aged Indian man finding a new voice.
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Unwritten restrictions, in a way, are scarier than laws that have been institutionalised over decades. For instance, no one — including a career criminal — would risk running somebody over on the street in broad daylight because the law forbids it. The same person might think twice about posting something rude about the Prime Minister online despite Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita not expounding a word on it. Das doesn't entirely abandon the political humour that got him in trouble a few months before his last Netflix special, the Emmy-winning Landing, but he certainly seems to be distancing himself from that persona. There is, however, a great bit directed at the Indian middle-class for 'worshipping false heroes and celebrating a lack of intelligence' because it is 'obsessed with consumption and a cult of power.'
But, having built a career on the back of jokes directed at 'uncles', Das doesn't quite realise that he might be turning into one himself. Any time someone begins a sentence with, 'Here's the problem with your generation,' and ends it with, 'I don't want to patronise you,' you know they've gone over the bend. Or, at least, they've started to. Standing in his two shoes, wearing his perfectly tailored suit, his fade cropped to precision, Das makes the unforgivable mistake of invoking his past struggles. He tells a story about when he used to work as a dishwasher at a restaurant. In Chicago. As a Gully Boy once said, 'Jahan humare sapne poore hote hain, wahan inka struggle shuru hota hai.' In fairness, the point of this story, which is expertly told, isn't to remind audiences across three continents about the power of Brown people with a dream (and money). It is to illustrate the power of kindness.
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Midway through the special, Das makes the stylistically inspired choice to turn the house lights off. In darkness, the crowd experiences something that it probably hasn't at a comedy show in a while: freedom. It's like a version of online anonymity, demonstrated with a resolute faith in humanity, not frustration directed at it. Those in power aren't afraid of what comedians say, Das tells the crowds; they're afraid of how the audience reacts. They sent their goons to vandalise venues and threaten artistes not because of what was said, but because of how it was received.
Comedy shows are oddly comforting. For about an hour, you feel as if you've finally found your tribe, people who share similar anxieties and fears. You realise that, deep down, everyone wants the same thing. For about an hour, you feel empowered to laugh about stuff that you probably wouldn't laugh about in regular life. Perhaps you're policing yourself, or perhaps you're simply protecting yourself. It's slightly irrational belief, because the moment you walk out into the real world, the illusion breaks. There's some guy barking at you for standing in their way, or not driving as fast as they think you should. This is the world far removed from the cocoon of the Kedarnath Sahni Auditorium; this is where you can get killed for having grown a moustache that doesn't 'belong' to your culture.
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Fool Volume is a relatively lighthearted special, though. Das does the Bollywood thing of name-dropping Shah Rukh Khan; the 'King' apparently told Das that he's proud of him, although the comedian doesn't specify what for. While you'd assume that it was for speaking truth to power, it could've honestly been for anything else. SRK beaming with pride at Das for having finished the meal that was served to him at Mannat can't entirely be taken off the table, can it? He also takes a pot-shot at Kangana Ranaut, by the way, but she'd probably need to utilise the collective intelligence of every person in her constituency to explain the joke to her.
Fool Volume finds India's most gifted comedian — you cannot compare him to the casually misogynistic Zakir Khan or the casually cruel Samay Raina — throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. It's an artistic representation of the stages of panic he went through when he lost his voice — he tried homeopathy, paid for an expensive therapist; he even tried praying. But he'll never know which strategy really worked. His voice just… came back one day. Fool Volume is Das in the throat-clearing phase of his recovery. He'll find his new voice soon enough. Throat-clearing isn't just a sign of hesitation, you see; it is also warning.
Vir Das: Fool Volume
Director – Vir Das
Rating – 3/5
Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police.
You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at [e-mail]. He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More