Vir Das: Fool proof

India Today

3 days ago

(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated August 4, 2025)Being a Gemini might explain why Vir Das is involved in multiple projects at the same time. Since he was last seen on screen in the Ananya Panday-led series, Call Me Bae (2024), the comedian and actor has co-directed a film for Aamir Khan Productions, written a memoir and recorded a new stand-up special for Netflix called Fool Volume. All of this while also performing stand-up around the world. 'I have really worked hard for the last two years. They were creation years and the next two years are release years,' says the 46-year-old.advertisementFool Volume, shot across a sold-out stadium in Mumbai, a church in London and New York's iconic Comedy Cellar, is an hour-long special and possibly his most experimental yet. 'If you compare it to Landing [his last special, for which Das won the International Emmy], you'll find it's less performative. There is no set and I am surrounded by the audience, who are lit while I am not. I am just completely myself on stage,' he explains.A large part of Fool Volume is about Das losing his voice six weeks before recording it. 'At that point, I had already written and fine-tuned the show around a completely different theme. Being forced to be silent made me rethink, and I found myself rewriting the show. It eventually became about silence.' He was also doing everything he could to get his voice back. The NYC section of the special chronicles the efforts—a pooja to remove nazar (evil eye), consulting India's vocal doctors and Grammy-winning singer Adele's speech therapist, homeopathy, chakra healing and Myofascial Energy Release. 'I don't know what got my voice back; maybe all six things worked.'
Now that the special has dropped, next up for Das is the launch of his memoir The Outsider later this year. 'It's not so much about what I have achieved, but more about how I've stumbled, and all the stupid things I've said.' And then there is Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, a film that Das has co-written and co-directed along with long-time friend and collaborator Kavi Shashtri. 'I fell in love with directing the way I fell for stand-up. It's the single most exhausting thing I've ever done in my life, and I loved every minute of it,' says Das, who is also the protagonist.It's been a little over two decades since Das moved to Mumbai and kickstarted a career in comedy, music (he had a band called Alien Chutney) and movies. Though he still thinks of himself as an outsider, he believes he has now found his tribe.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends