‘Farhan Akhtar earned Rs 45 lakh for saying jokes I wrote for Rs 45,000': Varun Grover recalls moment of clarity that made him quit TV

Indian Express

10-06-2025

After contributing to quite a few films as a lyricist, Varun Grover made his debut as a screenwriter with Neeraj Ghaywan's Masaan (2015). Although the movie opened to widespread acclaim, it took Varun a few more years to establish himself further. During this time, he emerged as one of India's most popular stand-up comics. With his recent outings such as Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, All India Rank (which also marked his directorial debut) and Superboys of Malegaon earning positive responses, he has managed to establish himself as a bankable film writer who prioritises substance over glitz, a quality fast vanishing from Bollywood.
During his initial days, he also served as a writer on several hit shows like The Great Indian Comedy Show and Ranvir Vinay Aur Kaun. Recently, Varun Grover opened up about his experience working as a writer on the Farhan Akhtar-hosted talk show 'Oye! It's Friday!' Maintaining that the actor earned 100 times more than he did using the material he created, and that, too, without any value addition, Varun shared that he decided not to write stand-up material for movie stars anymore after that.
'After Ranvir Vinay Aur Kaun, I joined Farhan saab's Oye! It's Friday! It was during my time there that I realised that there was not much value addition happening from the side of the performer to the material I was writing for them. That was also the first time I got to know how much actors make doing such shows. Even though I had an idea prior to that as well, I did not assume the gap to be so big. But once I learnt about it – maybe it's false information and somebody told me this only to provoke me; I can't say for sure – I realised the gap was huge. He was being paid Rs 45 lakh for each episode, while I was earning just Rs 45,000,' he shared during a chat with The Lallantop.
He further mentioned that even the set on which the talk show was shot was so extravagant that some of the props cost as much as his remuneration per episode. Varun noted, 'It was my material, and he was just delivering the lines. (Although he's getting paid 100 times more) There wasn't 100 times the value added. The show was shot in Yash Raj Studio. It was a really good, expensive set. Had I stolen one of those twinkling balls hanging there each day, my daily Rs 45,000 would've been sorted. That was the first time I saw such a dazzling set. By then, I had also lost interest in writing stand-up for television, particularly since censorship had also started.'