It’s April 1, a day dedicated to pranks. Metrolife asked members of Bengaluru’s laughter community who they would like to prank, why, and how.
‘Call out Angelina’s self-righteousness’
Sundeep Rao, standup comedian
Who would I prank?
“I would like to mess with Angelina Jolie because she is often portrayed as this self-righteous person.”
What would the prank be?
“I would put a child up for adoption and when she comes along saying ‘I’m going to save this child from this environment’, I would say, ‘Sorry, the child is mine!”
‘Give Ramya a complex’
Pavan Venugopal, Kannada standup
comedian and YouTuber
Who would I prank?
“I would play a prank on Kannada actress Ramya, to give her a reality check of how things are.”
What would the prank be?
“I would make a model pose as a party representative and create a lot of hype around her, making her look like a big actress. I would tell Ramya that she should surely act with the latter one day and ask her to take a selfie with the ‘other actress’ while she can. If or when Ramya refuses to recognise the model, I would try to provoke her, asking her how she could lack general knowledge and not know who the lady was.”
‘Interview Rakhi Sawant and photograph her bodyguard’
Punya Arora,
standup comedian
Who would I prank?
“Bollywood actor Rakhi Sawant. She is an entertainer and her response to a gag could be quite entertaining.”
What would the prank be?
“I would ask her to pose for an interview, making her hold an egg through it. I would not tell her why she was holding the egg and at the end of the interview, my team and I would just thank her for the time. After this, I would say, ‘We are going to do some photographs now,’ and when she gets ready, I’d respond with ‘Oh not of you, we want some pictures of your bodyguard’. This should definitely provoke a good response.”
‘Call Mallya, sell him another team’
Anup Maiya,Trainer with an IT firm and comedian with ‘Lolbagh’
Who would I prank?
“Vijay Mallya, simply because he pranked the country. And it’s payback time!”
What would the prank be?
“I would pose as Vatal Nagaraj and call him and convince him to buy another IPL team since Royal Challengers Bangalore hasn’t done well in the last few seasons.”
‘Teach world leaders what a nuisance they are’
Shrirupa Sengupta, standup comedian
Who would I prank?
“I want to cause sustained minor inconveniences to three people: Trump, Putin and Kim Jong-un. It is simply because they are a generic nuisance to the world. I would like them to experience small everyday problems.”
What would the prank be?
“I want their cell phone networks to constantly redirect them to my mobile network’s call centre. It is one of the noisiest, most confusing customer care centres: you can neither understand what they are saying nor can they understand what they are saying. I want all their home and office phones to be redirected to an airline customer care centre, which eternally you in a queue.
I want the three world leaders’ most used drawer stuck with super glue and I want every lift they enter to play ‘Choli ke peeche kya hain’, the full song in a loop. I also want all their flights to be directed to the exact opposite geography of where they are going and the airline staff convincing them they are at the right place. Because, well, how much will you gaslight the world?”
‘Get Vicky Kaushal’s attention’
Sneha Suhas, comedian
Who would I prank?
“Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal because he’s irresistible and attention from him wouldn’t hurt me.”
What would the prank be?
“I’d send a die-hard fan message to Vicky, professing my love for him and my desire to marry him. I would say that I have lost my mind after I saw a particular photograph of his. Later I would send him a photograph of Ayushmann Khurrana.”