Kartik Aaryan On What It Took To Nail That Viral Pyaar Ka Punchnama

Think of Luv Ranjan’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) and the scene that comes to mind first is Rajat’s (Kartik Aaryan’s) five-minute-long monologue. Annoyed by his girlfriend’s behaviour, his rant goes on to eviscerate everything from the pug in the Vodafone commercial to Batman to the fantasy endings of Bollywood movies. The clip is extremely sexist, reducing women to a slew of stereotypes regarding their shopping, texting and even eating habits. Despite this however, Aaryan’s comic timing ensured it went viral, with 6.2 million views on YouTube currently. He spoke about how performing the monologue at his audition landed him the part:

Kartik Aaryan: We had this audition thing that went on for six months. I was being called every two weeks. Kabhi yeh scene karwa rahe hai, kabhi woh scene karwa rahe hai. Finally chhe mahine baad, mereko woh monologue jo monologue hai Punchnama 1 ka, woh scene diya gaya. They asked me to perform it the next day. “If you perform it well, then you are a part of Punchnama.” I performed the monologue…

Anupama Chopra: And they told you right then?

KA: Right then. They actually clapped. They never expected someone to actually do a monologue. It was one of a kind. Pehli baar aisa scene ho raha tha and they never expected it coming from me.

AC: How long was the scene?

KA: It was a five-and-a-half-pages-long scene and main phir se bolna chahta hoon that it was a one shot thing. It’s always been.

AC: For those who haven’t noticed it.

KA: Ek saans mein nahi bola tha, lekin one shot pe bola tha. Kyunki sabko lagta hai breathless hai. Punchnama 1 and Punchnama 2, dono baar woh one shot rahe. Punchnama 2, in fact, was a thirteen-page scene, thirteen minutes ka scene tha. Film mein seven minutes ka lagaya tha. Lekin jab performance ki thi, it was for thirteen pages, non stop.

AC: So you did the monologue for the first film and right there they clap and they told you you’re part of it?

KA: Yeah, you’re part of it.

AC: And then what did you do? You went home and called your parents?

KA: I called my parents from the station itself, Andheri station. I was crying actually because that was a big big moment for me. Film mil rahi thi mereko, bohot time baad.