'I wish the world had more David Brents'

Anuvab Pal picks his comedy favourites

Waiting For Guffman

I'm a huge fan of Christopher Guest, mainly because I love the mockumentary genre.

My first screenplay was titled Loins Of Punjab Presents. And it was an about six Indians taking part in their version of American Idol, set amongst the Indian community in New Jersey, and the treachery and corruption that ensues. It went onto become quite a cult hit in India and elsewhere but the idea of a deluded dream that matters to a single character and no one else, that screenwriting trope, I stole from Guest's work.

I went to college in a small midwestern town in the US to study theatre and Waiting For Guffman captures that world perfectly, almost painfully accurately.

My favourite line in the movie is when the small-town community theatre director days: 'You can't know the idea of a fire without a real fire, so during a production of Oklahoma, I had stage hand light newspapers so the audience could smell smoke.'

And the next scene, they just to a newspaper headline that says, 'Smoke engulfs local theatre. Audiences flee'. Also, when the city council gives him zero when he asks for a million dollars to stage a musical, he responds with, 'What can I do with zero?'. A line I have often used in my personal business dealings.

The Office

The greatest update to existential crisis since Sartre.

I had a day job for a long time, selling financial data, and really wished, and still do, the world had more David Brents. The only way to make work life interesting is to think of oneself as an entertainer. Many CEOs, unaware of the show, will tell you that.

One boss invited the entire office to a 'rain themed' dance party. When people arrived, the rain machine wasn't working so he just drenched everyone with a hosepipe saying, 'Enjoy dammit! This is an offsite!'

I've seen so many Brentian things in my previous life, I've lost count. I still don't know where he got a hosepipe at an offsite. The show is so popular that we can say Brentian as an adjective, and people know what you mean.

Parks and Recreation

This was a great lesson in how to write an optimistic character when everyone around them thinks their job is rubbish. Sort of like an Office 2.0.

Also for mainly for Ron Swanson, the boss. And his peculiar habits. Specifically, his love for a kind of steak. Aziz Ansari plays a character called Tom Haverford in that show and he's always about to launch an aftershave called Tommy Fresh, which should be a real thing.

The Royal Tenenbaums

Perhaps the best movie I've ever seen about family dynamics. Plus it has an Indian butler called Pagoda. I have no idea why it reminded me of my family, even though I have no siblings.

It is loosely based I think on JD Salinger's Franny and Zoe about a family of eccentric geniuses who were spent by 21 (in itself a great idea). And a family reunion from hell, not to mention a lying conman father who reunites them with the false claim that he's dying.

Disco Dancer

This is an Indian Bollywood movie from the 1982. it is also what my Edinburgh show is about.

In India, the movie is seen as a serious rags-to-riches story. The Wikipedia entry for the movie says, 'A story about a poor boy who disco dances his way out of poverty and into genius, destroying villains along the way, and overcoming guitar phobia'.

To me, it is the greatest comedy ever made. Something the director of the movie disagrees with me about. And has tried to imprison me ever since for saying it. It is the most watched movie in Russia.