I was a little skeptical when I was called upon as a critic for a Tanglish Comedy Kala Gala 5.0. That space is something which I haven’t explored before. But I am grateful for the opportunity. I have been to their shows before this time I wasn’t there just for the laughs. The show had 6 acts which varied in tone, structure and approach.
The show began with Annamalai whose set had one primary objective – To warm up the audience for the acts that were to follow and he was spot on in that aspect. The jokes were very toned down but very well phased out to keep the audience in splits consistently.
The next two acts were Abishek Kumar and Syama Harini. I half expected Abishiek to start off with a comedy about his name. But he took a pleasant detour to comment on Depression. To present it in a comical way without offending anyone in the audience takes a lot of effort. And there’s this unusual chirpiness about Abishek which resonated very well with the audience.
Syama’s set was very precise and to the point. She focused on periods which is again a topic which we rarely speak about. It’s supposed to be a taboo. There was a lot to ponder for the audience in between the laughs. To me, these two sets were the high points of the entire show. It is important to have some space for comedy which is socially relevant.
Krithin was the next on stage – The guest spot. His set felt dry humor but a little too dry for my liking. But then that’s me. It seemed a little too abrupt too. A bit of work and the same set would be top-notch.
Marasamy started off very well by taking a dig at his grandfather. But after a point it became repetitive. A little too stretched beyond the time frame required for grandfather jokes. Maybe he could have tried to fill in with something else just to add some variety and avoid repetition.
Jagan is what you would call a glorious finale. He’s got that amazing ability to keep the audience hooked for the entire time frame. Every joke landed. Every musical note was a laugh riot and more importantly his set was something which everybody could relate to. It was a perfect end to a fabulous evening.
Despite the minor hiccups I loved how the acts were spaced out. Kudos to the entire for a brilliant effort.