From earning Rs 11,000 a month to taking inspiration from Kapil Sharma: Bigg Boss 19’s Pranit More gets candid

Pranit More, who impressed fans with his participation in Bigg Boss 19, recently appeared on a podcast with Bharti Singh and Harsh Limbachiyaa. There, he opened up about his life, participation in Bigg Boss 19, and much more. He also shared about his struggling days and how he used to work at a sales job before becoming a comedian. Here’s all you need to know.

Pranit recalled how he bagged Bigg Boss 19 and said, “I was at the gym when I got a call. I get many such calls, but this time it was a girl who said, ‘Sir, would you be interested in a reality show?’ I replied, ‘Come on, this has started early in the morning.’ Then she said it was actually a big show. I gave her my number and spoke to my manager about it. At first, she mentioned Bigg Boss Marathi, but later she said it was the Hindi version. My manager used to watch Bigg Boss regularly. She was a big fan and used to talk about it a lot. So she told me, ‘You should do it. It’s a really good show.’ Honestly, I had never really watched it before. But then I found out that Salman Khan hosts Bigg Boss, and that made it more interesting. So I thought, why not give it a try?”

Recalling how he felt when he realised he would be facing Salman Khan after making jokes on him, he said, “Before entering the show, there are many processes. There are interviews, profiling sessions, discussions about budgets and contracts—lots of things happen. After all that, Varun finally shortlisted me. At that point, it was almost confirmed that I might go on the show. But at that time, I didn’t realize that all the jokes I had ever made in the past would come back and be examined one by one. I had assumed that I was a mastermind and had archived or hidden most of those jokes. But fans had already saved everything. Fan pages had all the old clips and posts. That’s when I realized something—sometimes having fans isn’t always a good thing.”

Pranit shared how hate comments used to affect him previously, but now they don’t. He said, “It started affecting me, so I stopped paying attention to it. Another thing is that people keep writing the same comments again and again. I mean, write something original at least. The same lines keep appearing—‘Didn’t laugh,’ ‘Laughing delivery will arrive in two working days.’ It’s like that all the time. Try something new, at least. Even your comments should make some sense. But honestly, people can be very nasty. Very toxic. Sometimes they can be unbelievably mean.”

He said, “One day, we went on a picnic. Our senior instructor had gathered all the students and friends’ kids in one area and asked everyone to introduce themselves. So one by one, everyone gave their introductions. Then he called someone who was playing the guitar and asked him to perform. After that, the instructor said, ‘Now there’s a boy here who is very funny. He’s going to do stand-up comedy.’ Everyone started clapping. Then he took my name. Out of respect, I stood up. I thought, why not try? So I performed for about four or five minutes. Surprisingly, it went really well, and people enjoyed it. The next year, when we went for the picnic again, the instructor told me, ‘This time you should prepare a proper set, around 10 to 15 minutes.’ So I thought, alright, let’s try it. After that moment, I felt a kind of excitement—a real kick from performing. Later, I began writing regularly and started performing at open mic events.”

Pranit shared, “I was also working a job in sales. I used to work from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and after finishing work I would rush to perform at comedy shows. I did this routine for almost two years. But the sales job didn’t have fixed hours. Sometimes I wouldn’t even know when I’d get free to go home. Eventually, I started thinking about practical things—I needed money to run my household, and stand-up comedy wasn’t paying anything at that time.” He revealed that one of his sales jobs paid Rs 11,000 a month.

The comedian shared the real reason behind staying grounded. He said, “Now people often say things like, ‘You’re so grounded and humble.’ But stand-up comedy is the kind of work that keeps you grounded automatically. You might become a big star, but if you go on stage and see that five people in the audience didn’t laugh, you immediately realize that you couldn’t make them happy. That alone keeps you grounded.”

Pranit revealed how he grew up watching Kapil Sharma and Bharti Singh. He said, “When stand-up comedy had just started becoming popular in India, we used to watch people like Kapil Bhai and you. We would think, ‘What amazing timing! What confidence!’ You deliver jokes so effortlessly, and sometimes you even make fun of yourself. But when you praise others now, it feels really nice to hear that.”