Sumona Chakravarti on her onscreen camaraderie with Kapil Sharma: He had specially requested to cast me in Comedy Nights as the chemistry was a hit

It has been a decade since Sumona Chakravarti has been entertaining her fans with her interesting characters Bhoori and Bindu in The Kapil Sharma Show, with each passing season of the comedy show fans have showered love to the actress. But this miss-match duo Kapil and Sumona's tale began from another show and not Kapil's comedy nights. Here's how they became a hit formula in comedy.

It has been a decade, it became 10 years this June. It is very weird when it comes to the journey. In the middle of Bade Achhe Lagte Hain, I was approached for the comedy show called Comedy Circus, their concept was 7-8 stand-up comedians who would partner with a non-comedian celeb. When I got a call, I started laughing. I told them, 'Do you know what I do? I am doing BALH and it's a grey character. I have never done comedy.' They said, 'Why don't you come to have a meeting?' I went to the meeting and my mother encouraged me to do the show.

When I came home, I shared with her that there is some Kapil Sharma with whom I have to partner in the show. My mom looked up to Kapil and she was like, 'Are you mad, he has been winning the show for the past 4 seasons.' I was like, 'Is he funny?', she was like, 'What's wrong with you?' I gave it a shot and I did the whole season with him. Even though it was a very unconventional-looking pair it worked wonderfully well for us.

Kapil and my stint in Comedy Circus was his second last season with the show. In every season Kapil's partners would leave or something would happen. I was the only one who partnered with Kapil for a whole season and that worked the best for us. Then he quit and decided to do his own show Comedy Nights with Kapil.

I remember, my manager told me that there was someone who had auditioned for the show but Kapil specially requested for me to bring the unconventional pairing and our chemistry worked. So that is how we began with Comedy Circus and it has been a decade together.

I will give credit to Kapil, this is one of his biggest qualities as a co-actor he is so confident about his craft and talent. He is not insecure so he would let you perform and if you struggle then he would step in and save the ship. There were times when he would forget his lines and go for an impromptu joke. I wasn't a comedian so I didn't know how to deal with it. During comedy circus there were no prompters, we would learn our script and perform. We used to get the script then and there, but he used to often go off-script and eventually, I took it upon myself.

The initial days were a little challenging because I remember they made fun of my mouth. They tried it in the very first episode to crack a joke in my mouth, and it didn’t work. It fell flat, and not one soul laughed. Then they dropped it, and eventually, in the other shows, it sort of worked. And I remember I felt really bad.

I remember Archana sat with me and said ‘Why are you upset?’ I said ‘They’ve made fun of my mouth and my lips and everything, and then I didn’t forget the lines he forgot and he said something off-script. I’m not a stand-up comedian; I can’t just come up with funny jokes like that. I mean, if I crack a joke, nobody will understand it. If you can laugh at yourself, you will never feel humiliated. Secondly, about the lip or the mouth part, you have something that women I know pay money to get.

Shruti Seth encouraged me to wear red lipstick as I had gotten very conscious about it after the show. She told me that 'You have the mouth to wear it, please wear it.' I was very naive to realise that I did have those Angelina Jolie lips to flaunt.

The only guest ever in 10 years who has always appreciated was Riteish Deshmukh and he said, 'You know what Sumona without you he doesn't become the great comedian that he is. It is Laurel and Hardy, yes I agree you feel like a punching bag but can you imagine if you are not there and you don't give him the reaction that he needs it will fall flat." He has always appreciated me. I reminded him about these words that he said.

People say that I am such a strong-headed person but still let Kapil make fun of my mouth. Why am I a part of such a misogynistic show? You have to understand, Kapil is not insulting Sumona. It is a husband-wife banter on stage and we have to have new content every day. He is not insulting Sumona, at the backstage he would be complimenting my look.