Pretentious Movie Reviews will be back sooner than you think, says comedian Kanan Gill

The task at hand was nearly impossible. Our target, Kanan Gill, one half of the duo behind Pretentious Movie Reviews stood enveloped amidst a herd of his loyal fans who descended almost instantly to take tokens of remembrance in the forms of selfies, autographs and advice from the guy who made them see movies in a completely different way.

Fortunately for us, we somehow managed to break into the fortress and find our way in- close enough to have a chat with the 27-year-old comedian who has revolutionised the Youtube comedy space along with his partner in crime Biswa Kalyan Rath and has moved on to improve comedy with the Improvisers ( a comedy collective comprising Kaneez Surka, Kenny Sebastian, Abish Mathew and him)

Naturally, the first question we pose in front of Gill is the most clichéd one. “Can we expect more of the Pretentious Movie Reviews anytime soon?,” we ask, our faces making no effort to hide the excitement.

“Maybe. Life is long,” he quips.

“Maybe?” we ask almost disappointed.

“Yes, maybe. Maybe we’ll die before that or maybe a meteor will hit us tomorrow.”

When we ask him whether he has been rehearsing his answers, he answers in the negative. “No, no. I’m just very zen in life. What’s the point of hurrying with everything?”

That’s Kanan Gill in a nutshell. He doesn’t worry himself to death and yet he does. He doesn’t mince his words and can be found at his candid best whether on stage or off it and the best part? He never really stops trying to make you laugh.

He had our curiosity. But, after the next answer, he got our attention.



“When you shoot a video, there are no people, so you basically got to perform to the camera. It’s a very difficult thing to do. And, that’s where most people who start with videos go wrong- like they look very bored and have low energy because there is no else in the room, right? So that’s what both Biswa and I learnt while making our videos- that we have to pretend that the audience is your camera,” he explains, when we ask him what is more difficult- performing live or shooting videos.

“Performing live is much easier- mainly because your audience is right there. There’s no pressure to pretend. Your energy, expressions and mannerisms come almost naturally,” he says.

As an afterthought, he adds that when it comes to dealing with hate, online is a much trickier platform.

“I usually ignore it. For one video, I just turned off the comments because they were like really bad. There are times it really gets to you, so I think it’s best to just avoid them,” advises Kanan.

We try getting the conversation back to how he shot to fame- Pretentious Movie Reviews and ask him which movie has been his favourite to review?




“Gunda was fun if you keep in mind the whole process of actually reviewing it. But, I was the most happy when we reviewed Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.”

And, is there movie he is looking forward to reviewing?

“My parents live in Singapore and my sister lives in London, and this December all of them came down to Bangalore and we met. Naturally, I was like ‘Guys let’s watch a movie as a family’ and I took them to watch Dilwale and you can imagine- it ruined our entire vacation. So, I guess I’d start with Dilwale,” he tells us while laughing.

Explaining why they suddenly stopped reviewing movies, Kanan says, “We shot a couple of reviews but didn’t end up releasing them because we thought they weren’t that funny. Which is why, we took a hiatus because we thought that we had exhausted all our angles.”

Considering he has recently started doing improve comedy, we wonder if there are some parameters he follows to ensure his jokes don’t cross the line of being offensive and quick comes his reply, “This is a thing I’ve worried about more and more over time. When I was just starting out, I used to just go and say anything like horrible, deliberately offensive things just to shock the audience and get a response out of them. But now, when you realise more people are coming to see you, you have to worry about every word you’re about to say.”



He further adds that he still slips up sometimes and says one or two things he shouldn’t and then instantly regrets them and wonders whether he is going to get into trouble for that. “You never know especially with people filming everything all the time and getting offended at the drop of a hat,” he says.

So, censorship does affect his content then? “Very much” he answers. “I have a video that I shot in January and I absolutely love it. I’ve shown to it all the other comedians and they’ve told me that it’s the funniest shit ever but you know what? I can never put it out because if I did, I’d be butchered. I’m upset about that video every day,” Kanan tells us.

To put things in perspective, he talks of his favourite show South Park.

“The creators of South Park talked about political correctness as a wave. They said that it was big in the 90s and then it went away. But, when they did the latest season, they also talked about how political correctness is becoming a big thing again. So I’m hoping censorship is one of those things that just goes away with time or at least reaches a breaking point.”

Realising our time is almost up, we ask him one last question- Any tips for people who’re just starting out?

He replies matter-of-factly, “You know when you’re sitting around with your friends and trying to make them laugh? Take that experience of being the funny guy in your group on to a much bigger platform- the stage,” he signs off.

Image credit: Indiatimes