Varun Grover may be a stand-up comedian, filmmaker, screenwriter, and a National Award-winning lyricist today. But his humble beginnings in Mumbai involved several ghost-writing gigs, including a television show on Star Plus where he, along with another writer, penned fake fan letters for TV actors, including Smriti Irani, best known for playing Tulsi Virani on Ekta Kapoor’s seminal daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
“First few jobs in Mumbai were ghost-writing for people. It’s very easy to become a writer in Mumbai. But to get the credit and good money as a screenwriter is tough. That takes time. Nobody becomes an actor for free. But they can become a writer for free because the mindset is that anyone can write. There are so many brainless writing jobs, especially on TV, which anyone can pull off,” said Varun.
In the interview with Scroll, Varun recalled his first job was to write fake fan letters for Star Plus properties in Parde Ke Peeche, a show which involved two anchors reading out those letters on camera. “We mostly wrote all those fan letters. We also wrote the responses to the fans. The anchor would claim the letter has come from some fan in Ahmedabad,” added Varun.
He recalled one of the instances was them writing a fake fan letter asking if Tulsi Virani’s favourite food is khichdi in real life, as depicted in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. So a camera crew would then go to the sets of the show and ask Smriti Irani that ‘fan question.’ “She even used to answer the questions very honestly and earnestly,” said Varun.
He revealed that he, along with fellow ghost-writer Rahul Patel, were paid Rs 2,500 per episode for the job, thus earning Rs 1,250 per head, and Rs 5,000 per month, accounting for four weekly episodes. Meanwhile, the official writer of the show used to get a salary of Rs 15,000 per episode, along with the credit. “We asked him to at least pay us Rs 3,000 for every episode since it’ll be a round figure. We’ll feel at least a little bit respected then. But he never budged. That’s what happens when you don’t study maths properly. He didn’t realize the aesthetic of numbers,” added Varun.
He went on to do ghost-writing for a number of projects for a year before starting his career as an official writer with The Great Indian Comedy Show in 2004. He went on to write other comedy shows like SAB Ka Bheja Fry, Ranvir Vinay Aur Kaun?, and Oye! It’s Friday!, along with Salman Khan-hosted quiz show 10 Ka Dum in 2008.
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Varun also began writing songs in Hindi films, and even won the National Award for penning “Moh Moh Ke Dhaage” in Sharat Katariya’s 2015 romantic comedy Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Varun also turned screenwriter with Neeraj Ghaywan’s 2015 directorial debut Masaan. He made his directorial debut with the coming-of-age film All India Rank last year.
