Who’s that?: The Ruk Ruk Khan of TV and Sud of radio

Presenting Sunil Grover, a small town boy who came to Mumbai with fame as his goal. Several voiceovers and commercials later, Grover is now Ruk Ruk Khan, Sahara Filmy’s funny take on SRK, and the inimitable Sud of Radio Mirchi

He looks like the boy next door. But the dapper host of Kya Aap Paanchvi Fail Champu Hain? is transformed into Ruk Ruk Khan the moment he is on the sets of the spoof show. Meet Sunil Grover, the man who can impersonate celebrities flawlessly.

Grover comes from a town called Mandi Dabwali (located on the border between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan). After completing his schooling in Chandigarh, Grover did his Master’s in theatre (drama) from Panjab University, but his ultimate goal was Mumbai.

After a brief stint as a correspondent with Zee News in Delhi, he moved to Mumbai. He stayed at a friend’s place and managed to land himself some voiceover assignments for ad films and some radio spots for brands including Heinz. Currently, he is also the voice behind Sud, a character that deadpans jokes on Radio Mirchi in a radio byte called Hassi Ke Phuwarre. Better fun than his jokes are the vignettes of Sud’s starcrossed romance.

A master at mimicking famous voices, Grover finally allowed the actor inside him to surface in a couple of ad films, including one for Cadbury (Pappu: the college ‘proposal’ ad with Amitabh Bachchan) and another for Tata Indicom. He even managed small roles in some feature films, including Family, Insaan and The Legend of Bhagat Singh.

When SaharaOne Media & Entertainment was launching its Hindi movie channel, Filmy, Grover auditioned. “They were looking for a person to fit the character of Lallan, one of the channel’s mascots. The next thing I knew, I was on!” he says.

Lallan was a one man show – a single man essaying multiple characters. One of these characters was, in fact, called Ruk Ruk Khan and a spoof on Shah Rukh Khan (SRK). Then, when Kaun Banega Crorepati 3 happened with SRK as the host, Filmy couldn’t resist the concept of Kaun Banega Champu, its own version of the show – pot seat and all.

Filmy and Grover found their next spoofing opportunity when STAR Plus launched Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? The spoof was called Kya Aap Panchvi Fail Champu Hain? For both the shows, the only homework Grover did was watch a few tapes of the originals to study SRK’s mannerisms. The scripting was done by the Filmy creative team.

“See, I never joined theatre with the intention of doing a Ruk Ruk Khan,” Grover reflects. “I never had big dreams, but I did have a lust for fame and money. If I can make viewers laugh, then it satisfies me,” he shrugs.

Has he met SRK in real life? “Yes, I have met him. I’m his fan like many others,” says Grover. “He saw me and acknowledged me. That’s all I can say about our meeting.” He finishes with a terse, “Let’s leave it at that.”

Isn’t there a danger of being typecast as an SRK lookalike? “Everyone is typecast into some bracket or the other. What I want to do is to enlarge my typecast category bracket,” he says.

It gives Grover quite a high to be recognised in public places, and some even approach him for his autograph. So, does he sign Ruk Ruk Khan? “No… Sunil Grover!” he smiles.