The stand-up comedian that you see is recalibrated for Shark Tank’

Recently, it was announced that comedian Rahul Dua replacing Rannvijay Singha as the host of the business reality shows Shark Tank. The Pioneer quickly connected with the comedian, who shares with us his learnings from donning this new cap, and some more insights.

Shikha Duggal

We have a business reality show in our country too and Shark Tank India is all set for its second season. And guess what? Fans’ favourite Rahul Dua will be there in the new season! Recently, there was a major change made on the show which took not just netizens but media also by surprise.When Rannvijay Singha exited the show, in his place, comedian Rahul Dua has been roped in to host the business reality show.

And, we can’t keep calm! Welcoming him into this new venture, we ask him about the magical aspects and learnings from donning this cap now and he had a lot to tell us.

“All the entrepreneurs that were paving their had sentiments attached to their entrepreneurial pitches. From liasioning with a scrap dealer, and farmers to a student who was brought up by his professor — their spirits were unwavering. After a point, I started doubting myself (he bursts out laughing) whether am I doing something legitimate for myself or not,” he shared.

According to the YouTuber, it wasn’t as if he was a  succession to Rannvijay, instead, he stated it as, “There was never an exchange of information between Rannvijay sir and me — it was the channel’s call. They wanted a discrete element via an artist, who can take over behind the scenes.The stand-up comedian that you guys see is recalibrated for this show! There was no set prepared for me, instead, I was a friend to the pitchers. When they go inside the tank, meet the sharks: the atmosphere over there is very hair-raising.

Even the production is also very disciplined, they have no time to sympathise with the ones who couldn’t get any funds because they are busy making a number one show for the country! So, who’s left? It’s me, as a host and dost. Before entering the tank, I used to calm their nerves down and once they are out of the tight spot: Rahul Dua was back.”

He’s conscious of entrepreneurship, he had a “keeda” in him during his college days. He recalls, “I was doing my engineering — my hostel mates used to download shark tank global back then from the torrent and make me watch it too! Earlier, I was a banker by profession and that’s when I wanted to materialise something of my own and I left the CITI Bank. Moving ahead, that didn’t work back then and I became a stand-up comedian by chance. Doing comedy is also a business for us, we have a full-blown team that we are expanding!”

The sharks are way too impressive and Rahul, just at the first instance understood that you can’t step up the line with them because each one of them is so well informed.
He continued, “They are very influential, you just can’t cook up a blue story with them.

They’ll speck you out immediately! Their approaches are also very extraordinary, joining them were the two new founders. If they were owning a cricket team of their own, each one of them would have won for sure. In the beginning, when Amit Jain used to interrogate the pitcher consecutively it was a tad bit maddening for us behind the screen, while moving ahead I understood by the time he used to reach his 6th question — he was actually gauging the pitcher’s intelligence and passion towards his start-up ecosystem, and of course his/her honesty.

You asked me about Ashneer Grover, forget about him, on the contrary, even I am not there in the promos funnily (he giggled). I myself am a spontaneous takeaway from the show, how will I miss Ashneer sir?”

Hoping to turn an entrepreneur soon, Rahul Dua is gearing up to launch a mixed line of his own. He exclaimed, “As a comedian, the first move that naturally appears to us is launching merchandise of our own and I did. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be a resounding trend as I expected.Down the lane, will soon be launching a thundering designer label of my own and it will be so astonishing that it will have to do well in the market.”