In conversation with 'Comedy Circus' champs

Sony's Comedy Circus is currently airing its semifinal episodes but the grand finale result has already been leaked. The Indo-Pak duo of Ali Asgar and Kashif Khan pipped hot favourites Swapnil Joshi and VIP (Vijay Ishwarlal Pawar) in a keenly contested final.

With the lid off the bottle, the champs too aren't refraining from speaking on their victory. Our reporter Mayur Lookhar popped into their vanity vans to get a brief tete-e-tete with the winners.

Ali Asgar

Did you sincerely believe that you could win the contest? That was never our aim. All we wanted is that whether we last a week or two, we wanted to leave our mark. However, after the semifinal, we felt that we could pull this off. But a final is like a one-day match, but fortunately it turned out to be our day. Your partner reckons that without you, he wouldn't have won the contest. He's being extremely modest. As a pair we're inseparable. However, I'd like to say that he's very lazy and there were times when he needed to be motivated. I call him a diesel engine, which needs to be charged every now and then. What measures did you employ to motivate him? There were days when I didn't speak with him. He would feel disappointed but he would come up to me and say that let's do this. Don't you think that you'll look like brothers? Laughs! Yeah. We both are short and stout. Kashif was given visa for few days thus you'll didn't get enough time to practice. It was a problem but all's well that ends well. Finally, how will you sum up your Comedy Circus experience? It's been wonderful. To be loved by the audience and to be rated as best by the likes of Johnny Lever, Satish Shah and Archana Puran Singh does give your career the necessary boost. Above all, I'm glad that through Comedy Circus, I've brought a smile on my mother's face. Kashif Khan You failed in Laughter Challenge but you've won here. How does it feel to be a champ? Well, it does feel nice. However, it's all a matter of timing. There are days when you win some and you lose some. What's so special about your pairing with Ali Asgar? I don't know what makes us so special but all that I can say is that without him, I wouldn't be standing here today. Well, our success isn't limited to the two of us. Our scriptwriters in Pakistan, Tanveer Khan and Zia Zareef plotted our victory. But by being a stand-up comedian it is you who was supposed to lead the way? I don't look at it in that way. For a pair to succeed, it is important they compete against each other. That's precisely what we did and the result took care of itself. You'll didn't do all that well in the beginning but upped the ante in later rounds. Was it a planned effort? If you give your best performance in the initial rounds then it's become difficult to deliver the same later. From the onset, our aim was to survive every round. Fortunately, when the contest intensified, we were able to match up to the standards. You must be residing in Mumbai for some time now. How's been your stay? No. I haven't stayed here for long. I've made frequent visits. Often, we are issued visas for limited days and it tends to be only for the respective city. However, I've enjoyed my stay in Mumbai. I travelled in Mumbai's local trains and was impressed as to how organized they are.