By RUBY MULLER

 Student suicides are no laughing matter. But they are the subject of Sapan Verma’s online comedy sketch that has clocked up over 380,000 views on YouTube.

As a college teacher and former Indian Institute of Technology student, his passion on the topic met his talent for making people laugh, and it wasn’t long before the video had gone viral.

• Sapan Verma is at the Forum Theatre in the Bengaluru Comedy Festival Showcase until April 23. 

The video manages to do something quite incredible. While Sapan discusses disturbing facts and statistics about the rate of student suicides in India (among the highest in the world), he uses comedy to give a nuanced picture of the issue.

“Thirty-one suicides in one year. That is not the kind of record you want the students to be breaking," he jokes in the video.

It may sound grim, but by spinning these issues around, Sapan has been able to make a significant impact on the minds of his viewers. 

“Comedy can mould and shape opinions if used in the right way,” he says.

“I choose topics that I feel I have an opinion on, or I feel strongly about. A lot of times I may like a topic, but I feel like I'm not qualified or well-read enough to handle it yet, so I let it go.”

“[The] student suicides video also came about due to the same reason. I personally went for IIT coaching classes so I know what a nightmare that pressure is. Plus, literally every second person around me had been through the same.”

It isn't just the student suicide video that has gone viral, Sapan is also one of the founders of the East India Company, a collective of comedians who perform live shows and create online content.

Their comedy news series, EIC Outrage, received more than five million views in its first three months, tackling a myriad controversial topics, such as the beef debate in India. 

But Sapan says their success is in part due to their controversial and candid nature.

“The audience wants to know the honest truth,” he says.

“It’s a space that was missing. We raise the correct points, and we give you both the sides of the story. It has also worked really well with the youth because they don't read the papers or watch TV any more. So we are their source of news.” 

The show follows in the footsteps of the likes of John Oliver and Samantha Bee, taking a comedic stance on the most pressing local and international issues, explaining difficult concepts while mocking them at the same time.

The lack of an overhanging partisanship on these types of shows is crucial and is the main reason why, Sapan says, many people watch them as their sources of news and entertainment.

“The news media lies and succumbs to political pressures and big corporations for their own vested interests. Comedians don't have any such pullbacks,” he says.

Sapan brings this same raw energy to his standup, talking politics as well as some honest observations about his own life. It is this opportunity to be honest and unfiltered that he says he relishes the most about his work.

“It's the best job in the world. You make jokes, people laugh, you get money. Also, it's liberating to get on stage and literally speak your mind. It's therapeutic.”

Sapan is one of four Indian comedians in the lineup for the Bengaluru Comedy Festival Showcase and says he will be making some changes for his Australian audience.

But mostly, he is just excited about the opportunity to cuddle some of our wildlife.

“I want a hug from a koala bear for sure.”