What makes Kapil Sharma successful?

What makes Kapil Sharma successful is a Gutthi (mystery).

Kapil is an Indian comedian who came from nowhere and became the King of Indian Comedy. There was a common belief that Kapil Sharma show was successful because of Gutthi (a character played by Sunil Grover). It was proved wrong when Gutthi started her own show and was not able to tickle the funny bone of audience.

Then, it was believed that Kapil Sharma was successful because of the format of the show. The format of his show was unique because of its live audience, impromptu humour, celebrities and a laughing Buddha. The belief was so strong that one fine day Kapil was replaced by Krishna and Bharti. The show’s format could not sustain itself. Surprisingly, Kapil pulled up a similar format and became successful again. It was no coincidence. There is a strong base behind success of Kapil.

Here are the 10 things that make Kapil Sharma successful. These qualities are worth emulating by Leaders for defining their success roadmap.

1. Competence

Kapil Sharma possesses a competency called situational humour. There is a script but lot happens without script. Kapil creates a situation for his guests and audiences that they are not anticipating, by suddenly asking an awkward question. The awkward question brings a genuine expression on the face of the guest, which creates a genuine laughter among audience. Competency is the core of any successful Leader.

2. Quality of Team

Despite his competence, Kapil Sharma cannot run the show on his own. It requires a team of talented individuals who possess the competence of situational humour. Sunil Grover, Kiku Sharda, Ali Asgar and Sumona, each one of them is brilliant. Many of them including Kapil have developed the competence by working in shows like comedy circus. This competence is something more than acting. Sunil could not pull up his own show because his team was not better than him. Leaders who build a team of individuals more competent than themselves get exceptional results. 

3. Innovation

People try to copy show format and jokes to replicate Kapil’s success. What makes Kapil successful is his ability to continuously innovate and move forward. He keeps experimenting with diversity of guests on his show. He brings guests from all walks of life. He keeps creating new characters like Mashoor Gulati and Rajesh Arora. He keeps bringing in new actors like Sugandha and Dr. Sanket Bhosale. The innovation keeps his show fresh despite the same DNA. Leaders who do not follow best practices but keep innovating become the benchmarks.

4. Relationships

Creating a winning team is tough. Keeping the winning team together is even tougher. Relationship is invisible glue which keeps the team together. Kapil has been able to keep his team together for years. Keeping a team together always starts with managing one’s own ego. One needs to give due importance and respect to the team members. One needs to give them an opportunity to grow, not burn bridges when they part and take team members back when they are not able to do well. Leaders practicing these basics, observe the lowest attrition rates.

5. Performance Orientation

Kapil Sharma is a relationship guy, but at the same time he is extremely performance oriented. He keeps a sharp eye on his TRP. He tries various innovative ideas but it never took him more than an episode to move out non-performing ideas be it Ghuggi or Rahul Mahajan. Astute Leaders keep a sharp eye on performance while balancing relationships.

6. Continuous Improvement 

Watch the first episode of Kapil Sharma on Indian Laughter Challenge. You will not be able to recognize Kapil. A balding rustic fellow cracking rehearsed jokes. Then watch the final episode where Kapil Sharma won the Laughter Challenge, and you will notice a distinct improvement. Since then, Kapil has been continuously improving his appearance, style, content, delivery, social quotient and team work. Leaders who continuously improve themselves on various aspects like business, diversity, social responsibility become icons.

7. Simplicity and Innocence

By standards of etiquette, Kapil sounds very blunt at times. Even when he deals with his co-stars on stage, the roughness can be sensed. This roughness is a faucet of his innocence. Kapil is liked by people because they are able to see the childlike innocence in Kapil. Kapil wrote about his income on twitter which a calculated person will not do. He blushes when a lady starts flirting with him. Leaders which are able to maintain simplicity and innocence in their way of working are loved by their stakeholders.

8. Maintaining Class

They say there is a fine line between sensuality and vulgarity. Same is true for fields like comedy and business. A brand has an opportunity to be a value brand or cheap brand. Kapil maintains his class just like McDonalds. The format of Kapil was taken over by other comedians. Team was competent. It worked fine for couple of episodes but after that it drifted from class and found its way to closure. Leaders sensitive about their positioning are more successful than their counterparts.

9. Ambition and Risk Taking Ability

Kapil has been taking risks since beginning. In his final performance in laughter challenge, he took risk of imitating Shekhar Suman who was the judge of the show. Luckily Shekhar ignored it. Then he joined Comedy Circus. He was a superstar at Comedy Circus, winning seasons hands down. At that moment, Kapil decided to join Comedy Nights. Comedy Nights was a huge success. He increased his professional fee to such an extent that channel parted ways with him. This was a big risk. He started his own production house and bounced back. He started working in movies. Risk taking ability and ambitious vision is a characteristic of any Leader.

10. Value System

Value system is embedded deep inside. Traces of value system are displayed in behavior sporadically. People applaud Kapil for his competency but people connect with him for his value system. Just like an iPhone, people possess it for the pride (price) but stick to it for its value. His respect towards Sidhu, his treatment of guests, his dealing with children, his reverence for his father, his affection towards his mother are a few examples of value traces. Leaders with strong value system earn loyalty of their people.

I wrote this article before Kapil and Sunil’s big fight. After the fight, I was contemplating whether I have picked the right qualities or the right person. I waited for a few days and read the article again. I found that the qualities were still relevant and were person independent. So over to you. What will finally happen is still a Gutthi to me.

This is Author's personal view point and is not influenced by any person or organization. Image credit to Sony Entertainment and K9 Productions