Maniesh Paul, the man who has made us laugh on screens small and big over the last few years, chatted with The Telegraph on hosting a show from home and how 2020 has been a reality check for all.

How have things been over the last few months?

It’s a difficult time for all of us. It’s a collective nightmare that we all are facing. But I also think it’s about being positive and moving forward in life. That’s what I am doing.

During the lockdown, you hosted a game show called Kya Bolti Public? for Flipkart Video that combines the concepts of gamification and entertainment. What was it like shooting it from the confines of your home?

I have been wanting to do a game show for a long time, and I even did one for Zee TV that was called Movie Masti with Maniesh Paul. During the lockdown, Flipkart Video gave me the offer for a poll show... it sounded interesting and something I hadn’t done before. I am happy with the response that’s come its way.

I keep doing a lot of new things, but this was obviously a totally new experience because this is the first time when I was talking to a phone camera, that I was shooting on. Setting my own angles, making sure the lighting is fine, ensuring the take was okay.... Before this, I had never paid attention to all this... I would just go in as an actor, perform and leave the stage. Everything else would be handled by the team. Here I had to take care of the technicalities.

Was it fun or was it challenging or was it a mix of both?

It was a mix of both. Of course, it was quite challenging in the beginning. The most challenging was that I am very bad with the Internet! (Laughs)

I was okay with the shoot, but then getting it ready and mailing it to the crew... that was the difficult part! It sounds very funny lekin meri computer ke saath jamti nahin hain. Whenever I sit down to work on the computer, it generally conks off ya Internet slow ho jaata hain. But hopefully, after this, computers will become friendly to me (laughs).

Is this the way forward in the next few years?

I don’t know about a couple of years. But yes, at least over the next one year, it will probably be this. We have to be prepared for every kind of a new normal. Honestly, as long as people are getting their fair share of entertainment, it doesn’t matter to them whether it’s coming from a studio or from someone’s home.

I am ready to get back to work, but safety is very important. We all can’t just walk onto a set and pretend it will be like before. We can’t run amok thinking we have been let out of the zoo... we are staying at home as a favour to ourselves, not to anyone else.

These strange times have impacted us in different ways. What has it done to someone like you, who the world, based on the image that you have, expects to be happy and chirpy all the time?

The kind of industry I come from, there is an image that has been built, but it’s part and parcel of the business. It’s a part of my job... if I have to be happy, I have to be happy. If I have to cry for a scene, I will do so. As an actor, I have a switch on-switch off button. It’s difficult at times, but I am now kind of used to it.

My aim always is to make people happy. Yes, there are times when I am not in a great mood and people come up for a selfie... but I never refuse. I may not be in a mood to talk, but when people come up, I do talk because that’s being courteous.

You’ve mixed things up over the last few years, venturing into acting alongside being an anchor. Will it be one over the other over the next few years?

Honestly, with what has happened in 2020, I don’t think anyone will be planning anything for a couple of years! (Laughs) All the plans made have gone to ground zero. This year has been a reality check for all of us. The plan is to survive, the plan is to move on... and that’s the only plan I have! (Laughs)