Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Written by: Si Hawkins
Published: Tuesday 10th August 2021

One random comedian, eight random questions; it's the ultimate test of funny person and fate. This week we welcome Suchandrika Chakrabarti, who's bringing a new show to Camden Fringe on August 13/14th (and 29th), with a self-explanatory title: I Miss Amy Winehouse. But we asked anyway.

"It's about looking back at the Amy Winehouse era now," Chakrabarti explains. "It's about grief and being young and celebrity and how the internet has changed journalism. Most of all, it's about me, because of course it is, right?"

Right. How did it happen? "During lockdown, I was feeling nostalgic (not just me, eh Bennifer?), mainly because the future was impossible to envisage with any certainty. I was listening to old playlists, and Back To Black popped up. The music felt like it hadn't aged at all. It took me right back to that time.

"I've been trying to write a novel set at the turn of the century, but it wasn't really flowing. On the other hand, writing five/ten-minute sets for online Zoom gigs was going okay, so: why not write this as a show? I thought it was better for my flagging self-esteem to attempt something that I could finish."

Obviously writing that show then took ages anyway. But "I performed an early version over Zoom for the friendship group who had partied in Camden with me back then, and that helped iron out some baggy bits," she explains.

"Then, I took it to Brighton Fringe and tried it out in front of strangers - most of them Amy Winehouse fans. There was such a warm, lovely atmosphere, but also a feeling of sadness that is still surprisingly raw, mixed into the show's reception. We're far from done with the story of what happened to Amy Winehouse."

Indeed. As well as those other fest shows, Chakrabarti is doing an Edinburgh Fringe-streamed gig on the 18th - from Nottingham. Funny old year this. Details below. But now, Suchandrika, your Random 8 await.

Who is - or was - your most interesting relative?

Three of my grandparents died before I was born, and they lived in very different times to me, in a different country, so they're always going to fascinate me. I'm going to choose my paternal grandfather, a man born in a village just north of Kolkata, India in 1889, nearly a century before me.

He lived much of his life under the British Empire, and became a doctor in the British Army, travelling much more than the average person could in the early 1900s, to battlefields in places such as Afghanistan, and what was then Burma.

After leaving the army, he went home to work in the family medical practice, and provided free healthcare for poor villagers. He went on to have 13 children, the very last one being my dad, born a few years before India became independent.

Later, in the 60s, my grandfather extolled the virtues of the NHS offering free healthcare at the point of delivery, and happily waved my dad off on the plane to London, a journey that turned out to be one-way only.

It is incredible to me that a person born on the other side of the world in 1889 could have done so much to shape such an important figure in my life. Can you tell that I'm desperate to write about him?

What's the most regrettable thing you ever bought?

Several haircuts come to mind. I had a 'Rachel' in 1998 that was actually a bob on top of a mullet and actively kept the Rosses of the world away from me. Probably for the best, overall.

Is there a book or film that changed your life?

I discovered Douglas Adams's books on my older brother's shelves in the early '90s when I was 9 or 10, and I didn't even know that I was reading them out of order.

The titles So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe totally drew me in and they made sense as stand-alone books, before I discovered that they were numbers 4 and 2 respectively in a five-part 'trilogy'.

The melding of genres and the laugh-out-loud-funny writing was like nothing I'd read before, and I slowly discovered the whole Hitchhiker's extended universe, which showed me the infinite adaptability of a really good idea.

Adams has said that he dreamt up The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy while drunk in a field, and it shows. There's a lawlessness to his writing and humour that makes you believe in his universe where almost anything is possible; but at the same time, his voice is entirely his own.

Very graciously, my brother gave me a copy of the five-part trilogy in one volume for my 11th birthday. I promptly stole his paperback of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Sorry, bro.

Which forgotten fashion should we bring back?

Sequinned shrugs from the '00s. They just really made my jeans-and-a-nice-top combos feel much fancier. It'd be nice to feel a bit fancy again after 15 months sitting at home in my PJs.

What's the very best thing you ever saw?

My three-year-old niece's face lighting up when she spied the plush pterodactyl I'd bought her for her birthday. She loves dinosaurs (but otherwise, she's nothing like Ross Geller). She immediately named it 'Toilet'. She is my favourite person.

Ever met a surprisingly great or awful famous person?

It's no surprise that Emma Thompson would be a great person to meet, but she was so incredibly sweet and patient with me. Back in 2006, I was a baby film journalist at the London Film Festival, and I was at the premiere of her new film with Will Ferrell, Stranger Than Fiction. A university friend interning for the PR firm behind the event got me into the after-party, and there I spotted her.

Thanks to a free bar, I got up the courage to speak to her. It was like chatting to an old pal who was pleased to see me. I asked her what advice she'd give a recent English Lit graduate, as she'd also done that degree, and she said to believe in myself, and to always be myself. It was such a lovely chat and I couldn't believe it was happening, or how drunk I was.

Eventually, I offered her one of my Marlboro Lights, and she said 'no, no, let me make you a rollie'. We walked over to a booth containing her mother, husband and other family members so she had a surface to roll on. As she did that, I started to feel intrusive, so I took the rollie with a thanks and a goodbye, then scurried back off to the bar.

What's your favourite mode of transport?

Boat, every time. My ancestors lived at sea level or below, by the Bay of Bengal, so it's in my blood. If there's a transport option within the jurisdiction of maritime law, I'm there.

Which place you've visited was the biggest anti-climax?

Even though we all managed to pull, and there were plenty of boats: Magaluf.

PS: I very rarely think of Ross Geller so it's weird I mentioned him twice in this interview. But anyway, here's a third time to obey the rule.

I Miss Amy Winehouse is at Etcetera Theatre for the Camden Fringe on 13th, 14th and 29th August. Tickets

Suchandrika appears in the Late Stage Edinburgh Showcase on 18th August: Edfringe.com