Have you ever seen a terrible movie and fell into an existential crisis where you kept thinking about those 2 hours that you will never get back and what you are doing with your life? Well, then you should definitely take a look at this guy.Sahil Rizwan is a 26 year old humorist who decided that making poorly drawn MS Paint comics about really bad Bollywood movies should have a niche of its own and voila: 'The Vigil Idiot' happened.
Sahil recently published his book '42 Lessons I Learnt From Bollywood', and in this book he examines growing up in the 90s and how television (mostly Bollywood movies aired on it) shaped his views and perspectives. The book is full of 'The Vigil Idiot' comics and is a really fun read.We decided to badger this internet-celebrity with a few pointless questions and thank goodness Sahil decided to play along!
Q. What inspired you to review movies with MS Paint comics?It's a total rip-off of "Five shitty movies that everyone loves". I saw it one day & thought it was a big miss that no one was doing this for Bollywood, with all the material we have to work with. But I can't draw even as badly as in that post, hence stick figures. Q. When did you first start reviewing movies? Did you ever do it in a non-comic format?The stick figures were the first honest attempt. Although, I would use the term 'review' very loosely; I couldn't tell you the difference between a cinematographer and a director of photography. I just comment on the story and acting. Q. How much time does it take to make one comic approximately? (Just the manual labour part, I mean)If I sit down and complete it in one go, then about 5-6 hours. But I've never completed a comic in one go. It's usually 5-6 hours, but spread over 2-3 days. Now you know why this interview took so long to answer. Q. Have you ever been unsatisfied with a comic but had to publish it anyway because of a deadline?All the time! But it's never been because of deadline, because I usually know when I'm watching a movie if I can commit to doing a strip on it or not. Any time I've done a sub-standard comic, it's probably been because I was short on cash. Curse of a freelancer being paid on a per-comic basis. In my defense, I've tried to hang back lately & only release strips where I don't have to reach for humour. But now the complaint is that I don't publish enough. No winning only. Q. Did you have to re-watch all the movies that you mentioned in your book while you were writing it?Even more than the 42 in the book, actually. These are just the ones that made the cut. The actual long list was above 75, easily. I remembered the basic storyline to all of them, but I had to re-watch them to get all the details right. Q. Have you ever received any good comments from Bollywood actors because of your reviews? Also, have you ever gotten trolled by famous people because of your reviews?Yeah, there have been quite a few Bollywood people who've messaged to say nice things about the comics over the years. But I can only wish that someone famous would troll me. They're way too busy to bother with chindi stuff like a blog. Q. What else do you love to do apart from watching really bad movies?Watching good movies, TV shows, sports, internet stuff... You give me roti, kapda aur wi-fi and I'm sorted for life. Q. How does your family react to fact that you make bad MS Paint comics for a living? Were they supportive throughout?Very supportive, thankfully! I think as long as I'm making enough money to not have to borrow from them, they're cool with whatever I do. And I've managed to sustain my lifestyle the whole time 'The Vigil Idiot' has been active, so it's worked out fine. Q. Have your relatives ever asked you "Yeah, but what exactly do for a living?"Not really. The thing is that I've never been in the same city as any of my extended family long enough for that to ever be a real annoyance. Q. What is your favourite 'The Vigil Idiot' comic? (Mine is 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani')I think mine would be 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan', just for the ease with which the strip came out. 
That review really did write itself. The 'Kurbaan' comic is a sentimental favourite for being the first one to go viral. Q. What have you studied?First class with distinction BBA from Symbiosis. Basically, I have no qualification to write, critique movies or do anything related to graphics. Q. Did you ever think that you'd be doing this, when you were a kid? What did you want to be when you were 10 year old?If I went back in time and told 10 year old me that this is what our career was gonna be, he would probably laugh in my face and go all "Bhai, tu rehnde" on my butt. I think I knew it would have something to do with writing, to be fair. But stick figure movie review internet content creator? That's still not a real job.
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