Kanan Gill
Kanan Gill in May 2019
Born (1989-12-24) 24 December 1989 (age 34)
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materMSRIT (B.E.)
Occupation(s)Stand-up comedian
Actor
YouTuber
Years active2013 – present
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)

Kanan Singh Gill is an Indian stand-up comedian, actor and YouTuber. He won the Punch Line Bangalore Competition. He is known for hosting the YouTube series Pretentious Movie Reviews[1] where he reviews campy Bollywood films along with fellow stand-up comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath. He was one of the main personalities behind the YouTube Comedy Hunt and also co-hosted the YouTube FanFest India. In 2017, he released his own one-hour comedy special, Keep It Real on Amazon Prime Video.[2] He made his debut on the big screen with the movie Noor, alongside Sonakshi Sinha. In 2018, he was also a judge on Comicstaan, a comedic reality TV show, on Amazon Prime Video.

Early life

Kanan was born in Bareilly to a Sikh family and spent his early years in Dehradun and Delhi. His father Charanjit Singh Gill, an officer with the Indian Army was also the principal of Rashtriya Military School, Bangalore. At an early age he was brought to Bengaluru. He did his schooling at Ahlcon Public School, New Delhi and The Frank Anthony Public School, Bengaluru.[3] He pursued a B.E. degree in Computer Science at MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology. He was a part of a band where he later became the lead singer when he started writing "funny songs".

Career

Kanan worked as a software engineer at Exeter Group Inc., for three years.[4] In the meantime, he participated in and won a competition called Punchline Bangalore followed by another win at the Comedy Store in Mumbai. He then quit his job to pursue a career in comedy.

He gained popularity with the viral YouTube series Pretentious Movie Reviews. He reviewed critically panned popular Hindi movies along with Biswa Kalyan Rath. Kanan also worked in an improvised sketch comedy show, The Living Room on Comedy Central.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Gill made his acting debut in Sunhil Sippy's Noor in 2017, alongside Sonakshi Sinha.[15] The same year, Gill launched his special Keep It Real on the Amazon Prime Video.[16] In 2020, his special 'Yours Sincerely' was released on Netflix.

Kanan also features sporadically on projects created by his friends and colleagues, notably on Better Life Foundation,[17] a web series by Them Boxer Shorts, as well as on many other sketches, videos, and podcasts created or hosted by fellow comedians.

On 18 January 2024, HarperCollins released Acts of God, Gill's debut novel.[18] It is a comedy-science fiction story based on a short story that he wrote in 2016-17. It is inspired by the works of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes Ref
2017 Noor Saad Sehgal [19]
2023 Aachar & Co — Co-writer [20]
2023 Christmas As Usual Jashan Joshi

Web

Year Platform Name Notes
2017 Amazon Video Keep It Real[21][22]
2016 - 2019 YouTube Better Life Foundation[23] Produced by Them Boxer Shorts
Released by All India Bakchod.[24]
2014 – present YouTube Pretentious Movie Reviews
I Can Do That[25]
How Insensitive
2014 - 2017 YouTube Son of Abish[26] Season 1
Season 2 with Biswa Kalyan Rath
Season 3 with Sonakshi Sinha
2018 Amazon Video The Improvisers: Something From Nothing[27] Alongside Kenny Sebastian, Abish Mathew, Kaneez Surka
Comicstaan - Season 1[28] Himself - Judge[29]
2019 Amazon Video Sketchy Behaviour
Amazon Video Comicstaan: Season 2 Judge
2020 Netflix Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill[30]
2023 Paytm Insider Is This It? Limited Edition show [31][32]

References

  1. ^ "Pretentious Movie Reviews". Retrieved 5 August 2017 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ The Improvisers: Something from Nothing, retrieved 17 October 2018
  3. ^ Rodricks, Allan Moses (13 June 2014). "Take it from Gill". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  4. ^ "About Stand Up Comedian: Kanan Gill". Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Kanan Gill unplugged". Deccan Chronicle. December 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Comedy Central to premiere 'The Living Room'". Afaqs.com. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  7. ^ "Disney owned YouTube MCN Maker Studios signs up Indian channels: AIB, Kanan Gill, others". Medianama.com. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  8. ^ "Reviewer duo Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath throw a few punches at bad Bollywood movies". Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  9. ^ Tuli, Aanchal. "Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath's first live show in Gurgoan". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  10. ^ Allan Moses Rodricks (13 June 2014). "Take it from Gill". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  11. ^ "How To Make Your YouTube Videos Work". Archived from the original on 16 November 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  12. ^ "Boys of Bollywood". The Indian Express. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  13. ^ Anil Wanvari. "Indian Television Dot Com - Comedy Central sees potential in localised content". Indiantelevision. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Kanan Gill". CreativeMornings. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  15. ^ Natasha Coutinho (6 July 2016). "Today's headlines are tomorrow's garbage: Sonakshi". Times Of India. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  16. ^ "Keep It Real". IMDb.
  17. ^ "Watch Better Life Foundation - Season 2 out now (2018) Episodes Online | Cast | Review - Webisoda.in". Webisoda - The Indian Web Series Hub. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Kanan Gill is more excited about writing movies than acting in them". Vogue India. 19 January 2024. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  19. ^ "These Artists Became Famous In Most Unconventional Ways". News18. 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Aachar & Co: The movie is about love and family, says co-writer Kanan Gill". OTTplay. 14 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Kanan Gill's show, Keep it Real, is the freshest thing you can stream this week". Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  22. ^ "Kanan Gill breaks down technology for parents in Brunch WTF".
  23. ^ "Watch Better Life Foundation - Season 2 out now on Hotstar (2016) online | Episodes | Cast | Review". Webisoda - The Indian Web Series Hub. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  24. ^ "What's Good And Not So Good About AIB's Latest Web Series 'Better Life Foundation'".
  25. ^ "Watch I Can Do That (2017) online | Episodes | Cast | Review". Webisoda - The Indian Web Series Hub. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  26. ^ "Watch Son of Abish - Season 6 out now (2019) online | Episodes | Cast | Review". Webisoda - The Indian Web Series Hub. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  27. ^ The Improvisers: Something from Nothing, retrieved 17 October 2018
  28. ^ "Watch Comicstaan - Season 2 Out Now (2018) online | Episodes | Cast | Review". Webisoda - The Indian Web Series Hub. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  29. ^ "Comicstaan emerges as the most watched show on Amazon Prime Video in its first week". dna. 21 July 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  30. ^ "Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill's Netflix Special". CelebsWhoop.com. 30 April 2020.
  31. ^ "IS THIS IT? | Kanan Gill". kanangill.com. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  32. ^ "Is This It? | Kanan Gill's newest and greatest comedy special". insider.in. Retrieved 14 June 2023.

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