Exclusive | Sumukhi Suresh on Her Debut US Tour and 'Why She Was Born' to Write 'Lust Stories'

For Sumukhi Suresh, the year has already overstayed its welcome. “It feels like October,” she laughs. “This year has been very strange: it seems slow but also very quick. I feel like I’ve worked enough till October, but it’s just February. Right? Fuck.”

That sense of time slipping forward faster than expected is oddly fitting. Because this spring, she returns to the United States for a full multi-city tour of her stand-up special Hoemonal — a journey that began with what she calls a blink-and-you-miss-it open mic. “The last time I went there, I did a five- or seven-minute spot at the Improv LA. That was the one and only gig I did in the US — and now it’s time,” Suresh tells The Hollywood Reporter India. The memory still surprises her. “That was in 2019, I think. I didn’t go for that — it just came together and they were like, ‘Do you want to do a spot?’ I said yeah. It was an open-mic spot, not a paid gig, under-the-radar. I didn’t think then that I’d come back with a tour. And here I am.”

The “here” matters. The tour isn’t self-produced hustle anymore. It’s demand. “Finally Hoemonal is doing shows where producers are hiring us rather than us going and looking for venues. That’s great for a show, you know, when that happens.” She pauses, pleased. “Our producers have been very keen and excited. I think it’ll be one of the good tours and a good sign-off as well.”

On Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos

Suresh was told the audience at a packed opening night erupted when she appeared in Happy Patel. She sounded genuinely startled hearing it back. The role happened by accident and ego in equal measure. She originally auditioned for Mona Singh’s character. “Later they said she got the part and I was like please don’t apologise — the fact that I was even in the running with Mona Singh, I’m cool.”

Then came the consolation offer — a cameo. She refused. Twice.

“Then they said, ‘You’re doing it with Aamir Khan.’ I said yeah, fuck yeah. I’m not an idiot,” she says laughing. Working with him felt less intimidating than freeing. “Outside I was a cool cucumber. Inside I was dying.” She insists Khan was the right choice precisely because of how unserious he was willing to be. “He’s clearly an actor who wants to have fun. Childlike excitement. Even for a cameo his curiosity was the same — really cool to watch.”

Then of course there was Vir Das, "Being directed by Vir, who is also a comedian is great — you’re not scared to try anything. You can bomb and it’s okay. Every take is a good take,” she says.

On Lust Stories

The most animated she becomes is when conversation turns to writing — specifically a Netflix project by Vikramaditya Motwane starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Radhika Apte, Vijay Varma and Abhishek Banerjee.

“I wrote dialogues for Lust Stories— 300 per cent yes when they asked me.” She grins describing Motwane's on-set calls for alternate jokes. “I’d send mine and others’. He [Motwane] always picked my jokes. Huge win for me. I’ve always wanted to write for him — I think I’ll be close to my deathbed still sending him scenes.”

Then she almost stops herself.

There’s something else coming — NDA-guarded, she says — alongside the US tour. “It’s a show. I promise you won’t be disappointed.” She laughs, aware she’s said too much and not enough. “I’m dialling it down actually.”

For now, the only certainty is the trajectory: from a seven-minute open mic in Los Angeles to a touring comic with screaming audiences and secret projects she’s barely containing. The announcement, she promises, will come soon. And when it does, she already knows the tone: like October arriving in February.