Nepali stand-up comedian Manoj Gajurel has impersonated a lot of people in his long and hilarious career. But none have brought the house down as much as his latest imitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and it seems Manoj is earning fans even across the border in India.
It has become a part of Nepal’s urban legend that in 2006, Manoj was such a perfect lookalike and soundalike of King Gyanendra that cops on duty actually saluted him. His imitation of Prachanda’s mannerisms and speeches have made the audience fall of their chairs laughing.

Earlier this month, Manoj was getting himself into character backstage at a theatre in London’s South Harrow neighbourhood. A one-man team, Manoj does his own hair, makeup and styling. He is quick. In less than 25 minutes, the transformation was complete — Manoj had become Modi and was ready to go.

The audience was made up of Nepalis and Indians. As with his other shows in the UK last month, his Modi act got the most applause. “In August, I went to the Nepali parliament to pay my respect to the 601 young bulls there and told them to hand over Nepal to me and I would transform it into Gujarat within five years and return it,” joked Gajurel in Hindi.