Sumukhi Suresh is excited to see a whole new community embrace Hoemonal as it drops on Netflix | Interview

Sumukhi Suresh's much-loved stand-up comedy special Hoemonal is now on Netflix. From the chaos of being a woman in her 30s, tackling singlehood, relationships with parents, dating experiences and more, Sumukhi Suresh doesn't hold back. In an exclusive interaction with HT right before its premiere on Netflix, Sumukhi spoke about the journey with Hoemonal, the space for more female comedians and what's next for her.

Hoemonal addressed topics that are close to your heart. Tell us about how it feels to take the conversation ahead with Netflix, where an entire new audience awaits your work.

Any show that goes from live to platform, the fear is that it will lose its charm, it will lose what it stands for, and it will have to be changed. But that wasn't the case, thankfully. When Kim [Sharma] started producing the show in 2024, the show became much more than just being a performance on stage. It became a brand, a sort of property that one is part of… a sense of community. So when Kim took it to Netflix, it not only became a stand-up show that we are telling them, but a community that follows it. So it was exciting to see the show on Netflix and observe so many new people enter that community as it goes out on this platform.

What has been the highlight of this journey so far, from conceptualising this sketch and touring with it and its reception? Were there any moments where you were surprised too?

I didn't conceptualise it as a sketch, but as a stand-up show. The tour of the show, of course, has been very good not only in the national chain, but we also took it to the Melbourne Comedy Festival, then we did an exhaustive Asian Tour. But we couldn't make it to the US tour because we gave it to Netflix, but I think that's just as exciting. Maybe post its release, we will do a US one!

What surprised me was the fact that even though Hoemonal was doing well in terms of numbers, but 2024 onwards it moved to around 5,000 tickets in Bengaluru! We sold 2,000 tickets at NMACC at the grand theatre, and we were one of the first shows to be on it as a stand-up show, so that was exciting. The value of the show increased with a great producer on board, so that really helped. I was very surprised, but more than that I was really excited to see how the show became bigger than just a show in the last two years!

Female comedians were fewer in number when you started out. Today, the number has risen, and we see many new faces. How would you see this transition?

It is great! When female comedians increase there are different voices, and it may not just be my voice… but if the audience likes some other comedian's voice then that is great too! It is not just that one has to like either one of us, now you can like all of us. Also, with more comedians coming in from tier-3 and other regions, hopefully we will have access to more open mics. The more variety of voices come in, the better it gets. All of us will be better at it!