Location: Somraj Villa in Juhu, Mumbai. The `funny man' is shooting for Tere Ghar Ke Saamne. We're told by his assistant that he doesn't see anyone on the sets. We decide to wait and 20 minutes later, we're ushered in. Seeing Waghdhare it's hard to believe he is the man behind these rib-ticklers. Why, he doesn't even smile, while greeting us. Well, maybe he doesn't need to: in the TV industry he is the most sought after director when it comes to comedies. ``Somehow I've acquired this stamp that I can direct only comedies. Maybe because the success of Shrimaan Shrimati brought back the trend of sitcoms,'' says the director ``I'd never thought I'd go so ahead in comedies but the going is fine and I'm waiting till a natural change comes about,'' he adds.

By the way, Waghdhare is also responsible for Mrs Madhuri Dixit, Teri Bhi Chup Meri Bhi Chup, Yeh Duniya Ghazab Ki (all sitcoms), the detective serial Commander and the drama Gharounda. As a producer he's associated with Didi Ka Dulha and Do Aur Do Paanch and his work is taking a serious turn with upcoming shows such as Taqdeer Hum Banayenge, Aabhaas which he is producing independently under his banner AAR-Vision Films. These he is mainly making for his own satisfaction as outside offers coming his way are only for sitcoms.

Gharounda, a very serious subject which he produced and directed for Zee around 3 years back was pulled off after 33 episodes and the reason feels Waghdhare was that the look was very authentic and realistic without any gloss and also the slot was 10.30pm on Fridays. The story dealt with a husband and wife working in the same organisation and their ego clashes, the consequences of which lead to divorce. Now he's working on another serious drama:``I want to come out of this comedy phase but for serious projects there are no buyers. So I decided to produce one myself and now I've shot the pilot episodes. It has no stars but good actors, and I'm approaching various channels,'' he says. The shift in interest from soaps to sitcoms, he feels is because people are fed up of soaps and recently, many of them haven't been doing so well. And he feels that in real life there is so much stress and pressure that no one wants to see emotional or serious stuff, but light comedy which helps people relax.

Waghdhare began as an editor. He has edited over 50 serials including Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Chunauti, Mujrim Haazir Ho, Campus to name a few. He also worked with Doordarshan for one and half years before becoming an independent editor. In 1993 he switched over to direction with a Marathi serial called Nishpaap. The first Hindi serial he directed was Yeh Duniya Ghazab Ki for Raman Kumar, then a few episodes of Commander, until the big break happened with Shrimaan Shrimati which appeared in the top five rated shows within 20 weeks. But ``how long can you do similar kind of work?'' he asks. ``I'd been with editing for more than 5 years and I used to edit for 16 hours in a day. I'd reached a saturation point so I thought of taking up direction''.

Waghdhare feels that the combined efforts of a writer, director and actor go towards making a good programme. According to him, actors who can carry off a comedy on their own are Jatin Kankia, Rakesh Bedi, Archana Puran Singh, Reema Lagoo, Tanaz Currim. Shekhar Suman, he thinks is in a class by himself.

He also feels that those who don't have a sense of comedy shouldn't watch it. Those who start thinking about comedy seriously should switch it off because it is like a newspaper: ``just as you read it and throw it similarly you should see the episode and forget it,'' he states. Waghdhare thinks that to make a good comedy you need a commitment to make people laugh. Logic ho ya na ho, there should be pure laughter without vulgarity. ``I make what people want and that works. You have to see to it that by hook or by crook the situation should be made hilarious,'' he explains.

Frankly, these days there is more laughter in the background and less laughing matter in the sitcoms. What does he think about laugh tracks? ``Canned laughter is necessary because it creates an ambience and is like background music which brings on the bubbly mood and also boosts your spirits. Actually, it's bit of psychology,'' he says, looking serious.