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Blogger Sahil Rizwan makes his living on the Web, with movie reviews and online comics

By the time we interview Sahil Rizwan, he confesses to being in a bad mood. Manchester United has crashed out of the European Champions League and he is clearly upset (as is this reporter) at the developments in the game.

So it’s not exactly the right time to speak with Rizwan about his blog, The Vigil Idiot — one of the funniest blogs in the Indian blogosphere. Nevertheless, we carry on.

The brainchild of 22-year-old Rizwan, The Vigil Idiot is where he “strips down movies through comics for cheap laughs”. The idea for the blog, he says, came from a conversation he had with a friend. “We were talking about this really lame, classic 1980s Bollywood flick, called Khoon Bhari Maang. I had time to kill, so out of boredom and a lack of better things to do, I posted a couple of notes on Facebook,” he remembers.

From Facebook notes, Rizwan took to posting thoughts on a blog, and eventually it became the full-fledged site that one sees today. For the record, TheVigilIdiot.com went live on June 5, 2009, and gets 1.2-1.5 lakh hits per month.

Having grown up in Noida, Rizvan moved to Pune to complete his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Symbiosis College. He then worked with an advertising agency as a copywriter for nine months, but figured that the typical 9:00 am to 5:00 pm job routine wasn’t for him. He quit and started freelancing as a content writer, and finally came home to Noida just last month.

Now, though he continues to call himself a freelancer, Rizwan admits that a lot of his time is devoted to promoting his website.

As a 22-year-old, most of his non-work life involves hanging out with friends and watching movies, which one supposes he does in the line of duty. A huge sports fan, Rizwan prefers to follow, rather than play, sports.

Here the conversation veers dangerously towards Manchester United once again, and Rizvan looks visibly hurt. We quickly move on to Rizvan’s future plans.

He’s aware that the novelty of websites can wear off easily, and that’s a reason why, he says, “I just want to take The Vigil Idiot as far ahead as I can. It should reach as many people as possible before the novelty wears off.”

Rizvan’s job isn’t easy. While he has to think about the content on his website, like any other blogger, he also has to painstakingly make comic strips to explain his point of view. It takes him a day or two to complete one comic strip, but “that’s only because I’m too lazy to complete it in one go”. He usually draws a couple of panels, then surfs online, or watches some TV, before completing a few more panels. “Hypothetically, if I were to ever manage a comic in one sitting, it’ll not take more than two-three hours,” he says.

On his Facebook profile, Rizvan writes, “Welcome to the awesome unproductiveness that is my life.” Well, as long as the “unproductiveness” continues to provide a fan following, who’s complaining?