SHIKHA DUGGAL
Kajol and the makers of her upcoming web series The Tribals: Pyaar Kanoon Dhokha recently unveiled the trailer, which has been much loved by the audience. Well, we got in touch with the creator himself, filmmaker Suparn Verma, who has been making a significant impact on OTT for a really long time.
There is some fortunate connection there! The streak of hat-tricks includes Bandaa, Rana Naidu, and a few episodes of Family Man. Consequently, wineries, how is he going to revolutionise this landscape some more with the help of an old stager like Kajol? He shared, “It’s the adaptation of The Good Wife, and it will convince you in real depth. I Indianized it completely to take it away from the Western gaze. An American woman’s life is totally different from an Indian woman’s, so I had to tweak it. Over here, any tragedy happens with her; she’s the first one to get ostracised by society. and even victim-shamed! I have never seen it the other way around. So her behaviour and emotions are very different from how an American would react. In fact, even the legal system is poles apart in comparison to the USA. So you’ll see enough contradictions and an emotional rage coming from Kajol.”
He’s from the generation where he used to sell all the “raddi” (scrap papers) and just go buy the latest comic books! So he was always creative in this way. Equally captivating us even in the conversation, he goes on, “I am working with some of the best actors from the industry; I am having a great time as a writer here. Kajol was always my go-to choice in the top league of actresses. I have been yearning to work with her for a really long time because she’s the best mix of strength and grace. She told me how this was something so unique for her — because all her life, she has had male co-stars who are busy winning her heart, and for the first time, she begins her show with a betrayal of trust. She is the protagonist of our show, and she’s heartbroken!”
Telling us some more deets about her leading lady, whom he cast, he says, “She creates scenes instinctively on the spot. All of us knew it was a serious show, but none of us stopped having fun on the sets. We were playing at work because it’s not our daily chore.”
When did this creative role really strike a chord in his life? He recalls falling in love with a girl whose father was a detective! That didn’t happen, so he decided to be a hero. For the longest time, in every fancy-dress competition, you’ll find him playing the drunken man character. Again, he changed the course of his life and thought of turning into a director-writer but didn’t know how to. Formed a production company with the help of his friend’s parents at the early age of 21—Yukta Creations, as we all know it with so much familiarity today. Incidentally, he applied to MTV at the same time.
He didn’t land a job there, either! “I was given the job of a photo librarian, and I didn’t know half of the cricketers or politicians. I apologise! So they made me a journalist (he laughed out loud). And then, the head of chat! I remember doing this chat session with Manoj Bajpayee at Hansal Mehta’s home. Manoj had left by then, but Hansal and I continued to discuss it over a cup of coffee, and I learned he was an avid reader of my movie reviews. He offered me a film! Simultaneously, I was interviewing Ram Gopal Varma, the sound mixing artist in my life. Even though he offered me a film to write, I wrote the first draft for the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Sarkar, but that never worked out. So RGV put me in touch with Feroze Khan. I told him, “Sir, I can’t write your film,” and he was flabbergasted. Nobody says no to Feroze Khan! So my debut film happened, and that was Chhal with Kay Kay Menon.”
Coming back to his OTT ventures in the present time, “I was shooting for Rana Naidu, but I still told my producers that I was simultaneously working for Bandaa. I turned producer for Manoj’s movie! I was also handling the writing team, and a lot of research was needed. A lot of courtroom scenes for Bandaa were done on the sets that we established for The Trial, by the way, with the help of the production designer, which we tweaked here and there. It got easy for me to do breakdowns and rehearsals then. OTT is the place to be because you get an audience that’s open to an international form of storytelling. As writers, we don’t have to compromise on our scripts here!”
He also mentioned, “Cultural ethnicity comes automatically in any film or show. As a writer, what interests me more is what my leading actor is doing in it! On the sets of The Trial, we had a legal team guide us to avoid any jargon. The procedures had to be correct! We approached the sessions court and high court to see how they operate. Challenges were so funny on this set, I can’t even begin to tell you. Kajol had to open the door of her house, and I am sure in the longest years she has not done it — we all know she has staff to do that, and c’mon, she’s Kajol! She couldn’t figure out how to unlock the door, and we all burst into laughter.”
