EXCLUSIVE | 'Ziddi Girls' director Shonali Bose: 'If you don't watch and if you don't click on it then...'

Ziddi Girls, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video IN, follows the journey of 5 girls in their first year at Matilda House, an all-girls college in Delhi, and their new principal, whose reforms spark a rebellion. Labelled ziddi (headstrong) for their defiance, the students resist attempts to curb their freedoms, thoughts, aspirations. The series explores uplifting female friendships, clashing ideologies and the search for one’s identity.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, directors Shonali Bose, Neha Veena Sharma, Vasant Nath, along with Rangita Pritish Nandy, spoke about their collaboration and the idea of the show.

Edited excerpts from the interview

Shonali, how did the idea of the show come about, if you can tell us?

It came from Rangita and was taken forward by Vasant and Neha. I came on just as the director. So they’ll let them answer that.

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Sure. I think, having been born a Ziddi girl, a show on it was an absolute must. And my sister and I, put pen to page on the basic concept of the show. We went to Amazon. They loved it, greenlit us into development.

We headed in Vasan’s direction because we thought to be able to really tell an honest story about girls or any girls, you need men and women in the writer’s room. And, Vasant brought that. He, of course, went out and researched the hell out of it and brought in gold, which became our characters, But he’s going to tell you more about that.

Vasant: I think Rangita really turned into one kindergarten teacher of mine who had written on a report card that likes to sit with girls in the class. They had this radar, so they found me. I thought why me? They didn’t really answer me back then, but I said, okay. Let’s go because, you know, I’m a dad of twin girls. So I said, this is research for me. And what inspired me was understanding afresh what are the challenges that they are facing in their college lives. I was in Delhi University as well. I was at Saint Stephen’s College. I mean, we had our own set of challenges growing up back then, but I really thought that forming your identity really was the broad spectrum of that that we’re looking at.

And now understanding afresh that what is formative for these young women, and, you know, how is living in an extremely connected world with social media where suddenly you can just have extreme exposure or you can just feel shut out at, you know, in a matter of a day.

What are those stakes to really, really see how they negotiate that? And I was actually very surprised by the resilience, the spirit that I found, and, you know, the and also young women wanting to be represented. I think that there was a real genuine desire for their stories to be told truthfully. So I think, you know, inspired by that, then I carried it back to, and then Neha came on board.

Neha: I’ll add to that for a second. I think Ziddi is not really the privilege of young people. And when you watch Ziddi Girls, though the show says Ziddi, you’ll realize that it cuts across a cross section of Ziddis. There are the principles, there are the professors who are as Ziddi as they come. Men and women. Realize men and women, you know, you realize very early that Ziddi is kind of the ethos of the show and not just the characters, you know, in that sense. The way they fight for their young ones, they really go about it. Because it’s an idea. It’s an idea which is intergenerational.

Neha, since there are multiple directors on board, how did the collaboration happen? What would you like to share about that?

It was really wonderful, and I and I’m told that it is, rarity, because a lot of times when, as, creators and as artists, when you come on board, to make something, it is difficult to come on the same page, with everybody because everyone has a a point of view and a way of looking at life. But I think we really lucked out because what was on the page resonated so much with Shonali, who’s our lead director, that it almost felt like between Vasant and Shonali as directors, it felt like we were all making the same show with the same voice. It was not like three people making three different stories or with three different styles. And I think I believe it is a rarity, and I believe it is also our strength. Because when I watch the show today, it feels like one piece.

With the boom of OTT, do you feel we are able to tell better stories, braver stories?

Neha: That is the landscape that can be better for forever. You know? I mean, that is a dream. Right? But the truth is that, yes, with OTT here, we are able to tell stories that go beyond marquee calls. You know, the theater has rules. It has regulations. You need certain parameters for success. On OTT, you can go out there, pick the smallest idea, have a platform champion it, and really, really reach it to an audience that could be, you know, in a little village in India. It could be far out in Mexico.

It could be anywhere in the world. I mean, in that sense, OTT has blurred the geographical boundaries for content forever. And that’s why your story can be content forever. And that’s why your story can really reach out in that sense.

So, yes, the impossible is kind of possible now.

Shonali: Well, I’d like to answer it specifically, talking about our show. This, you couldn’t have had without an OTT. It’s an eight part series. It’s a series about zid. It’s a series about political voices. It’s a series about the attack on public universities. We have all fresh young faces, and I thank PNC, and I thank Amazon for giving us directors this enormous exciting privilege to launch Fresh Faces. We have launched nine Ziddi girls, and there are many other stars amongst our secondary cast, but all nine are being launched in this show, and they are all outstanding.

Every review has talked about how outstanding the performance is. So coming back to your question, I think that to be able to launch new talent, to be able to talk about important issues, how can you do that, you know, without OTT? And it’s incredible that today, Amazon Prime has released a show like Ziddi Girls, and really it’s something that everybody should watch.

Because if you don’t watch and if you don’t click on it even though we’re not like box office, but the thing is then then another won’t be made. And it’s so important that every young woman at least who is listening to this, you need to do that because when you watch it, you’ll realize how much of you is in it. And not just young. Any woman who’s watching, we are approaching International Women’s Day. The best thing you can do for women kind across gender, anybody who cares about women kind, we have a hardcore feminist here. So actually, it’s not about gender, it’s ideology.