What did it take to put together Aarya? Hear it from the directors and writers

Eshita Bhargava • December 10, 2021, 14:42:09 IST

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In an exclusive interview, directors Ram Madhvani, Vinod Rawat, Kapil Sharma and writers Anu Singh Choudhary and Sanyuktha spoke about upcoming season, the success of season one, being nominated for Emmy Awards, and much more.

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What did it take to put together Aarya? Hear it from the directors and writers

_Aarya_ , directed by Ram Madhvani, marked Sushmita Sen’s foray into the OTT format. The first season went on to receive global acclaim, and was honoured at the International Emmy Awards with a nomination. It is based on the Dutch drama series Penoza and follows Aarya’s (Sen) journey into the dark underbelly of the mafia world after the death of her husband. The show also stars Sikandar Kher, Chandrachur Singh, Virti Vaghani, and Sugandha Garg, among other actors. In an exclusive interview, directors Ram Madhvani, Vinod Rawat, Kapil Sharma, and writers Anu Singh Choudhary and Sanyuktha spoke about the upcoming season, the success of season one, being nominated for Emmy Awards, and much more. How was it just before the announcement at the Emmy Awards? Ram Madhvani: 24 countries were at the Emmys that evening, 600 shows had been shortlisted and we were in the top four. I am not in the business of collecting possessions but of collecting memories and I am glad that I was able to make such a beautiful memory.

It was unbelievable.

How did the idea come to your mind? Ram Madhvani: About 10 years ago, Fox Star had approached me to remake Penoza as a feature film. I didn’t want to do it at all but I loved the character and it stayed with me. A few years later, I was with Aamir Khan shooting for Satyamev Jayate and that’s when I saw opium fields and asked people about it. That gave me the idea to rework it into a series. Seven years later, Disney Plus Hotstar approached us and here we are! Do you think that the credit should go to Sushmita Sen? It is her comeback project. Ram Madhvani:

100 per cent! We owe her. If anybody is Aarya, it is Sushmita. I hope we have done justice to her.

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Aarya is an adaptation of Dutch crime-drama Penoza, but when we make something for the Indian audience, it has to be as per their liking. What changes did you all have to make as directors and writers? Ram Madhvani: You make a show because you want to. In this case, Aarya is about a woman who could either choose to be a mother, a daughter, or a wife. The idea of Karma and Dharma – what role you choose in life – excited me to remake it. Anu Singh Choudhary: We followed the basics – there’s love for family, the strength of a mother and we understood that. The line between duty and action had to be defined and we kept that in mind. The season gets far more courageous and that has been organic, we didn’t have to put in much effort. Season 2 has been directed by you (Ram) along with Sandeep Modi Vinod Rawat. How was it collaborating? Was there a time when one of you didn’t agree with another person? Or maybe changed something that gave a better outcome? Ram Madhvani: They do all the work and I just take the credit. It has always been a team effort. Of course, there have been times when I was told what I should not do in terms of direction and I took the criticism positively. It has been like a relay race and we just had to pass on the baton to one another. I allowed the other director to have their own mind. Kapil Sharma: We didn’t have fights but wrestling – this happens when many creative minds get together. There have been misunderstandings about character, but everyone helped one another. Vinod cooked the actors and helped them to understand their roles. Vinod Rawat: What a question! We never asked Ram sir, about it. I want to sing, “Ek chidiya, anek chidiya.” All we had to do was to keep our ego aside. How has technology helped you as directors in season 2? Vinod Rawat:

I am sure the audience will find the difference between Season 1 and Season 2, all thanks to technology.

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Ram Madhvani: Over time, I have learned from other film directors from the world to make the actors feel comfortable. We didn’t have actions, cuts, or lights. We shot with two-three cameras. It’s a bit like theatre-meet-documentary-meet-cinema. We tried to create energy so that actors could feel they are performing live. The actors can work with full honesty.

Do you think with OTT platforms, writers and directors are getting more freedom to show women characters in a better light? Ram Madhvani: OTT has been a blessing so we can do more work. When we did Neerja it was a film, not on OTT. Yes, it was ‘women-centric.’ I don’t think it’s because of OTT that we have male-centric v/s female-centric. Hopefully, there is an audience for good work and we are getting to work, we were scared when we were working but at least we could get the show out for people. Anu Singh Choudhary: Why can’t it just be a story led by character and not gender? The last five years have allowed us to give more screen time to different characters - men or women and things are evolving. Sanyuktha: We have had such characters in the past, but we need more of such powerful women characters. For Aarya, we didn’t write anything keeping in mind that Aarya is a woman. We wrote the character thinking how would a mother or wife or daughter will react to a situation. Yes, pushing out women-oriented films is difficult.

Are we going to have Aarya Season 3? Ram Madhvani: The original, Penoza (a Dutch drama series) had five seasons but the greenlighting power is not in our hands, it’s in the audience’s hands. It’s not even in Disney+Hotstar’s hands. When we got so much love in season 1, the audience asked for more.

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