OTT shows have primarily become about personal viewing experiences. As filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya forays into the OTT world with Bada Naam Karenge, he hopes the nine-episode series will take people back to the culture of family viewing. In conversation with mid-day, the showrunner talks about making content for Gen Z, why his projects always boast of green-flag characters, and how a section of OTT viewers misses family dramas.
Edited excerpts from the interview.
Where did the story originate from?
It was narrated to us by S Manasvi; he came up with the concept in 2013. We were [struggling] with the climax then. In 2020, when we had a meeting with SonyLIV, they wanted a Rajshri show. They wanted to recreate the world of Hum Saath Saath Hain [1999] and Vivah [2006] on OTT. So we met Manasvi, and cracked the story. I’m grateful that the streamer backed our vision. The other [platforms] told us that OTT is a younger and urban space.
Tell us about the story.
It’s about a boy from Ratlam, who wants to expand the family business and a woman from Ujjain, who wants to do her Masters in microbiology. They are not able to fit in, in Mumbai nor are they able to fit in where they come from. The story is about how they fall in love.
Sooraj Barjatya
Thrillers and gangster dramas dominate OTT entertainment. Will a romantic family-oriented show find its place?
After the pandemic, a lot of people have moved on to the fire stick. But there are many who want to see something different, who are not happy reading subtitles or watching gore. I believe there is an audience for everything. So, why shouldn’t I make a romantic family drama? I think it’s the right time for us to enter with Bada Naam Karenge.
What did you learn while making the series?
The platform was clear that they wanted to bring the audience from Tier II and III. The best thing about the project was to get Gullak director Palash [Vaswani] as a director. He comes from this world and is experienced. We’ve made a lot of films and television shows, but he guided us on how it is different from television. It took us almost a year to write, two years to get this project through, and post-production took another six months. The web is a beautiful medium to tell a story.
Do you think you can bring the family-viewing culture back with this show?
I think [we] will and we should. It is a necessity of the day. If you talk to the OTT platforms, the money is missing. [So, we need] everyone to come together and watch. Today big televisions screens are back. This culture has to come back where everyone watches content together. For my movies, youngsters would come less to theatres. But they’d come to show the film to their grandparents and parents. That is what we are aiming at.
For people living in the right-swipe generation, how will you convince them that old-school romance is real?
Here, we are catering to the audience that wants [fast-paced] content. That is the world Palash has brought. I feel we try to show youngsters as kids who are partying, taking drugs, drinking or smoking, but that’s not true. I look at my own kids who make mistakes, are stressed, but they rise again. I think Gen Z will connect with the story, especially kids from small towns, the Bharat.
All your characters are green flags. Isn’t that far from reality?
In this show, they are not entirely green flags. But a lot of people tell me that my [depiction] isn’t the reality. I feel at least one in 10 would be [like my characters], but they don’t show that because they want to fit in. I want to show dreams. If we are only going to show how bad society is, what are we showing our kids? My daughter is 26 and wants to get married, but she doubts [the kind of partner she’ll get]. If they are not [like my characters], at least they can try to be and they may get a Poonam [Amrita Rao’s character in Vivah].