Anish Surana on his Upcoming Web Series ‘Phone a Friend’: We didn’t want to make it very serious!

ZEE5 is all set to launch it’s upcoming web series titled ‘Phone a Friend’ which its a sci-fi romcom between a guy a girl and a cellphone. The series is directed by Yash dave and Allyson patel, produced by Utopia films and co produced by Anish N Surana, Ashish and Surabhi Mittal. We got in touch with Anish Surana, the co-producer of the series who spoke to us about his experience, exploring the unique concept, working for a web series and much more:

First of tell, tell us something about your series

A sci-fi romantic comedy between a guy, a girl and a cellphone, Phone-a-Friend is a quirky and humorous tale of love, friendship and what it means to be human.

As we know the plot of the story is quite unique and the genre is not that explored in the country yet. Your take?

It’s a very high concept, it has been done abroad with various other films but in India, no one did that. We didn’t want to make it very serious, this is a light hearted rom-com, it’s about human emotions. Yes, technology is an important factor about this but it teaches us about human connect and human emotions also. In today’s time, all the web shows which are coming up are dark, like it’s mostly about a terror attack, police, crime, thriller, there is nothing light hearted which one can see and enjoy. For example, on Television, we have Taarak Mehta, but on the web platform there is no such show. 

1. How was the experience working with the entire unit?

I’ll be very honest, Ashish trusted the subject from the day one. I ridiculed him, I asked him why are you doing this, no one would see it. But he was very determined that it’s going to work and he had complete faith in it. So it’s a good learning for me also, that sometimes you just have to put faith in something you believe. When the process started, things started to fall in place, I actually felt that I was wrong and Ashish had taken the right decision.

       What compelled you to take up this project?

Honestly, what compelled me to take up this project is my brother. And I saw the process, how the show was made, the directors are so passionate about it, Ashish asked me to be a part of the project and I couldn’t refuse.

        You also talked about coming from a different background, you have worked for some of the biggest shows on Television, how different was this for you?

For me, this is my first Web Series. Today you make content in any aspect, which is Television or Films, your process is the same and you enjoy the process. Yes, the format of the story telling changes but the other things don’t change. The people have started to differentiate the people who work in a web series and Television. However, now the barriers are breaking and I think now only thing is if you can tell a good story. That Stigma is going away, a lot of television producers are now coming up with web series and some are really really good.What made you come on board with this project, what’s the one thing which compelled you to take up this project?

Television has a different story telling, it is episodic, 22 minutes of episode is being telecast every day. Here, 12 of  22 minutes of the episode is shot over one and a half years. So there’s a big difference. You have time, web series allows you to think and do the right things, you don’t go wrong, you have all the time to plan it and think it. 

Yash and Allyson, they have made a superb film few years back titled ‘?: Question Mark’, it was an award winning film and it has won a lot of awards abroad. These two guys are really talented and all credit goes to these two people, they have put in all their efforts. It’s their child, it’s their baby and they have actually turned it really well. I am really hoping that people would love it. 

1. Due to the coronavirus outbreak and the nationwide lockdown, what message would you like to give to the audience and how are you spending your time in Quarantine?

I would really like everyone to spend times with their loved ones and maintain all norms of social distancing. I am spending my time helping my wife, I just got married last year in November and post that we got really busy in our respective careers, so we didn’t have time because she is a well known designer who runs her own label and she had back to back shows and her exhibitions plus there is so much good content out there which we missed before and are now catching up.