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What's happening in this villa?
By Pratibha Umashankar
21 September 2007
An Indo-Pak TV serial entirely shot in Dubai. Yes that's what's happening. And it has brought together to a neutral turf two entertainment giants from across the divide – Balaji Telefilms and ARY Digital.
THE VILLA at the end of a leafy lane in Jumeirah stands innocently with its high walls and manicured lawn. But inside there is a strange kind of commotion. People are purposefully moving in and out of rooms. Cable wires snake in and out of every plug point. As you pick your way through them, they lead to the kitchen. Lights and cameras block the entrance. A light boy adjusts the lights.
"Rolling." Says the cameraman.
"Silence!" commands the assistant director. "Action!"
A girl in a simple salwar kameez, dripping sweetness and innocence starts to mouth her dialogues.
"Sania, consider this house yours," she tells her friend. "You can stay here as long as you want."
The "friend" who has "trouble" written all over her face smiles with phony gratitude and then looks straight at the camera with ice-cold eyes. She doesn't utter a word, but "What a sucker!" she seems to say.
"Cut!" says a voice from behind and the girls relax.
Some of the crew members move to the dining table that doubles up as a console for monitors to take a look at the scene just shot.
Muzammil Desai, a 21-year-old who looks 16 answers to the name of the director gets busy briefing the actors for the next shot.
Upstairs, a lady playing the proverbial evil aunt, looking every inch a vamp, is getting made up. The make-up man is laying it on thick – layers of pink, and icy blue eye shadow.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that yet another Ekta Kapoor potboiler is simmering, waiting to be served up to ever-hungry viewers waiting to lap up anything.
The potboiler is called Khwaish, a joint Indo-Pak venture that has brought together two entertainment houses from both sides of the subcontinental divide – Balaji Telefilms and Ary Digital Network.
"We wanted to launch a big soap opera – a driver programme that would be the frontispiece of our TV channel. And we thought we should go to the best in the business for it. So we approached Balaji, the best entertainment house in soap operas," says Yasar Khan, Vice President, Production and Acquisitions, ARY Digital Network.
"We were not worried that it was an Indian production house. All we knew was that they could deliver. We be guaranteed the eyeballs. So Balaji is producing it for us with a combination of Indian and Pakistani cast and crew – about 80 per cent Indian and 20 per cent Pakistani. In fact, 50 episodes have already been canned."
Khwaish began to be telecast in Pakistan on June 25 and in Dubai on September 3 on ARY channel. It can be viewed from Monday to Thursday at 8.30pm in the U.AE. and at 9.30 in Pakistan, where 48 episodes have already been telecast.
"The response has been great!" says Yasar.
"It is a unique joint venture," says Suraj Singh, Branch Head, Assistant Manager, Balaji Telefilms, "What is even more unique is that it is the first time that a full-length soap opera of this magnitude is being shot entirely in Dubai."
"Khwaish is a story of two Pakistani families," adds Yasar.
Then why Dubai?
"We decided on Dubai because we wanted to widen our horizon to include the Middle East. Not only do we have a vast subcontinent viewership here, but also because Dubai is the place where Indians and Pakistanis live in harmony."
"No matter what the political equations between the two countries, in the U.A.E., an Indian feels closer to a Pakistani than to say, a European. This is because of the common language, culture, history and heritage they share. Dubai is a neutral ground," adds Suraj.
"Here people of both countries live like friends and interact socially and in the workplace. We wanted to portray this. Though the hero and heroine come from Pakistani families, they have Indian friends and colleagues."
So we can expect double the number of celebrations, al la Ekta Kapoor soap opera style.
"Oh, yes!" says Yasar, we will have Diwali, Holi, Ramadan and Eid and the works, to cater to all our viewers."
All Balaji soaps are long-distance runners. In fact, they go on interminably. So what could the longevity of Khwaish expected to be?
"We have rented this villa for three years and the cast and crew members have been brought on residence visas. They are going to be in Dubai for a long, long time," says Suraj.
"As you know, our storylines are pretty flexible. We have a bound script in the beginning. But we are open to feedback from the audience. In fact, our story keeps changing with twists and turns as per the viewers' demands. No Balaji soap opera has been stopped on public demand. The few that have come to an end are because we thought enough was enough. Most of them are going on for years. And we envisage the same for Khwaish. You cannot expect it to end anytime soon, no, not even within the next three years. It is the minimum time we are looking at."
Will the cast be tied to the serial forever?
"The cast would love to," says Suraj. "But as you know, if need be, we even change the actors in the course of the serial."
What about the crew, including the director? Would anybody be willing to make such long-term commitments?
"Actually, we don't have one single director calling the shots for the entire serial as it tends to run for years," says the fledgling director Muzammil G. Desai, who has graduated from an assistant director and donned the mantle of a director for the first time.
"We have a pool of directors, assistant directors screenplay and script writers. The script comes from the pool. I am directing the episodes now, but I might hand over the baton to another director and move to another project. Such is the level of co-ordination at Balaji."
And what about the Queen Bee herself? How far and how deep is her involvement in her TV serials?
"Ekta Kapoor is very much hands on," says Muzammil. "All the final approvals, be it storyline, plot, script or cast have to come from her. We give her several options and she has to give the nod. She knows exactly what is happening in the dozen-odd serials on air right now. We might miss the details, but she doesn't. She can point out a flaw in the continuity of a scene by looking at the furniture and the background. She knows what exactly each of her sets look like. But it is her mother Shobha Kapoor who chooses everything that goes into the sets. She has an eye for what will look good on screen"
What about this set? How was it created?
"We got this villa as an empty shell," says Yasar. "We fitted this out to create the home of the heroine. We have not rented them. We have actually bought everything — the furniture, the drapes … because they have to last as long as the show lasts. They are from the local showrooms. We wanted to create an authentic Dubai household. We will also be shooting extensively on the streets and malls of Dubai — wherever the lives of the characters in the story takes them."
It is not that other Indo-Pak television serial have not ventured into the arena with a Middle Eastern nuance. So what is unique about Khwaish?"
"It is the only full-length television serial of this dimension with an Indo-Pak cast and crew to be entirely shot in the U.A.E.," says Suraj. "Others did not run into hundreds of episodes as we have planned."
Will Khwaish help strengthen the bond between the two countries? Will it promote peace? Will it help ease the political tension?
"That is not our main aim," admit Yasar and Suraj.
"We want to tell the story of a simple Pakistani girl called Afreen who lives in Dubai. Yes, it is made by an Indian production house for a Pakistani TV channel. But our aim is to make it inclusive and involve as many viewers as possible from the three countries to widen our viewership. We do want to portray the cordial relationship Indian and Pakistanis share in the U.A.E. But we don't have any great political ambitions or high social expectations. "If it happens, fine. We will be happy that our efforts have in some way had positive results."
Khwaish may not come with any avowed noble or lofty ideologies, but even, albeit obliquely, if it helps create better understanding between the two countries which were once one, and if it helps dispel hostilities at a people-to-people level, it is cause for celebrations.
Meanwhile, it is a great business strategy that ensures big audiences in the battle of eyeballs.
Catch them young
KHWAISH HAS brought together a young crowd. The director Muzammil almost accidentally stumbled into his career. He came Mumbai on a vacation when he was 16, went to watch a shoot at Balaji Studios and got hooked. He started low as a helping hand and has clawed his way up these last six years.
Ekta Kapoor must have tremendous confidence in him to trust a 21-year-old with such a prestigious project.
"She gives breaks to total unknowns and makes them big," says Muzammil.
That holds good for Priya Ashok Bhathija, playing the female lead. She was plucked out of second year of college. "I am from Nasik, far away from show-biz glamour," she says. "I was on vacation in Mumbai and went for an audition for the heck of it and got a small part in Kyon Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. I stayed on in Mumbai and groomed myself. And then, I got this offer. I'm now a heroine!"
Syed Yasir Ali a model from Pakistan plays Azaan, the hero's brother — a meaty role.
"I have done a bit of modelling. I have no acting experience. It's a bit scary to be part of this huge production. I make mistakes, but I'm learning something every day," he says.
Why not take well-known names?
"That is the USP of Balaji productions," says Suraj. "We pick fresh talent and make them into household names." Sumeet Sachdev, who plays Kabir Khan, the hero got his big break in Kyon Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi more than four years ago. He is now a well-known face. He was chosen to play the male lead in Khwaish because Star Plus serials are very popular in Pakistan and Ekta Kapoor, with her unerring business sense knows he will be an instant hit there.
'Working in Dubai has been the most relaxing experience for me as it gives me time to take a break from the fast-paced life in Mumbai," says Sumeet.
"Playing a Pakistani character feels great! One of the advantages of working with an Indo-Pak unit is that I have been able to polish up my Urdu pronunciation."
What are the dynamics of an Indo-Pak cast and crew?
"We live and work together on a daily basis," says Muzammil. "But we don't even realise that we are from two different countries."
"We are like one big family," says Syed Yasir.
The k factor
SHE MAY have been accused of dumbing down an entire nation with her never-ending family sagas of big business houses, with scheming aunts, philandering husbands, self-sacrificing wives, and death-defying mothers-in-law, who going by the time-line, are a couple of hundred years old. But however implausible the plot may seem, and no matter how much her detractors may smirk in derision, the fact remains that Ekta Kapoor, the empress of soap rules the small screen and commands eyeballs. The TRPs say it all.
Armed with her "K" factor, that has proved an Eldorado for her time after time, the woman with the Midas touch continues to keep the cash registers ringing and the bottom line swelling.
She was one of the first to realise the potential of the small screen. No matter how inane the storyline and how far-fetched the plots, she has her finger on the pulse of the viewing public. In a recent interview in Koffee with Karan, she succinctly summed up the secret of her success: "The big difference between the big screen and the small screen is that in our movies, the masses idolise the heroes and fantasise about the heroines. But in TV soaps they idolise the women and fantasise about the men."
You can't beat this logic. Every housewife who avidly watches family dramas puts the Parvatis and Tulsis on a pedestal. But one look at her overweight, belching and snoring husband, and she secretly hankers for all those flirtatious, wayward men, be it Mihir, Ram or Ansh. The millions of female fans all over the subcontinent can vouch for this. Go to any ordinary household during prime viewing time and zap the channels at your own peril when Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi is on.
Once upon a time
KHWAISH, MEANING desire or wish in Urdu, tells the story of a Pakistani girl, who is forced to take up a job due to force of circumstance. Her job hunt takes her to the hero's office. He is the archetypal rich and spoilt brat who falls for the heroine's simplicity and integrity after an initial tiff. She is not enamoured of his wealth and that is the biggest bait.
They predictably marry and even more predictably, there is a snake in the Garden of Eden in the form of an evil aunt. And the hero's brother too has designs on the unsuspecting heroine. So what's new?
You will have to wait years to find out their ultimate fate, for the show must go on, and on and on….
You can be in it too
THERE IS good news for wannabe stars. ARY Digital Network has plans to involve local talent in the weeks to come. With promos where winners will get a chance to play small roles. "It will help the U.A.E. audiences to identify themselves more with the characters," say the movers and shakers of the serial.
Photos by Mukesh Kamal and Liaqat Hussain/Khaleej Times
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