Anshuman Sinha, needs no introduction in the Entertainment Industry because his huge volume of work speaks for himself. He has written the stories for some of the most popular shows on television like Kumkum on Star Plus, 12/24 Karol Bagh and Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo on Zee TV, Jaane Kya Baat Hui,Mukti Bandhan, Bairi Piya and Bhagyavidhata on Colors. He is currently the master mind mind the most unconventional story for Life OK named Dil Se Di Dua Saubhagyavati Bhava.
Anshuman Sinha, is a man with a visualisation power, a man with a concrete imagination, a man who surprises the viewers with his indepth sense of conviction and storytelling with the various shades he brings out in his characters.
Rangmunch.TV takes this opportunity to understand the writer's persepctive with regards to the story and the characters of Dil Se Di Dua Saubhagyavati Bhava, since the show has managed to grip viewers' attention from the word go.
Meet the man who has taken Jhanvi and Viraj's story to a complete chilling level, and get ready to be exhilarated as he shares the tale behind the creation of the tale...!
Rangmunch: The irony of the story lies in the title itself - whose suggestion was it and how did you go about conceiving this story?
Anshuman: When the show started a lot of names were under discussion, including the name of two central leads. But after the channel's vision was locked, the picture and the pitch became clearer. It was suggesting the irony in everyone's lives, how we always crave and crib for things we don't have, and do not cherish what we have. If we stop cribbing, and just look at our life, we will find that our life is more than OK. I remember a poem that Lyricist Munna Dhiman wrote, which meant, "waiting for one bigger pleasure we stop cherishing many little pleasures that life offers to us; it's the small quota of pleasures that makes a life worthwhile, not the big ones, so we should stop using 'bahi-khataas' and stop being munims"' So as a whole team this title was finalized, which projected the irony of this drama, hinting at the irony we force ourselves to live in.
The show is adaptation of a popular south show "Shravanthi", whose rights are with UTV. But, we approached the whole show from a fresh and a bit different perspective, and for that a lot of changes was done at story as well as characterization level.
Rangmunch: How did you go about evolving the characters of Viraj and Jhanvi?
Anshuman: Since, the show is adaptation of a popular south show "Shravanthi", whose rights are with UTV. So we all had a basic characterization of Viraj and Jhanvi. But, we approached the whole show from a fresh and a bit different perspective, and for that a lot of changes was done at story as well as characterization level. In Shravanthi the husband's character was completely dark and commits a murder in initial few episode only. We have not defined Viraj as a dark character, and kept the suspense alive around him, if he has done any heinous acts that he will be accused of. And to create and sustain that doubt we have made him a bit vulnerable also, exploring his softer side. And to achieve that, we had to layer him more, make his character more complex and in complete contrast to the simplicity and innocence that Jhanvi offers. In Shravanthi, the wife's character, lost hope very early in the story, and didn't try much for the marriage to work in the first phase of the story. Here we made Jhanvi's character more optimistic, and having more of internal strength to be able to face the tyranny of Viraj for a longer period, and do efforts for this marriage to work. And we also made the character of Viraj smarter (than original) and brought in his manipulative nature strongly to emphasize on tactics the abusive husbands use to keep their wives in control. So you don't know when he is genuinely expressing love, or when he is just manipulating as a counter measure of torture. It was a tough task to shape this character in a way, that one would love to hate him. So that there is always a mixed opinion, whether Viraj is a dark or a grey character, and that gives rise to hope, that one day, Jhanvi can make this marriage work. My inspiration for Viraj's characterization actually came from Girish Karnad's play Tughlaq, who always maintained the suspense and mystery around himself, that, whether he was an eccentric, tyrant, murdering ruler or a visionary king. On other hand in complete contrast we made Jhanvi's character more innocent, simplistic and optimistic, than original, so that, she in spite of all the tortures, attaches herself to every distant hope and continues to try and make the marriage work. This also helped us to explore their marriage completely. Most of the characters that we see today, rarely grow, but here, both these characters will grow with time, but whether that transformation is in the positive or negative direction, is something to watch for in this show.
Rangmunch: Considering, it is a show on a fairly new Channel whose identity was also under wraps, weren't you apprehensive about the promotions and coverage the show would get?
Anshuman: No, that was never the fear or apprehension. If the content is good, it might take time, but audience will eventually come. In fact being a new channel, the publicity was really good, and since the show was getting launched with the channel, we always had extra benefits. The concepts on domestic violence have been pitched to many Hindi-GEC's in past, but couldn't be made for various reasons. So personally, I am really thankful to Life OK, that they provided the opportunity to make a show on domestic abuse, a reality, which most of us choose to ignore or acknowledge in real life. And it's paying off for all of us, and we are much thankful to the audience for appreciating the show.
Rangmunch: What were your reactions when you learnt that the show had topped the TRP charts on the Channel for two consecutive weeks?
Anshuman: We were never looking at the TRP initially; we just concentrated to tell a good story. Though we were hoping for a very strong reaction from the audience, as the content is a bit volatile and very different from what is being offered everywhere else. But a good TRP was indeed a welcome, and raised our confidence and provided the required boost that we are on the right path, but also brought along lot of pressure and expectations.
Rangmunch: As a writer what kind of stories challenge you, and what about this show appealed to you?
Anshuman: All the stories offer their own unique challenge, and I love to write every genre. My only requirement is that the basic story should offer me the opportunity to explore and bring forth a deeper meaning and realities of life and people. I love to experiment with genres; for e.g. narrating a love story in a thriller manner; narrating a tragic story in a humorous way etc. But more than the story, it's always the characters that entice me, and I personally like multidimensional characters. Because its the characters that motivate and propel me to narrate the story in a particular manner.
I am really thankful that I was offered to write Saubhagyawati Bhava. It's the basic seed of domestic violence, which I wanted to work upon for a longer time, and the complex character of Viraj, which made me take up this show. Also the show offered a bigger challenge of narrating this dark story of a woman being tortured and abused, on almost a daily basis in such a manner so that the audience is not repelled, but glued to their seats. And we then devised a thriller narrative to this entire show, gave Viraj a dark humor; balanced the tortures of Viraj with his vulnerability and acts of love and care; balanced the pain of Jhanvi with her optimism and hope to make the marriage work; devised some of the tortures which are hooking rather than repulsive. So its one of the most challenging show I have done, and I am loving it.
Well we hope you liked the interview so far. But this is not the end, as part 2 of the interview is yet to come. So do come back next week to read Anshuman's take on Viraj, Jhanvi and Saubhagyavati Bhav - the show.
As Shared with,
Niharika Vidya Sagar
comment:
p_commentcount