Vipul Amrutlal Shah: It may take a while but we will be able to go back to theatre’s glory days
Your first OTT show Human, made over two waves of the pandemic, was appreciated by the audience. In hindsight, what do you think worked in its favour?
Human is one of the most shocking pieces of content. The audience was quite taken in by the facts, stunned and shocked with the relativity of the topic. The people and their stories in the show touched them. The characters, the tracks and particularly Shefali and Kirti’s performances worked for people. They found it to be something new and absorbing. When I look back, I feel it was a brave move to back it. The OTT channel backed us on it and gave us the space to operate freely. Our conviction paid off. We were all hoping the show works, and we got there. So, I am satisfied and happy.
Are you planning to create a subsequent season of the show?
We need to find a great story for it, something as shocking as season one was. It has to be based on facts and something that will shake up our consciousness. The platform is keen and so are we but we will work on a suitable story and then work on the next season. The second season has to be at par with season one if not better.
What does it take for someone so attuned to movies to make a show spilling into multiple episodes? What are the roadblocks that you face?
The grammar of a show and film are different. The good part is that I am a product of television. My career was born with Ek Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka. It was the first prime time show to hit the 1000-episode mark on air. I am used to the long format but there is a difference between making a TV serial and a web series. OTT shows are of an international standard, like a movie. You have to maintain that standard, that passion and intensity across episodes and seasons. So, it becomes a challenging space for every filmmaker. Like we have just done one season. The only roadblock I see is at the level of cracking a good story and script. Actors and technicians can do a splendid job if the written word is pitch perfect.
Do you find yourself more liberated as a storyteller on the web?
I’ve been lucky that whatever I made, worked and I had the freedom to make it as I felt right. I was given the space to follow my conviction. Also, the web allows you to play with certain stories and give them the length that you feel they deserve. The expectation is that this space makes you feel liberated and when you see yourself playing around with stories and characters and giving more runtime for something to develop on screen, you automatically feel liberated in that space. But I have generally never felt restricted, ever.
How do you assess the situation that Bollywood is going through right now? What do you think needs to be done to change the game in Bollywood’s favour, given that some films in recent times have worked?
I feel that the way Hindi cinema is dealing with things, we aren’t meeting too many expectations from the audience. We have to give better content and buckle up as content creators. We have to re-cultivate the habit of going to cinemas in our audience. There is not one single formula to make that happen but we need to make that extra effort to invite the audience back into theatres. Genre or story aside, we have to make a conscious effort to curate stories that will hook the audience. It may take a while but we will be able to go back to theatre’s glory days.
When you make a show or a movie. how do you decide which story should be told across episodes and which one should be limited to two hours?
Human was originally a film, for which we wrote about 28 drafts. And then we realised that a two-hour narrative will not cut it. We turned it into a show. The decision was made on the basis of the story and the characters. A story will talk to you – it will tell you on its own if it needs a longer duration or it can be crisp and tight. There is no complex process here. It’s a simple thing which you realise soon enough.
You’ve spent well over two decades. What’s your take on the way the business has transitioned from the beginning of the millennium to now?
People still want to enjoy good storytelling in every genre, even now. Whatever is successful today, was successful 30 years ago, too. If something like Sholay or Ghayal were made today, they would still work. Yes, we have advanced in the technical space and the way we narrate our stories today with the advancements that we have. But cinema has not changed much. And yes, the business has become more corporate. It no longer runs on relationships, though old-school people like me still believe in maintaining relationships and working with them in mind. At the turn of the millennium, Aankhen was the first film that opened in multiplexes. That was a big switch in cinema consumption. The advent of OTT channels is another, and probably as much of a big switch as that. Today, we can’t imagine our lives without these. OTT channels in fact brought a world of content into your homes. Which means that every story that we now narrate, we will have to satisfy a more discerning and aware audience. It’s challenging but the core of content creation will remain the same, at least for a few years to come.