Mango People Media’s upcoming web-series Love, Lust and Confusion is all set to stream on Viu India from 17 March.
The series stars Tara Alisha Berry in the central role along with Rajat Barmecha, with actors Ankit Bathla, Gaurav Chopraa, Paras Tomar, Meiyang Chang, Sameer Kochhar, Mohini Shimpi adding up to the entertainment value!!
At the outset of its streaming, IWMBuzz wishes the Producers Neha Anand and Victor Mukherjee all the very best!! The series is directed by Victor Mukherjee.
We talked to Director and Producer Victor Mukherjee about the concept and cast of the series!!
To tell you, the making of this concept was not a cake walk for the Producers. Victor actually wrote it 2 years back, and pitched it to various platforms, but there seemed no light at the end of the tunnel. Finally, it was Viu India that gave the concept its value, and now you have it in front of you….
Says Victor, “It’s a happy moment for all of us as I wrote this concept two years back. The main crux of the story is about ‘confusion’ in the millennium, that is in the youth of ages between 18 and 26, whether the relationship they are having is either love or lust. Actually, I know a person who is having this problem. In fact she maintains a wish-list to fulfill. As I looked around, I saw many people facing the same kind of dilemma in life. This confusion actually leads to a situation where they do not know what they want in life.”
Talking about the lead character Poroma Sorkar, essayed by Tara Alisha Berry, Victor states, “She is a girl who wants to fulfill her journey of fantasy list. She’s a girl from Kolkata, an illustrator, who wants to do well in her career. She is actually in love with Rohan (Ankit Bathla); they have been together for years. But then, when he goes abroad, she meets different people which actually prompt her to tick off few from her list. In this journey of hers, she meets Johny (Rajat Barmecha) incidentally who is a drummer. Poroma is experimental, and an extrovert. Though she can derive her own decisions, she always looks up to her best friend Molly (Mohini Shimpi) to give her the golden advises.”
The men that come into the life of Poroma will be played by Gaurav Chopraa, Paras Tomar, Sameer Kochhar.
Casting Poroma turned out to be a herculean task for Victor Mukherjee and Neha Anand. On the process that lead to the casting of Tara Alisha Berry, the Producer explains, “We were hunting for the apt cast for more than two months. Actually the criteria for the girl were that she needed to be attractive in the first glance, she had to be a Bengali as my character was one. Also, we needed someone who had to be musically inclined. Tara actually matched all the attributes. Tara is a stunner look-wise; she has her Bengali roots from her mother; and she is musically good and holds qualities of a singer. In fact, Tara has even sung for a number towards the climax of the series. At the end of the extensive hunt, we are extremely happy to have zeroed in on Tara. I have personally never seen a more professional actor than her. She used to be so very well prepared every day.”
“Compared to Tara, Rajat’s casting was very much simple and easy. Rajat is a very good friend and when I was writing the story, I always had him in mind. So whatever attributes and characteristics my character has are in Rajat. For the role of the chef, Paras Tomar was very apt as we needed a person who was flamboyant, at the same time good with words. In Gaurav Chopraa, we found Rahil. Gaurav’s worldly wisdom, his voice attracted us to cast him. He fit the vagabond kind of a character to the ‘T’. Meiyang Chang is ofcourse a very close friend and he had to be there. He plays the boss of Poroma who actually puts things to perspective.”
Love, Lust and Confusion will have a musical flavour and that will give the series a special impact. Ace composer Lesle Lewis has composed the songs for the series. “Lesle and I go a long way; we have been working together since Coke Studio days. The kind of songs composed for the series will be a one-of-its-kind for the digital platform. These songs can go as an album. Shilpa Rao has sung a song; Chang has sung a Bengali song for the first time in his career. Rajat himself has rapped a song; Lesle’s daughter has sung a song; Tara sung a song. Overall, we have created really good music.”
While the music is going to be top-notch, the same can be said about the styling in the series. The Producers took the extra effort of hand-picking the clothes and costumes to be used for their characters, as they wanted to create a style statement. Talking about this, Victor avers, “Luvdeep Guliyani is the stylist on the series and he has successfully brought in a unique style statement for every character. One thing to note here is that none of the two characters’ styling actually matches. Everyone has been styled so differently.”
Last but not the least, Producer Victor Mukherjee hopes that people accept the issues spoken in the series as it is. “There are two ways of making a show – either you show something that is not real, or you show the reality and show how differently it is. We have taken the second route. We have shown the reality, and it is one girl’s perspective of how she sees the world.”
Before signing off, Victor has a special mention for Sharanya Rajagopal, who has been incharge of the screenplay and dialogues. “She has done a fabulous job and the dialogues will speak for itself here.”
We wish the team of Mango People Media all the luck for the series!!