Producer Saurabh Tewari is the man who has managed to touch viewers’ hearts with his magnificent shows like Madhubala- Ek Ishq Ek Junoon, Do Dil Ek … Jaan, Iss Mod Se Jaate Hain, Sab Satrangi, and many more. Currently, his production house Parin Multimedia has a show named Sherdil Shergill airing on Colors TV. In an exclusive interview with IWMBuzz.com, Saurabh spoke about expectations from Sherdil, the new web series, and more. Read on:
Your show Sherdil Shergill is winning audiences’ appreciation, what do you have to say about it?
Sherdil Shergill has been a fantastic experience so far. So we wanted to tell a slightly different story from whatever the current Colors TV show. We had this idea with us for more than a year. It is a story of a successful protagonist, who is also a working mother, and how she tackles the challenges that come her way. We wanted to explore the work life of the protagonist. I especially wanted to tell a story of a single mother who is trying to balance her successful career too. Everything started with this thought process. Later, we all sat down together and this concept shaped up. Last year, during the month of October, I met Manisha Sharma and bounced the idea to her and she was supportive. It was an experimental show from day one and that’s how the journey of the show started.
Can you take us through the process of Sherdil’s story and casting?
Once the basic plot and story cracked, we locked it with Colors TV. The biggest challenge was to find the right faces for the show. Somehow, Surbhi Chandna was one of the names which were there in my mind since I was writing the project. Surbhi and I have been planning to work on something or the other for the past 4-5 years before Ishqbaaaz happened in our lives. She was supposed to play the female lead in Badtameez Dil which I created for Star Plus. The original cast of the show was Pearl V Puri and Surbhi Chandna. We did a lot of mock shoots. However, something happened and we mutually decided to not go ahead. Then I developed a show for Colors TV named Sherni but it did not happen due to commercial reasons. That was the second time we were supposed to work together but we couldn’t. Now, with Sherdil, I feel her character was written keeping her in mind. As far as Surbhi is concerned there was no second thought. However, when it came to the male protagonist, we were contemplating whether to take a fresh face or a relatively known face. I think Dheeraj worked with me long back in 2008. I have seen his journey as an actor so one day Dheeraj’s name popped up. I had read that he was quitting Kundali so my team messaged him. He came to meet me for lunch and I shared the idea with him. In the next 10 days’ time, we were shooting in Shimla. I feel Dheeraj and Surbhi are a dream cast. They both bring freshness and phenomenally good performance.
What are your personal expectations from Sherdil?
It is difficult to answer. TV is going through a changing phase. The audience is also evolving. There is a big section of the audience which is liking the show because of its freshness. Having said that, it is not a top-rated show on Colors as of now. I mentioned that it is an experimental show. There is a section that is not able to connect with it. This we have to take with a pinch of salt. Everyone expects that the show should be loved by all. However, it is a tough challenge and that is happening currently. Viewers are opting for content as per their tastes and choices. We are trying to bring some changes to the story so that we can widen our audience base. That’s an ongoing effort that every storyteller will have to do as we move forward.
You are set to launch a new web show which has Ravi Dubey as lead, from the stage of planning to shoot to execution, how will you sum up this fruitful journey of the web series?
Yes, we are doing a web show with Ravi Dubey for Voot. We finished shooting season 1 in Lucknow. We are planning to drop it early next year, the rest depends on Voot when they want to stream it. The editing process is on. It is a light-hearted courtroom drama. I can’t divulge more about the project.
How has been your experience as a maker and creator on the web front? What are the new projects in the pipeline?
The Ravi Dubey series is our third web show. We were the first content creators for the web when the market was emerging. I am talking about 2016 when Voot was launched. Chinese Bhasad was our first web show. It was a family comedy with an amazing star cast. The second web show was Love J Action which was for SonyLiv. Now, we are developing a web show on Amazon miniTV which is in the pipeline. We are heavily getting into creating OTT content. For the future, we have collaborated with Hitesh Bhatia and we are working on some interesting subjects. It is too early to talk about it. However, there are a lot of things happening and 2023 will see some amazing content.
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