Director Sonam Nair And Producer Ashvini Yardi Give Us A Sneak-Peak Into The World Of Masaba Masaba

With only three days left to its premier, Masaba Masaba is creating quite a buzz and excitement. The show, as the name points out, will be showing a semi-fictionalised account of the life of famed fashion designer Masaba Gupta. It will star Masaba Gupta herself alongside her mother Neena Gupta. Here, SheThePeople chats with the director of Masaba Masaba Sonam Nair and the producer of the show Ashvini Yardi about the changing portrayal of women characters in the television industry and the need for shows with self-reliant female protagonists.

On Why A Show Like Masaba Masaba Is The Need Of The Hour

When asked about the need to have a show like Masaba Masaba out at a time like this, director Sonam Nair says, “Although we made the show before, it still fits wonderfully into this time.” She then talks about portraying Neena and Masaba's resilience through the show, “Because of the gumption that both of these women have, no matter what is thrown at them, and their ability to stand up again and face it and move on, that is what we wanted to capture the most in the show. And now that is like the most important thing in all of our lives.”

Also Read: Neena And Masaba Gupta On Their Relationship And Experiences On The Set Of Masaba Masaba

Sonam thinks people will relate to Masaba Masaba and get inspired by it because "everybody is going through that kind of low phase: careers are not going so well, relationships are probably crumbling, nobody knows what the future holds, and we only have our own capabilities to rely on," further adding that somehow a show made months ago happens to be about how you have to rely on yourself.

The Show Has The Firm Potential To Go Global: Ashvini Yardi

When asked to talk about how OTT platforms have been normalising conversations around tabooed topics such as divorce or singlehood, Ashwini Yardi says, “If you notice, Masaba is not your conventional, typical Bollywood heroine. Neither she is your typical protagonist. That itself is a big change that we are seeing. Masaba is so bold and sassy and she's very different from what we’ve usually seen. So I feel if things like that can happen, then things are definitely changing, and they are changing for the better.”

Talking about how the changing portrayal of characterisation of women on TV brings in social change, she says, “Today we are talking about everything under the sun on this show.  We talk about dating, marriage and so much more. For example, we talk about the issue of how Masaba is not getting a house to stay in just because she is a single woman.” She concludes that having those conversations on-screen is what is bringing about a social change.

Also Read: Designer Masaba Gupta Opens Up About Going For Therapy

 Yardi feels that with shows like these we shrink the global boundaries that content has. Says she, "Sometimes I watch Spanish shows without subtitles, and I still understand what’s happening. Because basically the emotions are the same throughout the world. They might slightly vary due to difference in cultures, but otherwise, the feelings are all the same. Hence I feel that this show has the firm potential to go global as well, because of how global the subject and both the protagonists are.”

Watch the full interview below.

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Dyuti Gupta is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.