Like most Indian villages, Lapatagunj too has a severe water paucity and is yet to get electricity. But instead of whining about it, the villagers settle for the little joys that life offers. Sab kuch hai lapata par khushiyon ka hai pata, is their motto. So, even if the taps are running dry, the villagers play Holi with imaginary water and celebrate Diwali with lanterns and diyas. It’s a telling commentary on the sad state of affairs in the country.
Besides reminding you of some of the popular Doordarshan serials like Malgudi Days, Nukkad etc, it brings back to the small screen one of the pioneers of Indian sitcoms, Manjul Sinha, who had directed the super hit comedy Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi two decades ago. His last show was Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan with Varun Badola and Vrijesh Hirjee on Zee. That was over five years ago, since then, Sinhas stayed away from the small screen. “Basically, I got upset with the entire system, the kind of shows that were being made and had quit TV to make films,” says Sinha who however couldn’t make much headway in the film circuit. “I guess it was too late to start as a filmmaker,” he reckons. In the meantime, TV, according to him, had got a fresh lease with shows like Balika Vadhu and Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashmah. “When I checked out the shows aired on SAB TV, I was impressed. Here was one channel willing to experiment and Taarak Mehta... was a good example.”
No wonder then, when Ashwini Dheer approached him to helm Lapatagunj, Sinha was more than willing. “I know Ashwini’s work, I have been on various juries and I myself have awarded him for Office Office five times,” points out the director, who shared a warm relationship even with the original writer Sharad Joshi during the making of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. He recalls the first time he met Joshi at his office. “I had called to inform that I was making a serial based on his works. He wasn’t sure how it would shape up so he came to my office to discuss it. I enacted the sofa scene where Satish Shah, Shafi Inamdar and Rakesh Bedi try to work out the dimensions of a sofa without actually having one! Joshi liked it and we ended up working on many scripts,” reminisces the director.
For Lapatagunj, Sinha has got together a group of talented artistes like Rohitash Gour (“Who else but him best represents the common man?”), Shubhangi Gokhle, Sucheta Khanna, (though she comes across as a little loud), Preeti Amin (her dumb act reminds you of Tusshar Kapoor in Golmaal) and Abbas, who is cute as Biji Pandey and Vineeth Kumar, who is perfect as the thick-skinned Kachua chacha.
Dheer has put up a Rs 1.5 crore village set at Madh Island for the serial. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to shoot in a village in Wai, which has become the hotspot for TV serial shoots? “Undoubtedly, but it would have been difficult to coordinate the dates of everyone for 15 days at a stretch. Also, the villagers would have been sick and tired of us after sometime,” points out Dheer. So, has the channel alloted him a higher budget? “No, it’s standard but for me this is more than a serial. It’s a passion,” offers Dheer.
The idea of making a serial based on Joshi’s works came from Joshi’s actress daughter Neha. She approached Dheer, who readily agreed to adapt it. He made a concept note and contacted Anooj Kapoor, Business Head, SAB TV, with whom he has done FIR, Office Office in the past. “I know his sensibility and it’s nice to work with people you know, which is why I preferred to go to SAB,” reasons Dheer. In fact, Kapoor is confident that the show will elevate the channel from its number six position to around number three. That’s something we will wait and watch for.
