Director Rohan Sippy’s latest web show Search: The Naina Murder Case recently started streaming on JioHotstar. Produced by Applause Entertainment, the web series stars Konkona Sen Sharma as an investigating police officer being handed over the case of a murder of a teenage college student.
EXCLUSIVE: Rohan Sippy on casting Kokona Sen Sharma in JioHostar’s Search, “It’s also something new for her”; also speaks about the challenges of venturing into OTT from 2018 onwards
In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, Sippy was asked how this show stands apart from the various other crime shows cropping up on OTT regularly. He said, “It has a lovely balance that gives fans of whodunits mysteries with best twist and turns but central to it are the characters that we are portraying. Both the police officers, who are individually so good and their chemistry is also so interesting. Plus, there are many suspects. So, the whole way of building up characters, secrets and suspense is very interesting.”
He added, “We wanted to show that their work might be like this but they have to switch (when not working). There is the teenager problem (for the protagonist) and her mom is taunting her. We might have faced it as filmmakers or journalists and you will relate to that. It is very good writing. It broadens it much beyond than just fans of crime.”
Sippy said that the credit of bringing Konkona on board goes to Applause. “I just about joined when they mentioned that she was the name they were talking to,” he said. “It was very exciting because we know she is a fabulous actress. Since I have worked with her before, I know she is a great person to collaborate with.”
The filmmaker also pointed out that Kokona hasn’t played such a character before. “It’s also something new for her. Maybe if you would have gone to some other actress, who has done this before, then it wouldn’t appear as fresh. By bringing her, you bring in her audience and also bring the crime audience to realize that she is great (even at this) and we never thought of that.”
Sippy is known for his theatrical films like Kuch Na Kaho, Bluffmaster and Dum Maaro Dum. But from 2018 onwards, he joined the OTT space and has been consistently making web shows. He also has three seasons of Criminal Justice under his belt for the same banner.
When asked whether there were challenges when he first went into the web series space, he said, “There were challenges 100%. So, we started with The Office in 2018. I am a big fan of the original The Office. Luckily, I had produced a mockumentary called The President Is Coming, so I had some experience of the genre as a producer. That was one part of it. But the rest you learn a lot together and there was a lot of feedback from Sameer (Nair, MD Applause Entertainment) and Deepak (Segal, COO). Then going out and doing it like, ‘This is how it works. Next scene we will improve it’. So, there’s always a learning process.”
Sippy believes that two departments need to be top-notch in web shows. “The two things I enjoy in this medium are the writing and the performances. Other stuff can be unnees-bees but without good writing and performances, you can’t make a good show,” he said.
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