Do You Wanna Companion: Nishant Nayak on casting Tamannaah Bhatia and Diana Penty
After dabbling in non-fiction all his profession, creator Nishant Nayak harboured a dream of constructing a fiction present. He says it took him and his staff virtually 5 years to deliver the present to display. The Amazon Prime Video sequence Do You Wanna Companion, starring Diana Penty, Tamannaah Bhatia, Jaaved Jaaferi, Nakuul Mehta, and Shweta Tiwari, amongst others, was, he shares, a product of the pandemic. In dialog with mid-day, Nayak discusses how he and Mithun Gangopadhyay developed the concept, did intense analysis of the beer business, and the way a lot the script modified from begin to end.
Excerpts from the interview.
What made you progress from non-fiction to fiction?
To be sincere, I haven’t moved. It was simply one thing that I needed to check out. I nonetheless work as a non-fiction director. Truly, I wrote this story as a pandemic experiment. I used to be all the time eager to direct an authentic story. [I wanted] to both do a brief movie or a long-form content material. My cinematographer [Mithun Gangopadhyay, co-creator] had written a few ideas and that is the one which I actually favored. So, we determined to develop it collectively. We gave ourselves a month to write down your entire story. Then we shopped it round. It took us about 9 months to get by way of to Dharmatic Leisure after which they bought Amazon [Prime Video] on board. Then we arrange a writers’ room. Non-fiction remains to be very thrilling and I take pleasure in it.
Jaaved Jaaferi in ‘Do You Wanna Companion’
How lengthy did it take so that you can persuade others — producers, platforms, and actors — concerning the story?
I used to be truly concerned in narrating it to numerous the solid earlier than we lastly went on flooring in Could final yr. However it took us about eight to 9 months. The entire story of those two women, who wish to enter a male-dominated business, having to create a fictitious male companion due to the circumstances, I believe caught everybody’s ear. Initially, it was set within the US and there was a little bit of a online game element. I needed to localise it, and craft beer is one thing that we each recognized with. In all, it has taken 5 years from the time we put pen to paper to you truly seeing the episode at this time.
How has the response been?
We’ve been getting a combined response from outsiders and associates from the business. I believe the entire one-liner actually appealed to everybody. Individuals have favored that we built-in a combined solid from throughout films and tv. Individuals have discovered the heightened sense of disbelief. Some folks needed one thing slightly nearer to realism. There’s been slightly little bit of critique on that. However largely I believe folks have actually loved seeing Diana and Tamannaah in a sequence. The truth that Jaaved Jaaferi can also be again in a really endearing function [has got love]. We additionally bought numerous optimistic response to Jaaved Jaaferi’s function. I had directed Shark Tank India, so it’s type of persevering with the entire entrepreneur cycle. The music was additionally nicely favored.
(L-R) Diana Penty and Tamannaah Bhatia in ‘Do You Wanna Companion’
How a lot of the unique thought modified within the 5 years?
I believe the important plot of Vikram Walia [played by Neeraj Kabi] having a connection to Tamannaah’s father’s enterprise failing, and that turning into a mission for her to see by way of, stayed the identical. Laila [played by Shweta Tiwari] was initially a sketchy male financier. I’m glad Shweta ended up enjoying it. Just a few small characters and turning factors modified. I’ve no regrets about what modified. It had a military of excellent hearts behind it.
How did you concentrate on teaming up Penty and Bhatia for the present?
They each got here in chilly as a result of they’re from very totally different backgrounds. Tamannaah is a big star within the business. For Diana, it was her first OTT present. We did readings and workshops collectively. They each cherished the story. And it labored
on digital camera.
How a lot analysis into the beer business did you do for the present? And the way a lot beer did you eat whereas making it?
We would have liked a cool product. Initially, we have been planning to go together with video video games. Nikhil [Madhok from Amazon] has been a house brewer, and we had labored collectively earlier than. We, in fact, consumed numerous beer whereas writing it. The story of Bira was an enormous inspiration. Dharma put us in contact with a really nice researcher, Dipti Kharude, who knew lots of people within the beer group. Through the analysis, we learnt that there have been not many feminine brewers within the Indian market. Then we bought in contact with Lynette Pires [from the Women Brewers Collective], who relies in Bengaluru. That was an attention-grabbing perception we got here throughout. Since then there have been about six to seven feminine grasp brewers. Two of them are consultants for a number of manufacturers. In actual fact, Pratik Kansara [of Rolling Mills] was the primary consulting brewer who helped us on the shoot.
Nishant Nayak’s filmography
. ‘The Traitors’
. ‘Shark Tank India’
. ‘Concern Issue’
. ‘MTV Unplugged’
. ‘Masterchef’
. ‘Coke Studio’
. ‘Prime Mannequin’
Within the non-fiction house
Nishant Nayak is presently making ready to shoot the subsequent season of ‘Shark Tank India’. “I’m additionally fiction someday subsequent yr. However now, one thing thrilling in non-fiction is occurring.”
