Neeraj Udhwani on Single Papa: Humour is one of the best ways to method troublesome topi

For Neeraj Udhwani and Ishita Moitra, the writers of Netflix’s new sequence Single Papa, the concept for the present got here throughout a visit to Goa on the airport. “We noticed this visible of a macho man holding a child in his arms, and he was looking for a diaper station.” Whereas ladies’s restrooms normally have diaper-changing services, males’s restrooms usually don’t. Some public establishments, like airports, supply household rooms the place both father or mother can feed or change a child’s diaper. However this one incident obtained the writers serious about how, institutionally, elevating and nursing a child continues to be thought of a girl’s duty slightly than a person’s.

Neeraj and Ishita on giving a humourous contact to Single Papa

Whereas Neeraj and Ishita, who’re additionally a married couple, had a structural thought for the story, not being mother and father themselves meant they weren’t emotionally pushed to pen it down on the time. Nonetheless, after welcoming their daughter years later, they felt a stronger urge than ever to inform this story.

Neeraj, who has beforehand penned scripts for movies like Mere Dad Ki Maruti and Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji, believes humour is one of the best ways to method troublesome subjects. Ishita, who collaborated with Neeraj on Mere Dad Ki Maruti and can be recognized for writing Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, echoed the sentiment. “Because it was about adoption and a father’s love for a kid, the emotional elements got here in naturally. Comedy-drama can be a really distinctive method, you realize. You don’t see a lot of it within the OTT house. So we additionally thought that this might make it slightly totally different from different exhibits which might be on air or which were on. So these are all acutely aware selections that we took whereas writing,” shared Neeraj speaking to mid-day. 

Casting Dayanand Shetty as Manny

Single Papa brings collectively an fascinating mixture of actors together with Kunal Kemmu, Manoj Pahwa, Ayesha Raza, Prajakta Koli, and Neha Dhupia. Nonetheless, one of many largest shock parts was the casting of Dayanand Shetty, popularly generally known as CID’s beloved Daya, as a manny (male nanny). The actor, who spent years on display screen breaking down doorways and flexing his power, is seen right here in a delicate, light avatar, the place his expertise lie in tiptoeing round sleeping infants slightly than smashing doorways.

So whose thought was this surprising casting selection? Neeraj credit your entire Single Papa staff, together with co-director Hitesh Kevalia, showrunner Shashank Khaitan, and producer Samar Khan. “Manny’s character was at all times written from the start. So we knew that we needed to do one thing totally different and distinctive right here. The position was at all times written as a really strong-built, muscular, macho man, however somebody who’s a softie at coronary heart. So it might be enjoyable to see somebody who has an motion picture, somebody who breaks bones, altering diapers,” Neeraj shared.

He additional added, “After which as quickly because the casting course of started, I feel instinctively all of us together with Netflix thought that if we method somebody like Daya, it could possibly be casting towards the grain. It’s like seeing somebody do one thing in a different way. If this present was made within the 70s or 80s, we might have solid Dharmendra. So it’s one thing like that- a powerful man doing one thing that’s very light and candy.”

Ishita sums it up merely,  “He represents the sort of masculinity that we consider in. He’s at all times robust and delicate.”

Getting the suitable solid

Whereas some tasks are written with sure actors in thoughts, the script of Single Papa was developed in components, and solely a lot later did they begin imagining actors who would swimsuit the characters. Thankfully, for all of them their first decisions had been finalised for the ultimate output. “We developed it over a protracted time period. Someplace alongside the way in which, we knew we wished somebody like Kunal and somebody like Dayanand for Manny, however that got here slightly later within the course of. Initially, we targeted on the core story of a single father adopting a child and his household. The nuances, the insights into parenthood, got here in later. As soon as we had a strong dialogue draft in place, all of us naturally started placing faces to the characters,” shares Ishita.