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EXCLUSIVE: Masaba Masaba's Ashvini on casting Masaba & Neena, exploring daughter mother relationship, Season 2
In a candid chat with Pinkvilla, Masaba Masaba producer Ashvini Yardi opened up on how the show happened and Neena and Masaba's evolved relationship
Masaba Masaba producer Ashvini Yardi is on cloud nine currently with the amount of adulation she has received for her Netflix series starring Masaba Gupta and Neena Gupta. The show got a good response and is being talked about for several reasons, firstly for breaking barriers, secondly with Masaba making her acting debut. Much to our surprise, Masaba looked natural on-screen and Ashvini, in a candid chat with Pinkvilla, opened up on how the show happened and Neena and Masaba's evolved relationship. Over to her:
With such an overwhelming response, does it validate your belief in your instinct?
I am overwhelmed with the response. I think this has happened with me throughout my career, an idea that I have had, which people have opposed to and have specifically told me not to do and I go out and do, and then it gets such a response. This has happened to me a lot of times, whether it was about starting Colors or bringing Balika Vadhu, anything or even OMG, everyone told me 'are you mad? Why are you doing this?'
How did Masaba Masaba happen? When did this idea stem and how much time did it take to put it all together?
It is a new genre. I wanted to work on a biopic for a film and then I realised the number of dos and don'ts because when a person is alive and you want to make a film on them, they want to be projected in a goodie-goodie way and if the person is not alive, then the family wants you to do the same. There are so many restrictions that I started to feel that there is no way to tell a story properly. If you want to show an inspiring story, you have to show the ups and downs, the flaws, everyone is imperfect, what makes us special are our flaws and our imperfections, you cannot just put a story with no flaws in the protagonist because then it is not as inspiring. I was very sure that if I am doing a story on a person, then why not get the person to feature in it because that will eliminate many creative liberties.
I was very sure in my head that the story will be on a woman but where do I get these women who are open to kind of show their flaws. I used to follow Masaba on Instagram and I used to see her Instagram stories and realised that there is a story there, she would put out her flaws without any inhibitions, share her stretch mark pictures and what not. She would put out her grumpy photos too, which is a rarity. I used to find her inspiring and I thought how great would it be if I could make something on her but I wasn't sure if she would be okay with it. I spoke to her and we met up and she was shocked because she thought I was approaching her for some chat show. She loved the idea and then Neena ji agreed to play the mother. So, in a small fraction of time, I got two amazing women onboard.
What was the most difficult part of this project for you?
Getting Neena ji and Masaba wasn't as difficult but getting the creative team was difficult as I couldn't find people. I had a lot of problem getting writers on board because they couldn't understand what I wanted. There were many questions, is this a documentary, is this a fictional show, why are you getting Masaba to play the role, why don’t you get an actress? You shouldn't do this; it is not a great idea. I have heard everything. I had six months before I actually found Sonam, the director. It then worked out very well.
The first thing Neena ji herself told me that 15 years ago when Masaba was a teenager, she had expressed her desire to become an actress, and Neena ji told her that she has a very unconventional look and she might not get the lead protagonist roles.
Ashvini Yardi
I read you mentioning about apprehensions people had about casting a Caribbean-Indian actor and so forth...
I feel this show broke barriers in a lot of different ways. The first thing Neena ji herself told me that 15 years ago when Masaba was a teenager, she had expressed her desire to become an actress, and Neena ji told her that she has a very unconventional look and she might not get the lead protagonist roles. You might get a vamp's role. Masaba in her own words said that if I become an actress, I always thought I would get that sexy woman who breaks marriage kind of roles, so basically, Neena ji wasn't keen on her becoming an actress because she feared she won't get the right roles. And see how wonderful is it that 15 years later, she is a protagonist in her show, which is based on her. This also shows that the society and audience have evolved as well.
Since the show delves a lot into their personal life too. Where did one draw the line?
The entire writing team would sit at Neena ji and Masaba's house and hear their story. So at that point, in the beginning, they had made it clear that there are some things which are private and it will always remain private. There are a lot of other things which can be made in stories. We have taken all of the stories which can fit the graph. If you see the show, you will find so much of Masaba and Neena ji in yourself because they are all so real.
Signing off, Ashvini hinted at a Season 2 for the show.
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