JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
EXCLUSIVE: Four More Shots Please director Nupur Asthana REVEALS reason behind the Season 2 finale cliffhanger
In an EXCLUSIVE candid conversation with Pinkvilla, Nupur Asthana, who helmed Four More Shots Please Season 2 speaks to us about the finale cliffhanger, Sayana Gupta's delicate story arc and working in a women-dominated set. Read below to know more.
While we are in quarantine mode, bored out of our minds, most of us are relying on the OTT industry to lift our spirit and prominently, distract us! Moreover, we're looking for a safe space to forget reality and step into other people's drama to be addicted to! Enter, Four More Shot Please! The Indian equivalent of Sex and the City, while Season 1 stirred the right noise for the web series, based on four women - Damini, Umang, Anjana and Siddhi - Season 2 sees them dealing with different trials, tribulations and way too many men!
In an EXCLUSIVE candid conversation with Pinkvilla, we speak with Nupur Asthana, who helmed Four More Shots Please Season 2 as she tells us her thought process, during the making of such a popular web series like this one. When it comes to why it was love at first sight for her to direct Season 2, Nupur explains, "It was an exhilarating ride for me! Seeing the women around me, no one is really interested in seeing perfect people. It's only when there is a bit of grey that things become interesting. There's also the character arc, where you start at Point A and you need to get to Point Z. That's interesting to me as a maker and viewer as I am my first audience. If I don't enjoy watching it, I ain't making it."
"The characters are really fun and meaty to deal with as they are struggling with things like facing casual patriarchy at work, searching for self and expressing their creative voice when you are not established enough. It becomes interesting for me as a maker which was exciting." Asthana added.
Women lead the pack as Sayani Gupta, Bani J, Kirti Kulhari and Maanvi Gagroo play fierce, flawed and fun lead characters. On her working experience with the actresses, Nupur recalled, "These four girls, it's a very immersive experience as they did a season earlier as well. They have a hang of their characters. Despite that, in the workshop, I made them write notes on their character. We went to a deeper level of what the characters are. The actors figured what kind of performances I wanted from them and where I wanted to take the characters with me along on Season 2. We worked very hard with the girls during the workshop. Then, I called the co-actors and did separate readings with me. There was a lot of trust between the actors and me. They trusted me with their characters and I know that they are very intelligent, sensitive women so I could work on interpretation with them and really cut close to the bones where the characters are concerned. We've had a lot of laughs on the show. It was a fun set."
It's not just her and the cast that is women dominated but even the crew is brimming with feminine energy. To see that in a male-dominated industry is indeed a refreshing and much-needed change! On this, Asthana stated, "It's fabulous. It's not just me and the actors, my DOP is a woman, the production designer's assistants were mostly women, our costume team is women and I had 2-3 women in my direction team. You can just have unfiltered conversations. It's interesting. I always like hiring women and working with women as they are very hardworking... My sets are very democratic. There's very little hierarchy on my set so if anyone who wants to say something is welcome to say it and I give them an ear to listen."
Check out Four More Shots Please trailer below here:
Moreover, key elements that make Four More Shots Please an exciting watch is the attention to detailing in terms of the production value and especially the fashion, which also plays a main role in the storytelling process. "I was very clear about one thing that this season, the girls are fashion-forward but they must look real and relatable too! We focused on that. The production value is great and the creators are very clear that the show needs to be smashing. That was a good brief to work with," Nupur confessed.
If there's something people are going to talk about in regards to Four More Shots Please Season 2, it has to be the cliffhanger season finale. One wonders if it was intended by the director as well as the writers Devika Bhagat and Ishita Moitra to keep the end, well open-ended! "We wanted to leave it open-ended. Each of those girls has had something drastic happen to them. But despite that, they have each other and that's where we leave the show. The next season, they will deal with it together. It was intentional to leave the season finale like that. Each of them is alone in a sense yet together with their friends," Asthana revealed.
Have you already watched Four More Shots Please Season 2? Let us know what you thought about the web series in the comments section below.
Latest Articles
