Showing posts with label Aarya 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aarya 3. Show all posts
Numbers are at play in OTT as well; By Monday, I’d know if people have watched Aarya or not-Ram Madhvani
8:47 AM
Aarya creator Ram Madhvani says OTT show’s first-weekend viewership figures are as crucial as box-office collections
Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; November 13, 2023)
The absence of box-office numbers makes OTT the playground for creative storytelling. Ram Madhvani, whose Aarya 3 dropped online recently, however, says the first weekend of release is as crucial on OTT as it is on the big screen.
“Numbers are at play in OTT as well. These numbers have made Aarya 2 and 3 possible. Return of investment is important in any art form. By Monday, I’d know if people have watched Aarya or not. In two weeks, I will know if I have the next season. A weekend is an important benchmark,” explains the creator-director. Madhvani, who also co-produces the Sushmita Sen-starrer, says viewership data and the freedom to push boundaries go hand-in-hand.
Aarya was originally supposed to be a film. He is glad that it instead became a Disney+ Hotstar series, and a popular one at that. “It was about a daughter who puts her father in jail. I had questions like, is that a good thing? It took me seven years to understand what to do with the story. But when I understood that it’s about a woman being a daughter, mother, working woman, homemaker, and the moral crises that emerge, I knew how to make it.”
Two weeks (after her heart attack), Sushmita Sen walked the ramp at a fashion show-Ram Madhvani
7:48 AM
Describing Sushmita as ‘miracle lady’, Aarya creator Madhvani remembers how actor channelled her inner strength to bounce back after heart attack
Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; November 6, 2023)
Gratitude—that’s the emotion currently dominating Ram Madhvani’s headspace. The creator-director is grateful not only for being able to take Aarya to the third edition, but also to Sushmita Sen for saying yes to him season on season. “I cannot say yes to her. She is in power, and I am happy she said yes again,” he beams.
The crime drama, also starring Sikandar Kher and Vikas Kumar, is centred on Sen’s titular character who goes from being a homemaker to a don after her husband is killed. The Disney+ Hotstar series had the audience hooked since its first season in 2020, as much for its gripping story as for the leading lady’s confident performance. It’s the latter that Madhvani is particularly happy about—the show, after all, marked Sen’s OTT debut.
“The responsibility [I feel towards] whichever actor I am working with is greater than the series or film I make. So, after the series or film has reached the audience, I spend a lot of time [wondering] whether I can look my actor in the eye and say, ‘I did justice to you.’ Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t. With Sushmita, I seem to have succeeded because we are in the third season.”
In Sen, he found a curious actor, an intelligent collaborator, and above all, a person of towering strength. He remembers how the actor suffered a heart attack earlier this year on the sets of Aarya, and overcame the difficult period with her resolute strength.
“I am happy that she is okay. After two weeks, she walked the ramp at a fashion show. That was a statement she sent out to the whole world, which was, ‘I can recover. I will be okay.’ She is a miracle lady. Everybody knows that her energy is incredible.”
Much can be said about Madhvani’s drive too. In a recent interview, writer Anu Singh Choudhary told mid-day that the reason behind Aarya’s success is the director’s relentless pursuit of creative brilliance. Mention it to him, and he laughs, “There should be T-shirts that read, ‘I survived Ram Madhvani.’ I suspect Anu is relentless too. We may get pushed off the mountain, but we will keep climbing it.”
Sikandar Kher joins Sushmita Sen to kick off Aarya 3 shoot in Mumbai
8:32 AM
Hiren Kotwani (MID-DAY; January 16, 2023)
The new year is all about work for Sikandar Kher, who has begun filming the third instalment of Aarya. As the actor joined Sushmita Sen and director Ram Madhvani on the set in Mumbai, he was welcomed by the team with a sweet note that referenced Al Pacino’s iconic lines from Scarface (1983): “The eyes, chico. They never lie.”
The note presumably hints at the impact that Kher made with his brooding act as Daulat, a man of few words.
Kher is naturally thrilled to return to the gritty world of the Disney+ Hotstar offering. “It is great to bring back a character I have lived with for two seasons,” says the actor.
Even though the cast may be intimately familiar with their characters, Madhvani ensured that they were thoroughly prepped before they faced the camera. “We did readings and workshops,” adds Kher.
In the crime drama, his character has had one of the most interesting graphs, going from a loyal bodyguard to the family’s patriarch, to becoming a pillar of support to Sen’s Aarya. He promises there will be surprises in the coming edition.
“Daulat has been evolving in the previous seasons. So, as the story progresses, new layers will be added, not just to my character, but to most of the principal players in the narrative.”
Aarya 3 to go on floors in January 2023; cast kicks off prep
7:55 AM
Aarya 3 cast kicks off prep with theatre-actor duo, ahead of Sushmita-led crime drama rolling in Jan
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; December 8, 2022)
After two successful seasons, Sushmita Sen is ready to return to the gritty world of Aarya. mid-day has learnt that showrunner-creator Ram Madhvani is gearing up to take the crime drama’s third season on floors by January 2023. Before facing the camera, the cast has begun prepping with Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid, owners of experimental theatre outfit Patchworks Ensemble. The trainer duo aim to make the actors intimately familiar with their characters and the script through table reads, workshops and different exercises.
A source reveals, “The cast has started its readings, with Sushmita set to join them in a week. While many actors are reprising their roles, some are new entrants to the world of Aarya. Through their character development workshops, Puja and Sheena help each actor understand their part in detail, thus making it easier for them to follow their character graph and motivations.”
The workshops will go on till December-end, following which the unit will take a short New Year’s break, before reconvening in mid-January, in Mumbai, for the shoot. Kher, whose Daulat Singh is one of the pillars of the popular series, confirms the development.
“We are doing workshops in Juhu, and it’s interesting as the third season will be quite a ride. It’s wonderful to be back with this incredible team, and it’s always great to reunite with Sush. I can’t reveal much about my character in the third season, but I can add that the action gets more intense.”
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