Showrunner Ashvini Yardi on why her Netflix series, Masaba Masaba, will prove everyone wrong
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 27, 2020)

It was a big relief for Ashvini Yardi — showrunner and producer of Masaba Masaba — when the trailer of her latest outing on Netflix dropped online. She had a hard time making people understand the concept of the show. In a chat with mid-day, she says, "People think it is a mockumentary, but it is a scripted show with a blend of fact and fiction. It was a unique format that I envisioned while working on it. Usually, there are too many no-go zones while making a biopic; the family often doesn't let you showcase things you want to and whitewashing becomes a norm. This format allows you to explore the grey areas."

Yardi was always clear on roping in a female director and it took her six months to zero in on Sonam Nair, who also contributed on the show as a writer. "Masaba Gupta and Neena ji are fierce, no-nonsense women and I was sure most men won't be comfortable with that vibe or [be able to] depict it correctly." She says Nair, who has previously helmed Gippi (2016) and Kaafir (2019), had the right quirk for it.

"Masaba is a designer, I was worried about her acting skills," confesses the showrunner and hoped that she had Neena ji's genes. "Masaba was confident she could pull it off and she has surpassed our expectations." But there were other things that plagued Yardi's mind. "Everyone told me the show is a mistake [owing to its atypical format and lead]. My main focus was to prove people wrong. Masaba is an unusual personality with unconventional looks. An Indian-Caribbean lead in a mainstream show will set a new benchmark. It will shatter the set ideas of leading ladies and casting," explains Yardi, adding that despite being a feminist show delivered by women, she wanted it to appeal to both men and women.

The series features a slew of cameos where actors play exaggerated versions of themselves. While Kiara Advani and Farah Khan make an appearance in the trailer, Yardi says she is saving most for the series itself.

From working as an assistant director at Zee TV to changing the fortunes of a start-up called Colors and then turning movie producer, Ashvini Yardi loves taking risks. With a calm demeanour and a steely resolve, the co-founder of Grazing Goat Pictures likes to consistently tread new grounds. In a tête-à-tête with Deepali Dhingra , the enterprising stunner talks about being camera conscious, why she loves watching movies with her son and how she is no longer hooked on to television
Deepali Dhingra (MID-DAY; May 11, 2014)

When Ashvini Yardi decided to call it a day at Colors channel and move on to the big screen, everyone had their doubts. After all, the Programming Head had helped the channel climb up the popularity charts within a few years of its launch. But rather than staying on and basking in the glory, she decided to shift gears and try her hand at something completely different — producing movies. “The whole world told me not to do it, including my family,” recalls Yardi, as we sit in her comfortable seafacing office in Juhu. “My husband Sachin told me that I had worked so hard for the channel’s success and now, I was ready to give it away on a platter to someone else. Colors was so successful, people actually came from Atlanta to do a PhD on me!” she laughs. “But then, that’s who I am. If I don’t feel there is a challenge anymore, I can’t go on,” adds Yardi.

After a 20-year-long career in television — fresh after post graduation she had joined Zee TV as an assistant director and after 15 years, moved on to Colors — Yardi formed Grazing Goat Pictures with actor Akshay Kumar in December 2011. “It’s not that I planned to get into films after television. But somebody suggested the idea and I thought, why not,” she says. And while their first production OMG — Oh My God won critical acclaim as well as commercial success, it ensured something else too. “Earlier, I was a lunatic when it came to television. I would even go and check if the promo, which I had scheduled, was on air or not. But after I left Colors, I just switched off. It’s amazing how I detached myself from the channel. After all, it was my baby,” adds the producer.

It’s her other baby, her 10- year-old son Vivaan, who now decides what they should watch on the small screen. “My TV choices are completely influenced by him. I watch whatever he watches, which includes a lot of American teenage stuff. He’s growing up and is quite witty with his comments,” says the
hands-on-mom. And what about movies? “We have a barter system. I watched Rio 2 with him and he was supposed to watch Queen with me. But that hasn’t happened till now,” she smiles.



A typical day off from work means lazing in her Bandra home, with her son and her dog Rocko. “I cook once in a while. I don’t mind cooking more often but I’m sure my family would,” she says, taking a dig at herself. For somebody who’s got one of the fittest actors around as a business partner, Yardi doesn’t believe in working out. “Akshay threatened to install fitness equipment in our office. But he must have realised that I would just end up hanging my bags on them,” she guffaws.

Yardi might not believe in a fitness mantra, but the 40-something entrepreneur (she refuses to divulge her year of birth) is easily one of the few women behind the camera, who looks lovely in front of it as well. She admits that despite getting acting offers, she prefers to stay away from the limelight. “I’m very camera conscious. Even on the red carpet, when photographers ask me to pose, I freeze,” says the movie-buff, who has been the brain behind some of the biggest shows on TV including Balika Vadhu and Khatron Ke Khiladi. In fact, it was on the sets of the reality show that she met Akshay and the duo hit it off. “Apart from being so hard-working, he’s really humble,” she says. So is he her 3 am friend? “Akshay sleeps at 9 pm, so no,” she says cheekily, but adds, “My family is my biggest support, so I don’t need to wake up anyone else.”

Inside Track
Born: October 10
Education: BA in Psychology, Advertising and Marketing from XIC
First Job: Zee TV in 1993
Best advice I ever got: Don’t be fooled by these nice, smiling people around you. Most of them love your chair more
Fitness Mantra: Eat, laugh and now that I am in my 40s, pray

My favourites
Magazine: Forbes (Still living in the hope of making it to their billionaire list)
Film: All Woody Allen films
Book: Catcher in the Rye and Fountain Head. Love the protagonists Holden Caulfield and Howard Roark in both
Destination: New York
Brand: Marc Jacobs, Sophie Hulme
Quote: Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans — John Lennon