While Adarsh Gourav built his career in Hindi and international projects, his heart has always held a quiet connection to Andhra Pradesh, where his family comes from. Now, with his first Telugu film underway, that bond finally finds expression onscreen. As he shoots for his Tollywood debut in Hyderabad, the White Tiger actor opened up to Hyderabad Times what this journey means to him, the joy of rediscovering his Telugu roots, and his desire to become a director.

Born Adarsh Gourav Bhagavatula in Jamshedpur, the actor comes from a Telugu-speaking household. “Both my parents have roots in Andhra — my dad is from a village near Srikakulam and my maternal grandfather is from near Vizianagaram. It was a rule to speak in Telugu at home,” he shares. “It’s our mother tongue, and my parents made sure I learned it properly from a young age.”

Despite a tight six-day-a-week shoot schedule, Adarsh says Hyderabad has already left a lasting impression. “There wasn’t much time to explore, but the food instantly made me feel at home,” he smiles. “I love Andhra food — pappus, chutneys, kuras, vankai kura, bendakaya kura. It all reminded me of eating at home.”

But it’s more than just food and familiarity with the language. “What’s unique about Hyderabad is how much people love cinema. You’ll find doctors, architects, people from different walks of life trying their hand at filmmaking. That’s really special.”

Adarsh isn’t one to restrict himself by language or geography. He’s currently learning Malayalam and hopes to work in Tamil cinema too. “Wherever there are authentic stories, I want to be a part of them. Language is secondary as long as the story resonates.”

His Telugu debut, he says, has been a point of pride for his entire family. “Over the years, my father’s family in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam would often ask me when I’d do a Telugu film. I’m finally able to show them something in our own language.”

Adarsh’s portrayal of Jugnu, a trans character, in Guns & Gulaabs was a turning point in his career. “I definitely felt the gaze towards me had shifted,” he reflects.

“It gave me a chance to empathize with what it’s like to transition later in life and the kind of strength it takes.” He adds, “We need to build more sensitivity around the trans community. Live and let live — why would anyone take someone else’s truth as a personal problem?”

In Aanand L Rai’s upcoming Tu Ya Main, Adarsh will be seen in a completely new avatar — as a rapper. “It’s a creature feature, and Shanaya (Kapoor) is my co-actor. It’s a genre I’ve never explored before.” 

He also stars in Alien, a sci-fi show by Noah Hawley. “I was never into sci-fi before, but now I’ve completely switched sides. We shot in Thailand for six months alongside The White Lotus team. It was one of the most enriching experiences I’ve had.”

Looking ahead, Adarsh has his sights on directing. “I want to venture into filmmaking in my 30s. My first film might be a satire-drama. I think horror is very difficult to do well, and I’m not ready for that just yet. But I do have many stories in me and I’m excited to tell them.”

Though Adarsh had harboured a desire to work in Telugu films for a while, he wasn’t sure how to break into the industry. A chance conversation with actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu at the Citadel success party changed that. “I told her that I wanted to work in Telugu cinema and she connected me with Himank Reddy, who took me around Hyderabad and introduced me to a few directors and producers. That’s when I met Jahnavi and Baba, and things fell into place.”

The film, a psychological horror thriller, is being helmed by a debutant director. “Baba’s actually an architect who’s been working on the script for nearly 10 years. I found that fascinating. It’s also his first film and mine in Telugu, so it felt like a great alignment,” he says.

In a 14-year career, Rajkummar Rao has established himself as one of the finest actors of the current crop. Now, he is keen to extend his love for cinema beyond acting. We’ve heard the actor, along with actor-wife Patralekhaa, is turning producer with a yet-untitled film that will be helmed by Vivek Daschaudhary, who served as an assistant director on Guns & Gulaabs (2023). If things go as planned, the Rao-led project will go on floors in January 2025.

While he was toying with the idea of production for some time, the phenomenal success of Stree 2 cemented his decision. An insider shared, “Raj has been passionate about exploring different dimensions of filmmaking. It was Patralekhaa’s idea that they graduate to production, and after Stree 2’s smashing success, he felt it was the perfect time to dive in.”

It’s interesting that for their maiden production, Rao and Patralekhaa are backing the vision of Daschaudhary, who will foray into feature films with the project. It turns out the director’s fresh cinematic approach resonated with the couple, who want to bet on novel stories and new voices. 

Another source working on the film told us, “It’s an unconventional drama. Raj and Vivek both have a deep respect for meaningful stories and want to bring such narratives to the fore. While Raj and Patralekhaa have multiple productions in the works right now, this will be the first to roll in January. It’s a direct-to-web film for Netflix.”

While spin-offs have been around for a long time, superhero franchises and fantasy series have recently popularized the idea of giving fan-favourite characters their own spotlight, especially on OTT platforms. The offshoot plotlines of these characters, who would otherwise get minimal screen time in big-budget blockbusters, successfully allow makers to not only satisfy the audience but also utilise world-building. Some of the popular examples of spin-off series, which already have multiple seasons in the pipeline, include Gen V (The Boys), House Of The Dragon (Game of Thrones) and The Rings Of Power (Lord of the Rings).

Even though such offshoot productions, whether as films or shows, are all the rage in the West among the makers, the trend is yet to gain momentum in India. To understand more, we speak to some Indian makers and actors for their take on its surprising absence in India, along with pros and cons of the same.

A project includes a specific number of characters, each with a unique role to play. For actor Gulshan Devaiah, who plays Chaar Cut Atmaram in the series Guns & Gulaabs, not everyone’s story needs to be highlighted in a separate spin-off, as that might take away from the original plot.

“I have no idea why we’re not doing spin-offs but I’m not sure if it’s a good trend to follow. In my case, I’d say there shouldn’t be any spin-off for Atmaram. Some characters lose their charm if there’s no mystery to them,” Devaiah shares.

Actor Sharib Hashmi, who plays JK in The Family Man series, echoes a similar sentiment and feels that spin-offs shouldn’t be made just so that the original project remains relevant. “It should only be made if there is ample scope, and should not be seen as a mere opportunity to earn money or stay relevant.” However, Hashmi is not altogether against the idea.

He continues, “I would be the happiest if my character gets a spin-off but only if there is a good story. Look at Better Call Saul (Breaking Bad), which had such a brilliant storyline, and is as good as the original.”

While original plots might leave very little room for detours, for Kanishk Varma, director of Sanak (2021) and the third season of the cricket-based thriller Inside Edge, a spin-off is a great way to immerse in the universe whose original story has reached a certain finale.

“You have to know when to throw in the towel. You cannot keep on dragging a story. So, spin-offs are a very cool idea of coming back. You have a scope of going back to a series and working on something you wanted to do in a particular season of the show.”

While offshoot productions are lacking in India, writer Kanika Dhillon, who has been behind the story of Hasseen Dillruba (2021) and the latest instalment, Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, opines that we are soon going to catch up.

“We have already caught on to the multi-universe sequel culture, which is prevalent in Hollywood. So, I am sure spin-offs will become a thing here as well, especially since people give a lot of love to [side] characters,” she shares.

Abhishek Banerjee, whose character Hathoda Tyagi from the series Paatal Lok fetched him critical praise, adds, “A lot of characters have the potential [for a spin-off] after they become a hit with the audiences. So, I feel the audiences would definitely want that change.”

They are the poster boys of Indian OTT in 2023, with Farzi and Guns & Gulaabs as the two standout shows of the year. Some of the biggest stars – Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Shahid Kapoor and Varun Dhawan – have signed with them for their OTT debuts. But more than plain success, what drives filmmaker duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK is the thirst to tell new stories.

“After Shor In The City, people thought we would make a Salaam Bombay! kind of film. But we made Go Goa Gone, a zombie movie!” says Raj. But then, these two have been breaking the mould regularly – right from the time they chucked their engineering careers in the US to come back to India and make films. Excerpts from the chat:

Raj Nidimoru: When we started off in Mumbai, everything was hero-driven, and all of it was about hero worship. So, we thought we should bring the guy (the hero) down to earth, hence we made 99, Shor In The City and Go Goa Gone, where the protagonist is a nobody, and his value system isn’t black or white.

Krishna DK: While our characters are fictitious, they are inspired by real life, where no one is one hundred per cent good or bad. Even the antagonist has a story, about why they are bad. We usually try to give the bad guy one redeeming quality. Mansoor (Kay Kay Menon) in Farzi is the antagonist, but you also feel the pressure he is under and why he is doing what he is doing.

Raj: Even Atmaram (Gulshan Devaiah) in Guns & Gulaabs was abused.

DK: It’s not really pressure, since they already knew what they were getting into. OTT is an actor’s – and not a star’s – medium.

Raj: It’s a learning experience for them too, and they come with so much of energy and excitement.

DK: That’s the conversation we have with actors. ‘You have done so many films, but you will have to be the character for longer and put in that much extra effort’. These are actors who have been working for years, but now we are the experienced ones when it comes to OTT.

Raj: We were doing very well as engineers, but the cookie-cutter life and the monotony of a nine-to-five job drove me out.

DK: For my family, my life’s biggest achievement was that I went to the US as an engineer. But then we decided to cancel all of it and come back home. My mom thought it was a hobby. After we made one independent film, my family thought I would return to the engineering job. It’s when we decided to make a film in Hindi that they realized that we were serious about it.

Raj: Both of us grew up in small towns of Andhra Pradesh. We would watch every movie running in the theatres – good or bad. We’d watch Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and dubbed Malayalam films. Regional films were always a major influence, but it was in the US that we discovered American indie films and global cinema.

DK: We were especially fascinated with filmmakers’ first breakthrough movies – Russo brothers’ Welcome To Collinwood or Christopher Nolan’s Memento and Following. If you want to learn about a filmmaker’s true personality, you must watch their work in the formative years, when they don’t have the world at their command.

Raj: For our film Flavors (2003), almost everyone was from IT or similar fields. Even the DOP (director of photography) was a steady cam operator! We would hold the mics ourselves and the shoot was entirely in sync sound. We would borrow shopping carts from Walmart and use it as a trolley. Then, one of the actors had finished shooting his part and had flown off and was not accessible. But we needed to do a reshoot, so I had to wear his clothes and we had to do it in a way that my face wouldn’t show. We even learnt editing on the job. By the time we made 99 (2009) and Shor in the City (2011), we were very hands-on. And this training took away all your fears.

Raj: We had zero connections in the industry and no idea about permissions required to shoot. But we shot a short film (Shor, which is the genesis of Shor In The City) with some FTII students. That was a film that a lot of people ended up watching.

DK: Aamir Khan saw that film and he hired the DOP for Dhobi Ghat! As for Saif, he is the first person to admit he’s crazy when it comes to creative stuff. When we narrated the concept of Go Goa Gone, he couldn’t believe we were making a zombie comedy.

Raj: After The Family Man’s success, people were expecting another series in the same vein, which is also why we wanted to do something different with Farzi.

Raj: People say Farzi and Guns & Gulaabs should have been films. Our take is that regardless of the medium, our work must entertain and offer a fresh take on the genre. We plan to put our learnings from OTT into a film next year. Not having to worry about the box office in the OTT space does make a difference. There’s no studio pressure to have a song-and-dance break.

DK: There is still pressure to perform, just that it comes in a different form. There are no immediate numbers to show how much money your series made, but from the discussions on social media, you understand if people are liking it. Writing eight episodes for OTT is difficult, but it allows you to go deeper than a film. You must look at the two formats differently, just like in cricket, where you play T20 and one-day matches differently, though both require talent and a knack for the game.

Raj: There was nothing inflammatory, just the fact that the subject made some people assume it was negative. Now everybody has a voice on social media, and when you have so many voices, somebody is going to be affected by something.

DK: A lot of times the controversial voices will be enhanced, that’s just the nature of things. When the trailer of The Family Man released, some people assumed that Sri Lankan Tamilians were being portrayed badly. We immediately put out a statement. As filmmakers, one has to be responsible. We don’t set out to offend or shock anybody.

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OTT’s like we’re putting the actors on stage, in front of a live audience, something they haven’t done before. So, it’s a learning experience for them too

– Raj Nidimoru

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OTT is an actor’s – and not a star’s – medium. You cannot charm the audience for eight episodes. You need to be a nuanced, talented actor

– Krishna DK

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When we narrated the concept of Go Goa Gone to Saif, he couldn’t believe we were making a zombie comedy. In an hour, he had almost finished reading (the script) and was laughing away, saying, ‘Mujhe yeh karna hai’

– Krishna DK

Raj and DK: Go Goa Gone and Stree

Raj and DK: Kaala Paani

Raj: Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone – all really strong actors

DK: Aamir Khan and Mr Bachchan have always been on our list too

Gulshan Devaiah finds himself in a comfortable position. And being the practical person that he is, he isn’t just referring to Dahaad and Guns & Gulaabs being received well.

“I limit my avenues as an actor. A lot of my contemporaries monetize their fame, which I am uncomfortable doing. As a child, I never imagined doing all this. I am trying to stay true to that image and purity. My main hustle is my career and 2023 was a good time. Financial security is important to everybody; it frees your mind. I have no liabilities or loans. I don’t owe people anything,” he smiles.

The actor feels that when a project does well, it benefits everyone involved in the project and that applies to an OTT project too. “When things are perceived as successful, it trickles down to all the people involved. The perception improves, more opportunities are created. It improves access to more things. I don’t think it’s equivalent to a Rs. 1,000 crore film, but when you have a successful film at the box office, it impacts your career, too. I am happy that I did a variety of projects,” says Devaiah, who also had a theatrical release 8 A.M. Metro this year.

While it couldn’t get enough screens, the actor remains unperturbed. “I am so thankful that the film got a theatrical release. I feel it’s very brave of the producers to decide that they will release a film on the big screen in these times. I got some wonderful comments from the viewers who watched it,” he ends.

What did puppy love have to do with the crime-infested world of Guns & Gulaabs? A lot, as the audience witnessed in the show. Writer Suman Kumar admits creator duo Raj-DK’s (Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK) series—starring Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan and Adarsh Gourav—has its roots in teenage romance.

“Raj and I felt we needed to tell a feel-good [story]. He had a premise in mind: there is a small-town 14-year-old boy, who is a topper, until a city girl comes and replaces him. I told Raj-DK that we needed more. While researching, I came across opium smuggling, and thought it would be fun if this world collided with that of adolescence,” recalls Kumar.

That set the ball rolling on the Netflix crime comedy that packs in several themes, from teenage romance to childhood trauma and drug trade. Kumar felt like a child in a candy store because he loves writing romance.

“The theme in my mind was ‘Love hurts’. Arjun Varma [Salmaan] had [feelings for] Yamini [Shreya Dhanwanthary] that came back to hurt him. It was a similar case for other main characters too. I am more of a romantic than Raj-DK. Guns & Gulaabs was the perfect place to unleash my hopeless romantic self,” he smiles.

The writer is also happy that the show enabled him to explore gender fluidity through Gourav’s character, Jugnu, who comes out as a transgender person. Kumar says authenticity was key in the track. “As men who have no idea what it is to be a woman, writing this was a new experience. We spoke to gender experts and consultants. We didn’t want to strike a [false] note.”

When you think of Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK—the screenwriter, director and producer duo collectively known as Raj & DK—and their work, you think gritty but funny; raw but aesthetic; simple but also worldly-wise. The duo has always built varied worlds—zombies in Goa (Go Goa Gone), the bland superficial life of a secret NIA agent (The Family Man), or a tale of a counterfeiting businessman (Farzi)… And now a story of love and romance set in the 90s against the backdrop of crime and drugs in Uttarakhand.

When we meet the two, they are as relaxed and fun as their art. It takes a minute for them to get comfortable in front of the camera, and Raj explains, “Interviews I am fine with, it’s the posing that’s a problem.”

But pose they must—when everything you have done has been successful, then people want to see more of you. Guns & Gulaabs, which premiered last week on Netflix, is set in the fictional town of Gulaabgunj where an opium deal draws big-city cop (Dulquer Salmaan) and a lovesick mechanic (Rajkummar Rao) into its grasp. It starts with a bunch of school kids who come across a murder and a deal gone wrong. 

“The seed of the idea had been around for a while,” says DK. “It started with the idea of the innocence of a simple world. These children are growing up in a place where there is a lot of crime. Then the characters too shape—the common thread is that they are simple…”

Raj comes in: “…and it’s a coming-of-age story. These are not people you find on the frontlines, we call them backbenchers—that was our working title. The bigger point was to make a fun series…” 

 “Aren’t all your series fun series?” we ask. They both laugh.

“The idea was to spell out F-U-N,” says DK, and Raj adds, “It was a larger theme maybe—the drama is not big drama…” “They are not saving the country,” DK dives back in, “There is a lot of pulp—there’s an element of cheese in it—but it’s crafted cheese.”

The two, who grew up in Tirupati and Chitoor before heading to America to study software engineering, have the Indian aesthetic down pat. In Guns, they take an Andhra story to Uttarakhand. “It’s universal; our hometown/childhood stories can easily be transposed to different parts of the country. We chose Uttarakhand because of the terrain and weather—it was apt for the story.” 

Their shows and movies also encapsulate the middle-class and their struggles—and the things we do to protect our loved ones and vested interests.

Where do they get their ideas? If fact is crazier than fiction, then their process of reading newspapers and jotting down the crazy happenings is the best one. “I used to have diaries—many lay unused, but it made it a habit,” says Raj, “You file away things. Now, it happens in my head. Newspapers were a big source.” For DK, “Newspapers formed the foreground of The Family Man and Shor In The City. Even Farzi came from an article we read about a flamboyant counterfeiter who turned out to be the highest tax payer.”     

While Guns… is set against the backdrop of the opium drug trade, much like their other series, there’s a huge dose of humour. And not just straight-faced funniness, but the dark sharp type that erupts at funerals. “I think it comes from life itself,” says Raj. “I do that,” adds DK, “I make light of the situation and people may think that’s not funny.”

“It’s good to have humour,” Raj interjects, “it makes life easier. When we had a crisis on the set, we often found levity. That’s what we tend to do. Anything could be funny.”

Many men reside in Gulshan Devaiah—from the charming lover of Badhaai Do (2022) to the righteous cop of Dahaad. The Devaiah we meet this weekend is an outlandish assassin in Guns & Gulaabs. Point out the diversity in his work, and the actor says it’s a conscious effort.

“I am happy people are noticing the diversity. I am trying to [showcase] my versatility and create diversity because that’s who I am. I like unpredictability in my career, and that spills into my characters,” he begins.

The unpredictability of his character Atmaram drew him to Raj-DK’s crime comedy series, also starring Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan and Adarsh Gourav.

The desire to be versatile implies that Devaiah is medium-agnostic. This, even as the success of a star is measured in terms of box office. The actor says he understands why the film industry attaches greater value to stars and commercial success. “To get people out of their houses, buy tickets and watch a film is hard. Unfortunately, a film’s success now is only measured by the box-office numbers. So, when you get [box-office] success, people attach more value to it.”

What, however, makes him sad is when the merit of a film is strictly judged by its commercial value. “Dil Chahta Hai didn’t make [much] money, but people remember it because it had a cultural impact. We don’t judge a film by how much we like it, anymore. We need to shift the way we look at films.”

Within the space of a week, Dulquer Salmaan would have made appearances on both our laptops as well as the big screen. His maiden web series, Guns & Gulaabs, drops online tomorrow, followed by the Malayalam movie, King Of Kotha, next Friday. To him, the fact that the two distinct stories are reaching audiences through different platforms shows that now is a good time for content.

“Wherever there is great content and whatever opportunities we get as actors, we will grab them,” he smiles.

It is this passion to tell unheard stories that brought him to Guns & Gulaabs, also featuring Rajkummar Rao, Gulshan Devaiah and Adarsh Gourav. The Netflix offering marks his OTT debut, but to Salmaan, the medium is secondary. What primarily matters is whether the story resonates with him. Raj-DK’s quirky crime comedy, set in the fictional town of Gulaabganj, delivered in that regard.

“You don’t look at which medium these stories are being played out on. You would rather do great work than think, ‘Oh, this is web. I will wait for a theatrical offering.’ Guns & Gulaabs was an easy choice to make because of how its world looked and how the characters were. It stood out from all the [offers] I was getting. We have had many serious series, but this was a clutter-breaker. I was the last one to come on board. I wanted to experience Raj-DK’s world. Also, I had been curious to see how long-format storytelling worked,” he says.

But every shift brings with it pros and cons. As much as Salmaan is thrilled about unconventional stories getting their moment in the sun, thanks to digital entertainment, he worries about the demarcation of films.

“I feel bad about the labelling [of movies]. Sometimes when a film doesn’t find acceptance in theatres, people say, ‘This was an OTT film.’ When a film becomes massive online, the chatter is, ‘This should have been released in theatres.’ Who decides that? I’m hoping we can continue to draw audiences to theatres. Some [middle-of-the-road] films need encouragement [by way of footfall, otherwise] there might come a time when they won’t get made. All kinds of films must get made. Maybe we’ll reach a time where OTT [platforms] will have only shows, and films will be largely [meant for] theatres.”

To Rajkummar Rao, Raj-DK (Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK) are friends first, then collaborators. The opportunity to be directed by them, coupled with an exciting story, made Guns & Gulaabs an instant choice for the actor. “While Raj-DK were my co-producers and writers on Stree [2018], this is the first time they directed me. They are two of my closest people in the city. We had been meaning to work together for a long time,” he smiles.

Rao is known for seeking novel stories, and Guns & Gulaabs didn’t disappoint on that count. The Netflix crime comedy, also starring Dulquer Salmaan and Adarsh Gourav, has all the ingredients of a Raj-DK offering—oddball characters and quirky humour tied neatly into an engaging narrative. “There have been many serious crime and investigative dramas, but sometimes you need a break. You just want to sit and laugh out loud at bizarre things, and nobody does that better than Raj-DK,” says the actor.

In the upcoming series, he plays Paana Tipu, a love-struck mechanic with a violent streak. The actor credits Raj-DK and their writing team for conceiving a screenplay that gave him enough scope to explore his character’s eccentricity. “When you get great material and fabulous [collaborators] like Raj and DK, it becomes easy. You just have to push yourself a little and do something that you haven’t done earlier. If you aren’t here to just say lines and if you do your job for the right reasons, you get the results.”

But hard work doesn’t always assure you of great box-office results. Since the pandemic, there has been a shift in viewing patterns of the audience, who prefer watching tentpole movies on the big screen and content-led offerings on OTT. Rao looks at the upside of the situation, pointing out that with streaming services, actors don’t need to depend on box office to achieve stardom.

“For instance, I was blown away by Suvinder Vicky’s performance in Kohrra. For me, he is a star. It doesn’t matter to me if 1,000 people have watched Suvinder Vicky’s work or only 400 have, but he is one of the best actors we have today. The same thing happened with Jaideep [Ahlawat] in Paatal Lok [2020] and Pratik Gandhi in Scam 1992 [2020]. Manoj sir’s [Bajpayee] second innings started with The Family Man, and today, he is right up there.”

Guns & Gulaabs came as the refreshing change that Adarsh Gourav was looking for. Having mostly played marginalised characters against a grim backdrop, including The White Tiger (2021), the actor relished portraying a flamboyant, affluent man. “It was nice to play a powerful man for a change, to wear beautiful clothes and shoot in gorgeous locations. It’s a rarity for me. So if anyone is listening, I want to go to Europe and shoot a film,” he laughs.

In the Netflix crime dramedy, Gourav plays the son of a local drug smuggler, essayed by the late Satish Kaushik, in the fictional town of Gulaabganj. Raj-DK’s directorial offering also stars Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan and Gulshan Devaiah. Lovely as it was to reunite with his The White Tiger co-star Rao, Gourav was equally thrilled to be in the company of established actors. He believes an upcoming actor like him has much to learn from them.

“It’s a privilege to be shooting with such actors. You feel safe. You feel taken care of and assured of what you are getting into, because of how established they are. Their choices have been brave and unpredictable.”

Similarly, collaborating with Raj-DK gave him a ringside view of how the creator duo, known for their ingenious ideas and quirky humour, work. “They are always open to exploring what is bizarre and unbelievable for people till they make you believe it,” he exclaims.

With Guns & Gulaabs, director duo Raj-DK are set to take us back to the ’90s, reacquainting us with audio cassettes, Pepsi-Cola sticks and the forgotten charms of the decade. It’s not surprising then that the character of Gulshan Devaiah—who stars alongside Rajkummar Rao and Dulquer Salmaan in the crime thriller—has been styled in keeping with the era’s trends. Sources tell us that the actor’s avatar, complete with long hair, has been inspired by Sanjay Dutt’s look in the ’90s.

We hear the production team hired a trusted hand, who had worked extensively with Dutt during his Saajan (1991) days.

A source reveals, “The Sanjay Dutt craze was at its peak in the early ’90s as he delivered hits in Thanedaar [1990], Saajan and Sadak [1991]. His long hair, signature gait and swag were popular among youngsters then, who would imitate them. So, Gulshan suggested that his character’s look be modelled on Sanjay. The idea immediately excited Raj-DK as well as the styling and make-up team.” 

The source adds that Devaiah, through his character, has captured the flamboyance that Dutt was known for in his heydays. The Netflix comedy crime thriller also stars Adarsh Gourav and T J Bhanu.

In a short time, Adarsh Gourav has worked with some of the finest directors—be it Ramin Bahrani on The White Tiger (2021), or Scott Z Burns on the recent Extrapolations. Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, better known as Raj-DK, are a fitting addition to the list. The actor, along with Rajkummar Rao and Dulquer Salmaan, features in the director duo’s upcoming web series, Guns & Gulaabs. An ardent fan of Raj-DK, Gourav says they don’t carry the baggage of being among India’s top directors.

“When you meet them, you don’t feel an iota of how successful they are. They are the most chilled out, funny, and humble people you’d ever meet, and that is also representative of how their set is. Even if you are doing an intense scene, the atmosphere on the set is so relaxed that you don’t feel burdened.”

Little is known about the Netflix offering, except that it is a gangster drama set in the ’90s. With Raj-DK at the helm, one can be assured of quirky comedy—a trait seen in their offerings, from The Family Man to Farzi. Gourav says that their ability to introduce humour, even in the darkest scenes, makes their narrative and characters unique.

“One always listens to the person who has some element of humour even in seriousness. They bring that quality to their storytelling. So, even if it’s an intense story about a spy, they will make him human. It’s that humanity that they bring to their characters that make them so relatable.”

Fauda creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff, who’re currently on a two-day visit to India, attended the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Sunday. The two had a chat with Rajkummar Rao on the topic Storytelling in the Era of Global Entertainment and spoke about their desire to collaborate with Indian creators.

Fauda creators shared that when they started the project, they thought that nobody would watch the show. Lior said, “After the release of the first season, it became a hit and we thought that now we have to bring in more action in the show. People love the show because of how it is. You (as a viewer) feel like you are part of what’s happening, you are a fly on the wall. And we didn’t want to change that. We are not trying to be something that we are not. We are not trying to make it a Hollywood show and we are not trying to make it a Bollywood show. We are trying to make it the same thing that we already did. And this is the secret of the show.”

Avi added, “The most important thing was to match the expectations. The expectations after the first season became very high, then the second and then the third. After the third season, people thought we are not gonna go further. We were very surprised that we could match the challenges of the show. One of the ideas here is to keep the authenticity alive. It is not true, it is not a documentary, it is fiction, but you have to make people feel that it is authentic. Fauda was a very local Israeli show that became an international show. ”

The makers of Fauda have also collaborated with Indian creators, and a collaborative project is in the pipeline. Appealing to Indian creators, Lior Raz said, “I want to say this to those attending the screening – if there are any creators or producers here, then we are very much open to collaborating with you. We really want to collaborate with the Indian industry.”

Sharing how working in a web series helps an artiste, Rajkummar said, “It really helps when your work can travel globally. I remember after Ludo, even though theatres were not functioning, I got messages from people from the US, UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, which meant that people were watching Indian content globally. That’s what we want. A story like Fauda resonates with us. Art has no borders; if you make a good story, it will have a global appeal. You need to be grounded and you need to be rooted with your content. You can’t really make something which is surreal or unreal. You need to be authentic. That’s why Monica O My Darling or Badhaai Do work well. They are pushing makers.”

Commenting on what avenues streaming platforms have opened for him, Rajkummar said, “I wanted to do a series. Doing a series really enhances you as an artiste because you get to play the character for a longer duration. That’s what I felt while doing Guns & Gulaabs. I love watching films on streaming platforms. Watching other people’s work really inspires you as an artiste. I saw Kantara recently, and I was really inspired because it was such a rooted story. You can’t make a film thinking that I want to reach out to a global audience. You have to be true to the content and your heart should be in the right place.”

Monika Shergill, Vice President, Content, Netflix India, added, “What exactly is global storytelling? Stories are stories. They have to have authenticity and emotions. If you are working in your own bubble and you pick a story and say that it is going to work for an international audience – well, there is no ‘international audience’. There is nothing called an international audience.”

Fauda was earlier named Undercover, but later the name of the show was changed. Talking about the title, Avi said, “Fauda means ‘chaos’ in Arabic. Why did two Israeli-Jewish creators pick an Arabic name? The reason was that it had a double-edged meaning. It also has an Israeli meaning. And for us soldiers, who worked in undercover units, that was the code used when things turned messy. This is the word that you report in walkie talkie – ‘Fauda!, Fauda!, Fauda!’ and that is a sign for the rescue team to come.”

Raz added, “It is a very common word in Israel. Now everyone in Israel talks like – Oh! there is fauda in football games, there is fauda in politics. Nobody knew what fauda meant when we started the show, but now it is what everyone talks about.”

When Rajkummar Rao teamed up with Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK — better known as Raj-DK — for the first time, the trio gave Bollywood one of its finest horror comedies in Stree (2018). So, you can’t blame us for having high expectations from their next, Guns & Gulaabs. The Netflix series, revolving around the “misfits of the world”, is set in the charming world of the ’90s.

Excited as he is about reuniting with the director duo, Rao says reliving the wonder years through the project was an added incentive. “I am a ’90s kid, and loved living in that era. Life was so much better. It was great going back to those Gold Spot and Campa Cola days. Reliving that period and its fashion was fun,” he grins.

Little is known about the crime thriller that also stars Dulquer Salmaan and Adarsh Gourav, and was shot earlier this year in Kashmir. But with Raj-DK at the helm, one can be assured of sharp humour. “Raj had discussed the story long back with me. I am a big fan of their work, especially their quirky humour,” says the actor, adding that it was fulfilling to return to long-format storytelling after Bose: Dead/Alive (2017). “You get to live the character for three months; you can explore a lot more.”

After the success of The Family Man, filmmaker duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK — better known as Raj-DK — have become a sought-after name in the OTT world. They opened the year by announcing a crime series with Rajkummar Rao, titled Guns & Gulaabs. Now, mid-day has learnt that senior actor Satish Kaushik has joined the cast of the Netflix offering.

A source close to the development reveals that Kaushik, having enjoyed a successful OTT outing with Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020), was waiting for another engrossing script. “The director duo were on Satish ji’s radar for a long time. As soon as he got the call, he said yes to the project as he is an admirer of Raj-DK’s vision,” shares the source.

The senior actor began shooting for the series in Uttarakhand in mid-January, wrapping up his portions by the month-end. The series, which is said to be a blend of crime and ’90s style romance, will see him play a criminal. The source adds, “Satish ji plays a crucial role that influences the narrative and the protagonist’s arc.”