While everyone’s raving about Amazon Prime’s original web series Pushpavalli , its director Debbie Rao is busy being mortified by all the media attention. The series follows a young woman stalker and her shenanigans, with the central character played by popular Bengaluru stand-up comic Sumukhi Suresh.
What drew her to this series, Rao says, is that “nobody is black and white. Every single character is grey, which is how reality is. I also liked the idea of flipping the stalker situation. It’s something that’s not talked about often, especially as something that’s not cool, unlike Bollywood”. It was also the comfort of having worked with most of the team before in the hugely popular 2016 web series Better Life Foundation, made by Bengaluru comedy collective Them Boxer Shorts. “I know they are collaborative, I can give feedback, I can change the script on set when working with them,” she explains.
Learning curve
A Mumbaikar with roots in Karnataka, Rao has dabbled in copywriting, advertising, event management, TV show production and editing.
Having made her TV career debut as an assistant producer on MTV’s Rock On , she moved on to Splitsvilla . Then came her real learning phase, when she joined Trouble Maker Studios. It brought together David Polycarp (creator of the Fully Faltoo series) and Vasant Valsan (creator of MTV’s Bakra ). Rao says, “Every directorial skill I have I learnt from them – one is a stickler for the script, and the other is a total people person.” After four years of working with them, she got her hands on the Better Life Foundation, just as she was leaving for a solo trip of Europe. “I spent most of my vacation reading that script,” she laughs.
She finally found her groove directing comedy on the web. “Digital entertainment as a medium is so fresh. People are willing to be edgy with content and less judgey, and open to content that’s not stereotypical,” she says breathlessly, adding, “On television, you have too many rules. Channels have images to keep up, issues with characters and language, and their own idea of a woman that they want to push, which is not real.”
Prime prospects
Working on a series like Pushpavalli , where someone like Suresh plays the lead and has co-written the script, must not have left much room for the director? Rao disagrees, saying, “She always supported my decisions. I have the liberty to tell them what’s not working and change it. I like to get into the script. It becomes more organic when you know your characters.”
She’s candid while talking about how they put the show together. “No one laughed at the reading of the first draft. So Sumukhi and Naveen Richard reworked the entire script,” says Rao. The project also went on from being a three-month plan to a six-month one.
All work, all play
The eight episodes of season one were shot in a little over 17 days; Rao calls it “insanely fast”, adding, “The actors were great and the cameramen were using handheld cameras for hours on end…. Our biggest achievement is that you can’t see the mayhem behind its making!” And with so many improvs on the team, many lines and scenes came up right on set.
The schedule was so tight that Rao had what she calls her Ghajini moments, as she started writing her schedule for the day on her arm, so that she could literally have it on her at all times. “I also added quotes about how I was feeling,” she laughs. Those moments notwithstanding, she says she would rather work on the web than do anything for TV, even if that brings greater recognition. She says, “People now are more willing to invest in something like this, once considered high risk. And thankfully because of one Pushpavalli , many more will come that don’t fit the stereotype.”
Debbie’s watchlist
Makes me laugh: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Mozart In The Jungle (Amazon Video)
Makes me cry: This Is Us . So witty and sarcastic (Netflix)
Yet to watch: Big Little Lies
Indian shows: Lakhon Mein Ek . A little slow paced, but very nicely made, with interesting characters
