Director-writer-actor Saad Khan, known for political-comedy ‘Humble Politiciann Nogaraj’, is busy balancing two projects. Despite the pandemic, he has been working on creating content and has two upcoming Hindi web shows which will hit OTT platforms soon.
In a candid chat with Metrolife, he reveals more about the projects and life amidst the pandemic.
We hear that you have conceptualised a web show and created another. Tell us more.
Last September, I was fortunate of working on two Hindi web shows by Disney+Hotstar, for their new series of short-format titles called ‘Quix’, with each episode around 10-12 minutes long.
The romantic drama with a streak of comedy, titled ‘Chattis Aur Maina’, was conceptualised by me and Saishree D, a writer from my team. The show is about a vivacious event dancer and a simple man who falls for her. The show will hit the OTT on May 28.
The second Hindi web show, created by me and titled ‘Ankahi Ansuni’, is a horror-thriller about a non-conformist cop who deals with the horror-surrounding myths and superstitions in a fictional town up North. The web show was quite challenging. As a writer and director, I love exploring different genres and diving into a different creative headspace is extremely rewarding for me.
Who all are a part of the shows?
‘Chattis Aur Maina’ stars Sandeepa Dhar and Vikram Singh Chauhan. The cast of ‘Ankahi Ansuni’ includes Paresh Pahuja (of ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ and ‘Tandav’ fame) and Veebha Anand (from ‘Balika Vadhu’) and is currently in its final stages of postproduction.
What inspired the shows?
I watch a lot of movies and shows. Being an avid entertainment consumer, two genres that have always excited me are horror and crime thrillers. With ‘Ankahi Ansuni’, I got to explore both at the same time. Someone said, ‘All comedy comes from a dark place’. For me, since I’m a voracious reader, to be able to experiment fuels my inherent curiosity, which then stimulates me to create content that is unpredictable, stirring and entertaining.
What have you been working on during the lockdown?
I have been virtually prepping for two web shows that I will be directing post the lockdown. One show is in Hindi with Pocket Aces (Filter Copy) and the other one is in Telugu for another content studio.
I’ve been learning Telugu virtually for the last month and it’s exhilarating, to say the least. Other than making funny videos, I’ve been doing brainstorming sessions with the FirstAction writing team on different genres such as romance, crime, and horror. We had a podcast released last month on Amazon Audible too.
How do you inspire yourself?
Being a writer is a boon. I’m lucky when it comes to content, whether it’s ‘Humble Politiciann Nograj’, ‘The Improv’, the Shekhara-Shyamala videos with Shalini Narayan or the Razia-Razzak videos with Danish Sait.
Inspiration, especially during the lockdown has come from the feedback I’ve received, which has pushed me to do more.
In the time of OTT, is it necessary to work on material fit for the platform to get noticed?
Yes, of course. What’s sometimes dangerous is not to evolve. I cherish every aspect of learning something new. I’ve been fortunate to have made films that have seen the theatrical release and now to be able to create, write and direct content for OTT, more than the necessity it’s also a new outlet for artists to project their ideas.