EXCLUSIVE: Adhura directors Gauravv Chawla and Ananya Banerjee on LGBTQIA+ theme in the show: Didn’t want to treat it as niche

Director duo Gauravv K Chawla and Ananya Banerjee arrived with Amazon Prime Video’s first horror series Adhura earlier this month. It was a new challenge for the duo as well as horror isn’t a genre they had also explored before. However, the reception to the show has been good. People have loved the performances of Ishwak Singh, Rasika Dugal, Poojan Chhabra and the kid Shrenik Sen. While talking to Bollywood Bubble exclusively, the duo shed light on some poignant things from the show.

Ananya on Adhura’s reception

When asked if they expected such a good response considering it was a new genre for them as well, Ananya says, “I did have some faith in our audience. It’s not just a horror but also a coming-of-age story. So, I had faith that people will connect with the story and characters, even if they don’t connect with the horror.”

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A post shared by Ananya Banerjee (@ananyananya)

What also impressed the critics and audiences alike about Adhura is the representation of sensitive issues. Be it bullying or the LGBTQIA+ theme, the show treaded on a very sensitive path. And Gaurav and Ananya shared what was their mindset behind approaching those scenes.

On the kissing scene…

Ananya insists that her first priority was to not treat the kissing scene between Poojan and Ishwak as a gay scene. She says, “In the direction of that particular scene, even in the writing and staging in the scene, I approached it like how you would approach any love scene between young people. I told the actors also imagine if it is a girl. We normalised it. It’s not like one is more normal than the other. In that situation, if I even just hold the hand, it would be implicit. So, I told Poojan to play it like a 16 year old boy who is going to kiss someone for the first time. Boy or girl doesn’t matter. What matters is he is nervous, that is the universal feeling.”

She adds, “To proclaim your feelings is nerve wracking, even if it’s your best friend or maybe especially if it’s your best friend. So, that emotion had to be played authentically. I did not see it in my mind that it is a LGBTQIA+ scene. Even to the actors , I told them also not to imagine like that. I told them to do it naturally, no matter if it comes for a girl or a boy. Your own emotion is what matters in that scene. It’s about you and your reaction not about who is at the other end. We wanted to put in the LGBTQIA+ theme in the story and deal with it with respect and dignity. But I did not want to treat it as a niche scene.”

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A post shared by Ananya Banerjee (@ananyananya)

On normalising same-sex relationships…

Gaurav adds to what Ananya says by insisting that they treated Poojan and Ishwak’s relationship like any other. He says, “The normalcy comes in the way they fight also. It was the anger of a 16 year old, who then regrets it and tries to say sorry. Poojan who plays Ninad in Adhura, we don’t even know his sexuality. He is just a 16-year-old boy living in an all boys school who has mistaken friendship for love. Ninad doesn’t know what the feeling is and that was his portrayal all about. He was the odd one out because of his mannerisms, they are picking on him because of that. It has nothing to do with his sexuality.”

Adhura stars an ensemble cast consisting of Ishwak, Rasika and Rahul Dev. The series is produced by Nikkhil Advani, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani under Emmay Entertainment. It started streaming on Amazon Prime Video from July 7, 2023.

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