Sudip Sharma on Rachel Shelly: Wanted an actor who's used to Indian shooting madness

NEW DELHI: The showrunner of crime-investigative drama 'Kohrra', Sudip Sharma has shared his vision on the casting of English actress Rachel Shelley, saying they needed an actor with an experience in Indian shooting conditions, and she delivered a great job.

Rachel was seen as Elizabeth Russell in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood epic 2001 release 'Lagaan', starring Aamir Khan in the lead. In 'Kohrra' she is seen as Clara Murphy, a character based in the UK.

Sudip called Rachel a fantastic actor, saying she delivered a great job.

"We are all aware of her work. I had seen some of her work outside India as well, but it was also a bit of a practical decision, because I wanted an actor who is used to the madness that shooting can be in India, and it could have been difficult," Sudip told IANS.

"Shooting web series is tough, we are shooting close to five pages a day, and we needed an actor of experience, and an actor with an experience in Indian shooting conditions. And she really delivered a great job," he said.

For Suvinder Vicky, who is seen as the cop Balbir Singh, Sudip said: "I have worked with him in 'Pataal Lok' , and I wanted to give him a bigger role, he is really that good an actor."

He further said that he saw Barun Sobti's work in 'Halahal'."I really liked it, and I thought he had this very interesting energy about him. There is an innocence, as well as, an impishness to him."

On his inspiration for the meditative and reflective tone for 'Kohraa', Sudip said: "We were very clear from the get go that although we were ostensibly making a police procedural, the show was lot more than that. The show was about love, first and foremost, it was about relationships, human drama. How human beings end up doing the things they end up doing, and all the baggage that they bring forth."

"And to explore all of that with any sort of satisfaction, I think it was important to give the show not a break neck sort of the speed, but this very meditative and reflective tone. I mean the characters are doing what they are doing, but they are also stepping back and looking at themselves. Looking at what made them do, what they ended up doing, in the first place. It was really sort of built into the storytelling design of the show," shared Sudip.

He said that director Randeep Jha has done a beautiful job of carrying it forward, in terms of how it was shot, and how the performances were taken out.

Sudip said the show is really more than just the actual fog that you see in the beginning of the story, or that happens in certain months in Punjab.

On the feeling of suspense and helplessness in the narrative, he said: "It was really also about the fog that we carry on our relationships, what stops us from seeing the truth, although it might just be around the corner, but because of our own baggages, our emotional complexities, past traumas, generational traumas, that we carry forward, we are not able to see it, there is this haze, between us and our loved ones. And we were sort of referring to that."

On his collaboration with Gunjit Chopra and Diggi Sisodia for the project, Sudip said he really enjoyed working with them.

"It doesn't really happen that when you are leading a writer's room, the writers are delivering on the promise of writing. I am really glad that they took the onus of the writing on themselves, I could focus on looking at the larger picture, and mentoring them as they went about doing things. They were always on the button, very upfront with accepting changes and coming back quickly with all that was required," said Sudip.

He also recalled the most vivid memory of the show and said it was shooting Balbir's house. "The scenes between the father and the daughter, and the flashback scene between Balbir and his wife. They were really heavy scenes to shoot, to write as well. I mean I could feel the heaviness in the house, in the atmosphere we were shooting it. All the toxicity that there was in the scenes, we could feel it ourselves," he added.

Set against the backdrop of Punjab where an NRI is murdered just before his wedding, 'Kohrra' weaves a narrative that resonates with authenticity and rawness.

It is streaming on Netflix.