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Tanuja Chandra directs her first Web series Hush Hush, starring an all-women cast of Soha Ali Khan, Karishma Tanna, Shahana Goswami, Kritika Kamra and Ayesha Jhulka.
"Stories about women are an untapped treasure house because for centuries, they have never been considered important. That's why it is fresh and it's new, and these stories are dying to be told," Tanuja tells the media at the show's trailer launch.
"Now, finally, after all these years, these stories can be told without a hesitation which I used to have at the start of my career where I had to have a main hero along with the smaller heroine. Those days are finally behind us," declares Tanuja.
Afsar Dayatar/Rediff.com brings us lovely conversations with these women.
"I don't think I've seen myself, a woman in her 40s, represented on screen so well as I have now. And it's entirely due to this platform," says Soha Ali Khan, who made her OTT debut in Kaun Banegi Shikharwati earlier this year.
"10 years ago, they wouldn't have known what to do with a woman in her 40s. She would either play the mother of the hero, or have to hang on for another 10 years to play the mother. Now, there's something for us to do on screen," she adds.
Ayesha Jhulka, who was last seen in the 2018 film Genius, makes her debut on OTT with Hush Hush.
"I'm really lucky to be directed by a woman director for the first time in my entire career," she says. "She directs me even in my sleep!"
"Tanuja," Ayesha adds, "made me realise the potential inside me. She made me do things I think only a woman could. I don't mean male directors are not doing a great job but I feel she could understand the depth of it."
Just how different are making films from OTT serials?
"(OTT) Khatam hi nahin hota," Ayesha says with a laugh.
"We shot seven episodes for Hush Hush, and we had prepped for it for a long time. We never used to prep for so long for films. Things have changed in a good way in the last few years," she adds.
Hush Hush begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video from September 22.
