'...something that should be discussed because it is a very important part of life.'
The idea of making a Web series on a male prostitute came to Director Puneet Krishna one night.
"I wanted to tell another story which was different from my previous work, Mirzapur. Set in North India, because I come from that part of the country, something entertaining, with layers for people to peel through and get something more than entertainment," Puneet tells Subhash K Jha.
That's how Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper was born.
"I have not lived the life of Tribhuvan Mishra but in general, I have met people who are really colourful in life, who come across as somebody who is very normal and simple. But when you peel the layers and get to know them more, they are much more than that. There is so much colour inside such characters, so much violence or so much fun."
About the research work that it entailed, Puneet says, "I got to meet people, who do this work and was surprised to learn that this world operates on the premise of respect and transactional value, since somebody is giving a service and somebody is taking a service, irrespective of the gender.
"I got to understand that when a man is servicing a woman, for example, there's a lot of respect involved. Most of the time, they call them 'Ma'am'.
"I understood this world has a lot of dignity associated with it. We talked to women of varies ages like 20s, 30, 40s, 50 and how they felt in the different kinds of scenarios. The rest is imagination.
"Manavbhai (Kaul) was really keen to know more about the character. I think the story is much more than servicing women sexually. It is about understanding women and trying to do things to, you know, support his family, come out of a crisis, survive as a middle class common man. So the story was much more than a gigolo in that sense," he says.
"My life's understanding has taught me that even a character, who is just there for say a scene or speaking only four lines, should be cast with the same love as you would cast your lead actor.
"Because in that scene, when that character is saying those two lines and the camera is on him or her, he will be the one be lifting the scene in that moment. So you can't compromise even on that one line character or one scene character. That is the extraordinary care we take while we hire actors," Puneet says.
"That's why maybe the smaller characters are also working well for the audience because of the relatability of and the realness of the actors, who play these characters.
"Apart from Manavbhai, it's an ensemble cast. Tillotamaji (Shome) doesn't come from a Hindi-speaking background but you can't see that on screen. She speaks like (her character) Bindi. It's like magic when the camera is switched on.
"Then, there is Shweta Basu Prasad playing Naina Sarin, Manavbhai's wife in the show.
"Subrajyoti Bharat sir is playing Tikaram Jain.
"For Faizal Malik and Ashokbhai Pathak) to play these characters coming out of Panchayat, it's great. They are covering a whole range of spectrum in terms of acting."
One of the vital plot points in Tribubhuvan Mishra CA Topper is the female orgasm, something we don't discuss in public.
"The pleasure of the human body is something that should be discussed because it is a very important part of life. The way we derive pleasure from eating good food or watching good movies or wearing good clothes is exactly the same.
"And if it (the orgasm) can be normalised in a decent, within the boundaries way, why not? Yes, it should be normalised. It should be discussed more. It is something which is not talked about often."
