Is Reality The New Plot? Are We Ready For The Stories On Pandemic?

OTT has become an integral part of our lives during the pandemic providing company to millions of people in their homes as well as distracting them from the turbulence of COVID-19 chaos. The reality, as well as its on-screen representation, has also changed during this period. At SheThePeople Screen Fest we discussed "Yehi Reality Hai: Is Reality The New Plot?" Actors Geetanjali Kulkarni and Sikander Kher as well as journalist-writer Roshmila Bhattacharya joined us to understand how the small screen is changing in its depiction of reality.

While giving us a wide range of genres to choose from, the small screen has also provided us with an insight into the pandemic by featuring various shows and films based on the struggles of people during that time. There has been significant content on the real-life struggles and challenges people faced during the pandemic but how has the audience reacted to this hard-hitting reality of their lives as they relive their traumas all over again?

Actor Geetanjali Kulkarni was recently seen in Unpaused: Naya Safar playing the role of a school teacher Sangeeta Waghmare as she deals with her personal struggles during the pandemic. Geetanjali Kulkarni predominately works in Hindi and Marathi cinema. She is known for her roles in web-series Gullak, Operation MBBS and Aarya among her other works.

Actor Sikander Kher is the son of politician-actor Kirron Kher is known for his works in films like Players, Sooryavanshi, Romeo Akbar Walter and others. Kher has been applauded for his role of Daulat in Disney+ Hotstar web-series Aarya.

Journalist and author Roshmila Bhattacharya has also been working with the entertainment industry for more than three decade. Roshmila Bhattacharya is the author of two books, namely, Bad Man and Matinee Men: A Journey Through Bollywood.

Living the pandemic reality on-screen

Geetanjali Kulkarni admitted that it has been challenging for everyone to adjust to the pandemic life given that nobody had ever expected to experience such times in their lives. She remarked that the stories of those who have struggled and those who have come forward to help, especially the frontline workers, need to be told in order to sensitise the situations.

“It’s very easy for me to sit at my home and watch cinema and eat and do my regular work. But for these people especially, it was very difficult and I feel we all are going through a different phase, and we all are having difficulties and facing different situations every time,” she said. Elaborating on her role of Sangeeta Waghmare in Unpaused: Naya Safar, a government school teacher who volunteered to work at a covid war room, Kulkarni mentioned that the story is also about her personal struggles and how she, and many other frontline volunteers like her, handled both aspects during the gruesome time of the pandemic.

“I have seen my friends and they really work hard and we cannot even what kind of sacrifices they have done in their lives so I thought this is my chance as a creative person to tell a story of a person like this.” She mentioned.

 Reality The New Plot: More female-centric content in the recent past

Aarya-fame actor Sikander Kher remarked that the gender of the actor doesn’t matter if the storytelling is strong enough. He emphasised on the way a story is told has a lot to do about the success of a show. “As we are moving on, things are progressing, I think it’s taking its natural time to do so. It’s not something that was bad before, good right now, or anything like that,” he mentioned.

Referring to Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman and Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible series, he explained how successful things will be successful. “Then you have many films which have male leads and those are really bad films also. I think good stuff gets the visibility but the point is how you’re telling the story.” He further added as he mentioned how he looks at his mother, who is also a strong and accomplished woman, and does not treat it as something way too extraordinary.

How has the audience perceived the content based on the realities of the pandemic?

Journalist-author Roshmila Bhattacharya believes that the content based on the realities of the pandemic will have its better impact a couple of years ahead when the audience will have put the pandemic behind it. “If I do watch something, I don’t want to be reminded that ‘look, I was caught in this situation’ or ‘look, I was jobless at this point.’” She said.

Suggested Reading: Bollywood Isn’t Just A Place Full Of Big Bad Wolves: Roshmila Bhattacharya

Bhattacharya feels we are still on not ready for the stories on the pandemic. She said, “Maybe 20 years down the line when the pandemic is just a nightmare, we can show the same things to the next generation and say, ‘look, we went through this.’”