Three veteran Bollywood actors now part of a web series

Brijendra Kala snailpaced driver in Jab We Met is flanked by Gajraj Rao bumbling inspector from Talvar and Atul Srivastava Salmanrsquos father in Bajrangi BhaijaanVeteran actors Brijendra Kala Gajraj Rao and Atul Srivastavas latest assignment is surprisingly close to their real life predicament All critically acclaimed performers easily striding both television and film they are making a debut as lead actors on online entertainment platform The Viral Fevers new show FATHERSThe script requires them to be old timers testing new terrain Its the story of three senior citizens retired attempting to launch a startup Its a first for the web too Its not often that you see a digital series centred around senior citizensWhere is the set Rao says recalling his reaction to the day he walked into the TVF office to shoot the first episode It was a small camera setup with less lighting than he was used to The mind is conditioned to shooting in a studio Initially I was worried if I had made the wrong decision says the 46yearold who heads ad film firm Code Red I had been hearing of this digital wave that was taking over the world At the time even though I couldnt figure what it was I thought I should be aware of it He happened to meet Nidhi Singh of Permanent Roommates fame which in turn led to the viral sketch Tech Conversations With Dad That marked Raos initiation into web entertainment I thought the whole setup would be very dudelike But these are 20somethings who know what they are doing and yet are open to ideas Content is sacrosanct to themWhile this is the first time that all three actors are sharing screen space theirs is a friendship of 20 years We know each other from our theatre days in Delhi says Kala 61 I had not done television for over 10 years because I wanted to do films My worry was this what if I became too famous on TV No one would hire me for cinema he laughsWhen the web series was first explained to him he was sceptical about how a series that didnt air on TV would work I feel in many ways this medium is similar to its oldest counterpart theatre You see immediate audience reaction in the number of hits and subscribers and of course comments he addsRao recalls a couple of 15yearolds walking up to him at a bookstore in Juhu recently complimenting him on the performance Good stuff dude they said It was genuine It felt nice They are my audience now he smiles A few things however have taken getting used to The use of expletives for instance Abusing is common among fathers and sons But there has to be a limit and it must warrant a reason We cant use expletives simply because we are catering to a young audience Rao says To which Kala adds Just because there is no censor board here doesnt mean we arent mindful How then is it quality entertainmentThe veterans also welcome the flexibility that the medium allows We dont need to create a bank of episodes unlike for TV says Srivastava Each episode can be treated like a sketch We are shooting the fourth episode We dont know if there will be a fifthIf it happens it will be because we have quality to offer Not because we need to reach the number five rating