SonyLIV and Maddock Outsider's Chutzpah is the 'It' show about modern Internet culture. Naturally the show found a lot of attention when it released its trailer yesterday. Featuring Gen-Z actors Varun Sharma, Manjot Singh, Gautam Mehra, Tanya Maniktala, Elnaaz Norouzi and Kshitij Chauhan, ‘Chutzpah’ explores realistically the digital transformation of human identity.
The show's production also made the most of a digital network of comunication as the entire shooting had to be done during a lockdown. “We started discussing and prepping for the show with cast, costume and set designers on video calls. We did script reading sessions with the actors on video calls wherein we faced internet issues too. Mrighdeep sir (co-writer) and I realised that we have to be every character for them," Simarpreet Singh shares.
He also elaborated on how the creators had to immerse themselves in the filming and actually had to play the characters during virtual shoots. "For instance, we had to romance with Varun Sharma’s character pretending to be his girlfriend in the show played by Tanya Maniktala. The tricky one was the girl-on-cam kind of a story between Manjot Singh and Elnaaz Norouzi’s characters. While acting, we were the screen for these actors. Even while shooting, no one could meet anyone. But everyone worked very well just on video calls and it’s a miracle that everyone was Covid negative when I shouted wrap," Singh adds.
The show explores the dark side of social media, and the challenges of heavy digital dependence. "Since the show talks about Internet and social media, the bottom line is that we are connected yet a bit disconnected with each other. We don’t want to comment on internet being good or bad. The audience will be able to resonate with the interesting characters because it actually comes from us only. The show features actors talking to their computer screens rather than talking to a person sitting next to them," Mrighdeep Singh Lamba says.
Chutzpah will premiere on SonyLIV from 23rd July.