Author-turned-filmmaker Natasha Malpani Oswal’s alternative reality series, Brave New World, delves deep into the thought-provoking topic, ‘how media is reshaping the way we look at ourselves and the world’. Streaming on Disney+Hotstar, the highly relatable series, with a satirical tone, stars Anurita Jha, Keshav Sadhna and Akashdeep Arora. Here Natasha speaks about telling more stories in future. Excerpts:
Tell us about the series Brave New World.
In these crazy times, what’s real and what’s not? Brave New World is an award-winning alternate reality satire series that looks at how media is reshaping the way we look at ourselves and the world. We explore worlds where patriarchy wins, friendship is for sale, coffee is a drug and being haunted by your own mind is scarier than being haunted by a ghost- in a darkly funny way.
What led to the making of the alternative reality satire?
Truth is often stranger than fiction. With all the unimaginable events happening in the world, we wanted to showcase a twisted world, that could soon be the world we live in. We chose to take a satirical tone with Brave New World, so that we could laugh- nervously- at the madness that we are all a part of now.
From being an author you have progressed to filmmaking. How has the journey been?
I love telling stories across formats. Writing poetry is an intensely personal experience- as an author, I’m sharing my deepest and darkest secrets through my work. Filmmaking on the other hand, is a highly collaborative effort- it takes a hundred artists to make a film- and each film is a battleground. Making a great film requires the planning, execution and problem-solving skills of an army executive! In the end though, both mediums require vulnerability, trust and intense introspection. I enjoy the journey and challenges of both!
Where are the characters inspired from?
The characters of Brave New World are inspired by the people around us- whether it’s AJ and Sam faking their friendship for social media, or Aneesha struggling to deal with a ridiculous generation gap or Arvind truly believing he’s being progressive while being highly sexist- or all our characters are highly relatable- but their traits and situations are exaggerated, which leads to the dark comedy.
What’s next after this?
We’re very excited by our slate. We have a dark comic feminist film, a children’s animated short film, a coming of age show and a family comedy in our pipeline. There’s never been a better time to be a storyteller!