Gazal Dhaliwal: Went by my personal experience of college life

With Mismatched nominated for Best Series: Romance/Comedy at mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, writer Gazal Dhaliwal on being inspired by book, Sex Education and her own adventures.

Dealing with the issues of modern youth, Mismatched was viewed as India’s answer to the British comedy, Sex Education. Gazal Dhaliwal, who adapted the book, When Dimple Met Rishi, into the Netflix India original, considers it a compliment. “Everyone in the writers’ room loved Sex Education. We were inspired by its storytelling. That said, our story and characters are completely different,” she says of Mismatched that is nominated for Best Series: Romance/Comedy at the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards.

Dhaliwal relied on the source material as well as her memories when creating the Prajakta Koli and Rohit Saraf-starrer. “I went by my personal experiences of college life. Sandhya Menon’s book was a love story about Dimple and Rishi. To make the show wholesome, my co-writers [Aarsh Vora and Sunayana Kumari] and I created unique characters, and added ideas that matter to us — sexuality, disability, impact of social media, and class difference.”

Gazal Dhaliwal

While the series was lapped up by the youth, the plot point of Rishi wanting to get married at 21 rang false. Taking the criticism in her stride, the writer says, “It was from the original book. If it’s an adaptation, the origin points need to be the same. I wanted to stick to it. I understand why it doesn’t sit well with people. But of seven billion people around the world, I am sure there’s one kid who thinks like Rishi. We have explained his motivation and reasons.”

Did you know?

While the book, When Dimple Met Rishi, is set in the US, the writers changed the milieu to Jaipur in the series.

Cast your vote for the Hitlist OTT Awards

Mismatched has been nominated in the Best Series: Romance/Comedy category. The other nominees are:  

. Bandish Bandits (Amazon Prime Video)
. Bhaag Beanie Bhaag (Netflix)
. Four More Shots Please 2 (Amazon Prime Video)
. Masaba Masaba (Netflix)
. Panchayat (Amazon Prime Video)

Log on to www.hitlistottawards.com to cast your vote.

You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c as on the website) to 57575.

Voting lines close tomorrow.

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