The Great Indian Murder creator: Incorporated nuances to elevate the material

With the story of The Great Indian Murder playing out across different regions of the country, creator Dhulia on taking care to stay away from cultural appropriation

With the narrative sprawling across the country, going from Andaman to Kolkata, Chennai to Jharkhand, shooting The Great Indian Murder amid a pandemic may have been a logistical nightmare. But from a creative perspective, director Tigmanshu Dhulia  — who was adapting  Vikas Swarup’s bestseller Six Suspects for the screen — had a bigger challenge. He says that he paid special attention to make sure that the series did not fall prey to cultural appropriation. “We shot in 10 different cities, and tried to encapsulate the pan-India flavours in our story. I am a person who is curious about different cultures. So, I incorporated the nuances I could to elevate the material,” he says. 

Tigmanshu Dhulia. Pic/Sneha Kharabe

For the Disney+ Hotstar series, the creator has put together a strong cast that includes Richa Chadha, Pratik Gandhi, Ashutosh Rana and Raghubir Yadav. Dhulia says a star-studded ensemble wasn’t on his mind when he began casting. “I was looking for actors who suited the part. Eventually when it all came together, it looked great. Each actor has brought his/her intrinsic energy to the story.”

From Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011) to Paan Singh Tomar (2012), the filmmaker has long been making stories set in the heartland. With the advent of OTT platforms, the beat has been overexploited, with narratives becoming gory, and dialogues laden with expletives. “In so many years, my characters have never been seen abusing on screen. Abusive language makes me cringe. Cinema-watching is a community [experience], but OTT platforms allow us the freedom to [use expletives] because it is for individual viewing. In such a scenario, it doesn’t feel like an aesthetic problem. In this series, I have gone down that road, but kept it minimalistic. I don’t think abuses are tools that make a scene better.”

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