Enter dystopia

A fictional podcast created by a Mumbai-based duo chronicles the adventures of two women in a post-apocalyptic future

How do you think the world ended? Did climate change get the better of Planet Earth? Or was it nuclear war or the outbreak of a deadly virus that led to the end? In the fictional realm of Apocalipstick, the answers are all of the above. Set in a dystopian future where humanity has been reduced to nothing and all plants have vanished, this fictional podcast explores the radio-broadcasting journey of two women navigating their way through a post-apocalyptic era. It was launched by Namaah Kumar, a design and communications specialist, and Nisha Vasudevan, filmmaker and illustrator in June last year.

The podcast also has the duo attempt voice-acting. Representation pic

“We’ve been friends for over 10 years, and always wanted to start something like this. Last year when the doom and gloom of the pandemic set in, we thought since the world is facing such a tough challenge, this could be pretty relatable content,” explains Kumar, 29. Drawing influences from a range of themes, the podcast pays homage to all the movies, literature and other media the duo are passionate about. “Namaah and I have a lot of similar tastes, we’re both fans of writers like Pratchett and Lovecraft, and of comedians like Noel Fielding, so throughout the podcast you will hear us reference a lot of these people,” says Vasudevan, 31.

Released once a month, the artwork is done by Kumar while Vasudevan helms most of the editing, occasionally bringing in friends to lend a helping hand. “We’ve had friends and different producers collaborate with us as well. For the latest episode, we had a friend from a comedy background pitching in. So that episode had more elements of comedy in it,” informs Vasudevan.

Voice-acting for these episodes are also entirely done by them. “Voice-acting is something that we’re proud of because neither of us had a background in it. We also have similar voices; it was a challenge to make sure that our pitches were different so listeners could tell the characters apart,” reveals Vasudevan, while Kumar adds that they try to not put too much pressure on themselves. “Since we’ve been getting good feedback so far, we strive to put an episode out once a month which gives us time to rewrite things if necessary. It will be interesting to see how we move forward with it post-lockdown. Since we’re all holed up in our homes right now, we have time to create more characters and storylines,” she shares.

Log on to: Apocalipstick on Apple Podcasts

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