Director Nupur Asthana tells Sakshi Sharma that her recently released series, Four More Shots Please 2, is not just eye candy but relatable and authentic
Four unapologetic flawed women living life on their own terms, dealing with misogyny and body shaming, comfortable with their imperfections while exploring their potential and relationships. The vision or thought is certainly a powerful one.
Director Nupur Asthana’s recent series Four More Shots Please 2 has four unapologetic women who live, love and discover their lives, friendships and more in Mumbai. Each of the experiences of Damini (Sayani Gupta), Anjana (Kirti Kulhari), Siddhi (Maanvi Gagroo) and Umang (Bani J) gives an insight into a different issue. There are several interlinked threads in their journey which unfold one by one.
We all have seen or experienced casual misogyny at work, men thinking that they know better, opportunities being given to a man even if a woman is more deserving or a joke being cracked about the driving abilities or the financial acumen of women. This is explored through Anjana’s character. Another topic that the show wanted to talk about was, how hard it is to speak in an environment that doesn’t want to hear your creative voice. And that is Damini’s journey. She writes a book on a judge and no one wants to publish it because it challenges the system. Nupur says that she wanted to put spotlight on this issue as we see so many journalists and writers who are constantly under threat because of their opinions and writings.
Love, with all its complications is explored through Umang. What does love really mean? How much can you give in? What is the power equation in a relationship? These are things that Umang goes through. She literally gives her everything to a relationship which doesn’t work because she is unable to find a balance. The whole exploration of ‘how can you be in a relationship which is not equal’ is heart wrenching.
The search for self and body-shaming is another topic explored. For Siddhi, it was very important to find her own voice. The whole search for self before she could call herself somebody’s girlfriend is thought provoking. In season 1, she was body-shamed initially but later found her way by accepting herself and moving ahead in life. And what better way to do it than by talking about it at her own stand-up, coming to terms with the issues and questioning the whole beauty industry. These are four big threads that the show explores through different story graphs.
The series starts in Istanbul giving the audience a visual tour, much-needed in these times when we can’t step out. For most of us, the show is a treat to the eyes due to its sartorial sensibilities and the travel involved. But Nupur, who is excited reading the reviews and is chained to her desk during quarantine, wanted it to be so much more than that. “I wanted it to be more real, relatable and authentic. I build Mumbai into the narrative so that the girls feel rooted. It has a lot of nuances and layering which is deep and cut close to the bone. My aim was to go into the emotional journeys of the girls, get into their minds and try to understand them better as they try to understand themselves,” says she.
The first season, directed by Anu Menon, was a hit. But Nupur didn’t feel pressurised as she had a clear vision for this one. But she does have her own share of challenges. She says, “Every show is challenging. Filmmaking itself is challenging because there are so many variables attached to it. You don’t want to come to the season 2 of a show that has already done well and not do justice to it. Having said that I didn’t feel any pressure. I work with my instincts. I just went with the flow.”
The director wanted it to be more realistic but it has missed the mark at some points. For instance, Damini is barely surviving and reeling under the loss of her website but her lavish lifestyle and home don’t gel with the crisis in her life. Nupur agrees but makes a point. “In season 1, we have seen that Damini comes from a well-settled family. Her father is an editor and publisher. So that might be her family’s home. Even though she’s living on her savings but her stylish outfits might be old. And if you are not paying rent, living in South Bombay is easy,” says she.
Though the situations in the second season are different from the first but it somehow deals with the same ideas and dilemmas. Nupur says that during season 1, the women’s relationship were not fully explored, so she wanted to delve more into them. “These days relationships are so complicated. When I read terms like hook-up, situationship, I find them insane. It is no longer about two people meeting, going out, having a relationship and getting married. There are so many levels of intimacy,” says she. This is why the show looks dramatic at some points. For instance, when things are on the verge of getting simpler and better, something goes wrong.
There is nothing black and white in the show because the director feels nobody wants to see such characters as they are too predictable. She says: “When you already know that s/he is good or bad, there’s no fun in exploring the character. You empathise and relate with grey characters. When you see things going wrong, your heart is in your mouth and you question ‘why is she doing it?’” We do things that are not necessarily right for us or are in relationships with people who are not appropriate. We make those mistakes and fall. But how you get up and learn from those and strive to be better is important. These are the grey areas that the series tries to understand through the journey of the characters.
The show caters to the urban and metropolitan crowd primarily. Does it exclude a mass audience for whom the definition of empowerment and feminism might be totally different? “You will be surprised to know that the show has a large audience in the Tier-II cities too. They might have different concerns but emotions are universal. You might be sitting in Mumbai with a beautiful closet and a lavish lifestyle but you can still feel abandoned, rejected and might have body issues or trouble at work. You can still be a subject of misogyny. A girl from small town might not be going through similar challenges but for her the guts to stand up and tell her family that she wants to pursue modeling can be difficult. Everyone faces various issues though at a different level. And that is what women across the board are connected with,” says Nupur.
The director’s first series was Hip Hip Hurray (1998). It dealt with the lives of 12th grade students who experienced adventures, fears, hopes and relationships as they enter adulthood. However, exploring the same genre and youth-oriented show after 22 years wasn’t much different for Nupur because the world of young people and their minds have always excited her. She says, “Though the world has changed during this time as everything has evolved for the better but feelings during adulting remain the same. In your mid 20s you think you know it all but you are actually a confused mess. On one hand, you are fearless but at the same time you are insecure and under confident about who you are as a person and what do you want in life?”
But the show certainly takes the journey of these four particularly and women, in general, forward with the questions that it asks.
(The series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video).
