And if season 1 dealt with Dhadakpur, the show’s fictional village, dealing with its first crime in years, season 2 introduces more contemporary real-world issues like installation of a mobile tower. Dupahiya came as a breath of fresh air on Indian streaming, managing to carve out its own space despite there being an abundance of rooted stories across platforms. The Prime Video show is now returning with its second season, releasing this week. But one subplot had the makers worried for some time.
‘Messaging of the show is positive’
One of the storylines in Dupahiya season 2 sees a character grappling with the temptation of getting question papers for a government exam leaked. Season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on October 1. The issue was at the epicentre of the nationwide NEET exam paper leak protests in India just a few months ago, which led to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. “Actually, hum log to thode se dare hue the initially ki ye kya hi ho gaya (We were a little scared initially that what has happened). It was written over a year ago. We had no idea. Salona participated in a session titled ‘Crafting clean, character-driven comedy for a diverse audience’ along with the show’s co-creator Shubh Shivdasani, director Sonam Nair, actors Gajraj Rao, Bhuvan Arora, and Sparsh Srivastava, along with Nikhil Madhok – Director and Head of Originals (SVOD), Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios India, and Shilangi Mukherji – Director and Head of SVOD Business, Prime Video India. During the discussion, Salona added that the team began to regain faith in their show after that early shock quickly. “When we saw it all play through, we realised that the messaging of the show is very positive. We try to show it in a pure and correct manner. There is always a lesson without becoming preachy and that’s exactly how this topic has also been handled. She added that the show’s message has always been: ‘try and be honest, try and do the right thing. But she dismissed them. But we didn’t know. How could we. Dupahiya stars Gajraj Rao, Renuka Shahane, Bhuvan Arora, Sparsh Srivastava, Shivani Raghuvanshi, Komal Kushwaha, Yashpal Sharma, and Dinesh Lal Yadav.
“That’s really what we are hoping the audience will also see the larger picture and see it in totality,” she said. However, the writer added that people close to them told them that the ‘timing’ of the protests was good for them. “A lot of people close to us said, ‘Tumhare liye to achha hua (This was good for you)’. It was written long ago,” said Salona.
The show’s creator Salona Bains Joshi addressed the unexpected real-life parallel at a session at FICCI Frames on Tuesday evening.
