With a focus on family bonds, togetherness and renewing relationships, SonyLiv‘s new series ‘Potluck‘ is a light-hearted family drama, that’s all set to stream from the 10th of September. Directed by Rajshree Ojha (of ‘Aisha’ fame), the cast of ‘Potluck’ includes Cyrus Sahukar, Ira Dubey, Shikha Talsania, Jatin Sial, Kitu Gidwani, Harman Singha and Salonie Patel, among others. A Triplecom Media, Loose Cannons Content Studio & Vial Content presentation, ‘Potluck’ is produced by Kunal Das Gupta, Pavneet Gakhal, Gaurav Lulla and Vivek Gupta. This slice-of-life show will see Ira Dubey and Cyrus Sahukar together again, after 2010’s ‘Aisha’, that also starred Sonam Kapoor, Amrita Puri and Abhay Deol in lead roles.
We had a chat with lead artist Ira Dubey from the show. Excerpts from the chat below-
BINGED- First things first, let’s talk about your new show Potluck. Tell us a bit about the show and how your character it’s shaped..
IRA- I play a character called Akansha Shastri. She is the eldest ‘Bahu’ of the Shastri family. She’s married to the eldest son. I’m deliberately using the word ‘Bahu’ because she’s not a typical ‘Bahu’, that’s one of the things the show is trying to do, to break those stereotypes and conventions of what a ‘Bahu’ should and shouldn’t be. She has 3 children and works. Her husband also works and they’re both trying to find that balance between work and life and managing everything. We’re giving out a very strong signal that women can be empowered, they can be working mothers and also share responsibilities with their husbands. The idea of gender roles being more fluid, sharing responsibilities, dads maybe being stay-at-home dads for a while when it’s necessary, partners understanding each other’s desires and needs. All that really attracted me to the character.
BINGED- Anything exclusive you haven’t told any other platform so far?
IRA- I haven’t really spoken about any anecdotes from the show, but definitely shooting with 3 kids was a roller coaster! We hadn’t had the opportunity to hang out or spend time with them. In fact, I hadn’t met them till the first day of shoot and I was very nervous. I have worked with a child before, in a film I did called ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’, in which I played an Assamese woman who had a baby, but that was just one film I did quite a while ago. Plus, because I come from the theater and my background is very much about having workshops and rehearsing a little, I was very keen to do that with the children especially. Because with kids, the more comfortable they are with you, the better it is, you know, to spend time with them and make them comfortable around you, otherwise it shows. So I was very worried about that. It was frightening for me. Funnily enough, we were shooting in a bio-bubble for almost 3 weeks non-stop in Delhi, in February, and we were all living and shooting in the same hotel, so not being able to see even the road for days, drove me completely mad! Even though we were working everyday, most of the time and hanging out and bonding the rest of the time, not being able to see the road was driving me completely mad. I remember when I walked on the street for the first time after the shoot was over, i was just like wow, this is the real world! So both these things I haven’t mentioned to anyone.
BINGED- Your favorite co-star from the cast?
IRA- It’s a very difficult question, but I’d have to go with Cyrus.
BINGED- How was it working with each other again after Aisha?
IRA- You know, the first ever reading of the project which was a table read, when all the cast got together, there was something about that reading and very rarely do you find this in a project where you feel something palpable, that the energy is right, all the ingredients sort of fell into place. I think everybody after that first reading had a very good thing about working together and about the project. So its been a real treat. One of the strengths of the show is that it’s been really well cast. I think everybody is very good in the show and everyone fits their character really beautifully. So kudos to the producers, creators and Rajshree for that. In terms of who I enjoyed working with most, even though he would drive me up the wall and pick on me all the time, I was the butt of his jokes most of the time, but I adored working with Cyrus. I have said this on record and I’ll say it again, he is one of the funniest men I know, he genuinely is. So it was a real delight and sort of a riot working on the show. Even though it was a very tight and intensive schedule and we were working with 3 kids.
BINGED- How long did it take to complete shooting for ‘Potluck’?
IRA- We shot 8 episodes in 21 days. So everyone’s house was a different location, different Potlucks, different homes and that’s the whole theme of the show. I always tease our director Rajshree about this, that just because you’ve worked with Cyrus and I before, you threw us off the deep end. We shot our house first, the very first schedule was our house and we had 5 days non stop in our house with the kids and we were literally thrown off the deep end. So it was completely manic, but a great, great experience and a real learning, I must say.
BINGED- Your take on the OTT medium. Do have a preferred medium, whether TV/Films/OTT/ Theater?
IRA- Well this is a very vast answer. The thing is, theater has and always will be my first love. There is something about the stage that is indescribable, for an actor particularly. I feel anything in the web or cinema space is more a director’s medium. A disclaimer, there are millions of actors all over the world who have never done theater, who are fine actors, so I never say that you have to have done theater to be a great actor. No, nothing like that, but I do believe that theater can be a wonderful training ground for an actor, because on state you explore every faculty of your instrument, whether it’s your voice, your body, the limits if it. I think very really in cinema do you get a chance to do that, I mean you’ve to be in the business for years and years before you ever get a chance to do that. In our business, you also get typecast and stereotyped very often, because it’s such a visual media. So it’s very much based on the way you look, the way you speak, the way you carry yourself. So that is something that’s always been my pet peeve. I’ve always tried to challenge the idea that I can only play an upper class, convent educated person, who speaks English well and I look a certain way. I’ve always tried to break that and it’s taken me a long time and a short film I produced myself during the pandemic, the decision to turn producer and hopefully turn director one day, to try and break that mould for myself. I’ve been so frustrated by not having it broken for me by other people, of people not seeing me in a certain way, that I’ve had to do it for myself! So I’m really excited for that.
BINGED- Any particular character in recent times you would have loved to play?
IRA- I absolutely loved ‘Delhi Crime’, so Shefali’s part in that perhaps. I’m a big fan of Rasika’s work, I love what she’s doing and Shreya Dhanwanthary’s work, I think all of them are doing some really interesting stuff. So there’s no rule as such and I never think like I could’ve done it better, but the kinds of roles happening now, when I see these actresses, I feel like wow, that’s the kind of stuff I should be doing. I’ve always wanted to play a spy and do a show like ‘Peaky Blinders’, if that helps.
BINGED- Lastly, what are we likely to see you in next? Your Future project line-up..
IRA- There is a short film called ‘The Daughter’ which I have produced, that Naseeruddin Shah and I are acting in. It should be on a platform in the coming months. There’s an Amazon show called ‘Ba Ba Black Sheep’, directed by Raja Menon, which is also going to be out by the end of the year. There’s a Netflix, Abbas-Mustan film called ‘Penthouse’, also out by the end of the year. I also have a new play, called ‘Lockdown Liaisons’ based on Shobha De’s book, being directed by my mum. We’ve already started working on it because we’re all so depressed that theaters have taken such a big hit and been shut for almost a year. So we’re hoping and praying that theaters open by October-November and we should all be back on stage soon.