Phish... it could be you!

Manpriya Singh

OVER a week has passed but neither the congratulatory calls nor the many questions have stopped for director Soumendra Padhi; starting with did he anticipate a response like this from Jamtara? The web series that has made the otherwise sleepy place in Jharkhand and its very alive phishing scams a part of drawing room conversations once again.

“I think this crime is so contemporary and relevant that it connected with the audience,” he says, at this point giving due credit to two things — first his team of writers comprising Nishank Verma and Trishant Srivastava for developing a newspaper clipping into a 10-episode series and second, “the solid pre-production of the show.”

Con story

Clever editing holds your attention from Act 1 and Scene 1, pretty much like the unsuspecting people being conned; from a clueless primary school teacher, made to part with his card details in lure of a car, a red one at that. It starts and then spreads—from a housewife to higher officials in the bureaucracy. After all, Sabka Number Aayega!

Anyone who hasn’t faced cyber crime doesn’t know the very high probability of parting with OTP, CVV number and card details to a smooth talker; there were stories waiting to be told, it was a subject waiting to be explored. “That village is so beautiful and calm. Just two-to-three thousand people, but close to 30 mobile shops! It’s all about the art of conversation, which even these Class 4th and 5th drop-outs mastered, and the irony of it was that they were duping urban degree-holders,” he recalls the trivia and information from the shoot days. “It’s hard to believe any crime can happen in such a serene village.”

Cyber crime

While the disclaimer states how the series is a work of fiction inspired by true events, who knows it more than him about how it’s more true than fictional. “My wife has been a victim of cyber crime, twice. First being when her card details were compromised and she lost Rs 1.47 lakh. A court case followed, which was ruled in our favour eventually.”

The second incident is something that Soumendra can afford to laugh over since it didn’t really happen. “She got a call from Jamtara itself asking for details and she said, ‘I know you are calling from Jamtara’. At that time, we were already shooting for the series, so she knew. The person on the other line hung up, saying, ‘Thank you ma’am, I love you ma’am.”

Fresh faces

Apart from Amit Sial, also seen in web series The Inside Edge, literally every other character is either new or a newcomer. “We held studio auditions and wanted the faces to be really new as well as relatable. They all have a theatre background, most are NSD pass-outs.” Other than making financial sense, absolutely unknown faces helped in two ways. “They were hungry for work and could take time out easily for workshops and dialect coaching. Thus, they didn’t hold back our pre-production process in any way.”

Sudden switch

There is no denying democracy of the OTT platform, but for the director from a film based on world’s youngest marathon runner, Budhia Singh—Born to Run (2016), which fetched him a National Award for the Best Children’s Film, to a crime drama series… has it not been quite a switch?

“Yes, it’s been a sudden switch. But the subject was such that I had to take it up.”

Season 2 in the offing?

So, is Season 2 on its way? He laughs over the question that he is getting asked a lot lately? “Let’s see, it’s hardly been a fortnight that Jamtara has been out. Season 1 took long to research as well as shoot! However, the crime is so contemporary and relevant that we actually could explore further layers of it,” says Padhi.

manpriya@tribunemail.com