Actor Jameel Khan is gearing up for the release of the fourth season of his much-loved web series Gullak. In the show, he essays the role of a middle-class man Santosh Mishra. The fresh season will showcase a face-off between parenting and adulthood. In an exclusive interview with The Free Press Journal, the actor opens up about the show, his character and more.
Sharing his experience of working on the fourth season, Jameel gushes, "It was as fantastic as every season, barring the first one as it was not as enjoyable in terms of the time constraint. We shot the first season in 15 days. This time the experience was great. It is always fun to be with the Gullak family. What's different this time is that Shreyansh Pandey has directed the fourth season and Vidit Tripathi has written the dialogues, maintaining the flavour of the show. No other show on the Indian platform has come up with four seasons. Ours is the first one and therefore it is a record-setting show. We are proud of it and we intend to take it further. I hope the audiences continue to shower their love on the show and we will continue to strive to do better and give our best."
He adds, "It is set in the winters and will give a nice cosy feeling to the audience. As usual, there's warmth in the relationships of the characters. The new season will deal with certain aspects of life, upbringing of children, challenges faced by parents as their kids grow and how to tackle the issues. So we've come up with new incidents this time which middle-class families deal with. Most importantly, we've kept the soul of Gullak alive."
Jameel says the show is rooted and will appeal to the larger section of society. "Middle class is the largest chunk of people in India and across the world. Hence, the show will appeal to a larger number of people. Gullak deals with the whims and fancies, the struggles, the values of the middle class and the incidents that happen within their household and outside. It will be relatable. There will be a tremendous sense of nostalgia for people. The show will tickle your funny bone and will also make you emotional," he explains.
The actor mentions that despite doing several Bollywood films, people recognise him as Gullak's Santosh Mishra. "Gullak is not my claim to fame. There have been milestones in my career and people do remember me because of my other films. The wonderful thing about Gullak is that it continues to stay in the memories of people. The show was launched in 2019 and it's been five years and the show is still doing so well. It's still fresh in the minds of people and it keeps reminding them and you remain in public memory. The show doesn't let the audience forget the actors and therefore it has become a very important reference point for me and they remember me as Santosh Mishra," he shares.
Besides Gullak, the actor has not appeared in other OTT shows. However, he promises that the audience will get to see him more on digital platforms.
Asked his views on OTT censorship, Jameel said, "Creative spaces should not be censored ever. It should be left to the choice of the audience or the viewers. To watch something or not should be the choice of the viewers. Censorship shouldn't be imposed. For example, cigarettes are very harmful for health. If they were to ban it, that would be a better option than censoring advertisements. I believe censorship of any kind leads to more corrupt ways of consuming the censored thing. Talking about sex or sensuous content on OTT, the makers should show those scenes in a way that it doesn't look gross or disgusting. But already there's gross stuff on the internet. The porn industry thrives. So I don't think censorship really helps."
On a concluding note, the actor says he's never satisfied with the roles that come his way. "I always look for something more challenging. I'm not really satisfied and I hope I'm never satisfied with what I do. Even for the stuff I've received awards for, I find faults in them. That's another way of learning and growing. I feel nobody should ever be satisfied or content with what they're doing, otherwise that's just the end of it," he signs off.
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