Set in a small town in Bihar, Jehanabad - Of Love & War, the show is a nail-biting thriller starring Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritwik Bhowmik, Harshita Gaur, Rajat Kapoor, Suneel Sinha, Satyadeep Mishra, Rajesh Jais, and Sonal Jha.
Talking about his character, Parambrata said, “The show revolves around my character. As a child, he witnessed atrocities being committed towards the people of his community. He is trained in combat and turns out to be a leader of the Ultra Left outfit, who claims to be fighting for the oppressed. But in the process of fighting, he resorts to equal amounts of violence. He was one of the most sought-after and dreaded charismatic Naxal leaders then.”
The show is set against a political backdrop during the years 2004-2005. Sharing his take, Parambrata added, “If you think hard you will finally feel everything boils down to politics. Nothing is without it; Jehanabad is exquisitely claiming so. It’s a social drama. It is the backdrop of the struggle going on in different sections of society during 2004-2005 in Bihar. On one hand, we see a life story growing while on the other hand, we witness the social struggle.”
Parambrata’s character in the show faces a lot of turbulent times owing to the atrocities meted out to the community he hails from. Has he ever been a victim of such problems in real life as his character? “I had my share of struggles. But I have never faced the kind of atrocities Deepak Kumar faces in the show. I don’t hail from that kind of background. I come from an urban, privileged background. That is the bit where I had to kind of route myself. Having said that, I come from a state that had its share of Ultra left activities. I had to read up more to understand the roots of Deepak Kumar.”
The actor has worked in short films, movies, and OTT. However, Parambrata doesn’t find a lot of difference between the two mediums. “The characters and stories get more opportunities to be elaborated upon when you are working in a series. The story is dealt with more deeply, that’s the only difference. Otherwise working in a film and OTT shows there is no difference,” Parambrata added.
Attracting an audience to the OTT is not an easy task. The challenge lies in keeping the audience interested in the content and not switching over to another. Explaining his point of view on the same, the actor said, “OTT demands more work from creative people to keep people glued to their shows. So we have hook points, clap traps, and all of that. If the content is creative enough it becomes engrossing and people can relate to it. The experience of watching a movie in a theatre and on OTT is quite different. For people who are working in it, it isn’t any different for them.”
On a parting note, the actors spoke about his transformation from films to OTT. “It’s been a fairly long journey. But films and good content are what I always want. I don’t think I could not do anything else,” he signed off.
