5 min readMumbaiJun 15, 2024 09:12 AM IST
First published on: Jun 15, 2024 at 09:12 AM IST
True to the central theme of ‘parenting versus adulting’ of the new season of Gullak, the heartwarming series that has a middle-class family at its centre, the third episode titled Ghar Ka Kabaad captures that freaky moment when children stumble upon their parents’ secrets. The younger son of the Mishra household, Aman (Harsh Mayar), finds Woh Raseeli Raatein, an anthology of Hindi erotica, in the pile of junk at home. Scribbled in one corner of the book is the name of his mother: Shanti Mishra (Geetanjali Kulkarni). The young boy tears the name and devours the stories and later, when the book is found in his bag, much to the dismay of his father, a dazed Shanti is shown quietly thumbing through the pages.
For this insightful look at youth and guilty pleasures, Shreyansh Pandey, credited as Gullak’s creator since Season 2 and now Season 4’s director, has borrowed from his own experience of finding his mother’s book. Much of Pandey’s world has informed the world of Gullak. From motorcycle-borne thieves snatching Shanti’s gold chain to Santosh Mishra (Jameel Khan) receiving a show-cause notice from the municipality for not adhering to the approved house construction plan, Pandey, who grew up in Varanasi, has included many incidents from what he has observed around him.
“From Season 2 onwards, I have written the first draft of the episodes and then we jam with the writers, who share their experiences and takes. Gradually, the stories are fleshed out, humour is added and dramatic moments are created,” says Pandey, who studied mining engineering at IIT (BHU), Varanasi, and worked at JP Morgan‘s Mumbai office before making a switch to become a screenwriter. Though he worked on the show’s first season, he became its creator in the following seasons, bringing nuances and flavours of life in Purvanchal, as the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh is known, into the show.
“The people of this area are known for an inherent sarcasm in their day-to-day conversations. That’s something I have tried to capture,” says Pandey, who during his IIT days started doing theatre and was exposed to international cinema. When he told his parents — his mother is an English teacher and his father an economics professor — that he wanted to work in the entertainment industry, they didn’t approve. “The primary reason why I took up the job at JP Morgan in 2011 was because it was in Mumbai. Simultaneously, I tried my luck as a screenwriter. Within a span of five years, I tried developing content for television, digital and films,” says the 34-year-old, who joined The Viral Fever (TVF) in 2015, the producers of the show.
The idea of Gullak developed as the makers were convinced that there was space for a regular middle-class family’s story. Though initially TVF thought of releasing it on its YouTube channel, it found a home on SonyLiv. After the dialogue “Disappointment kehte hain isse” about the dish ‘tehri’ became popular as a meme, they knew the story had touched the viewers. It was also a show that the entire family could watch together.
“The response to Gullak S1 gave us the confidence to expand, add more drama and experiment. The love from the audience has given us the fuel to come up with aur zyada kisse (more anecdotes), as the gullak (a piggy-bank that’s shown as narrator) would say,” says Pandey, who has also directed the last season of Permanent Roommates and is the co-creator of Aspirants, the series that chronicled the journey of a bunch of UPSC aspirants.
Known as a ‘comfort show’, the new season of Gullak remains within the ambit of the world it has created even as the elder son Annu (Vaibhav Raj Gupta) is dealing with problems on the work front while the younger one has found several distractions. As parents, Shanti and Santosh Mishra are left to grapple with these changes even as they question their parenting decisions. “The idea was to show the audience, who have also grown older with the series, the challenges the Mishras are facing with their now grown-up sons,” he says.
Working on Gullak, where the drama unfolds in a house in Bhopal, has been a comfortable ride for Pandey who says he was happy he did not have to deal with the pressure of the box office. “We were telling stories to entertain people. They have resonated with the audience because stories of smaller towns were not told often. As storytellers, it is our job to bring diverse stories and tell them with honesty.”
Director Shreyas Pandey and the cast of Gullak. (Photos: PR) 
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