Indian actress Tamannaah Bhatia's 'Jee Karda' reveals millennial struggles in adulthood

Gulf News

Indian actress Tamannaah Bhatia, who made her digital debut with the glossy web series ‘Jee Karda’ on Amazon Prime Video, credits the show’s roaring success to her endearing character that’s equal parts fabulous and flawed.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/bollywood/watch-tamannaah-bhatias-jee-karda-unveils-millennial-struggles-navigating-adulthood-1.97025938  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  #UAEnews #Indian #TamannaBhatia

Transcript

00:00Most of us, at least the entire millennial bunch of us,

00:05we were sold an idea of a timeline for things.

00:10And we were sold an idea of how it should be done as well.

00:13And we were given limited options and it felt like you have to make a choice and choose something.

00:19Otherwise, you're doing it wrong.

00:22So the confusion arises from the fact that you're not actually identifying with these things that are sold to you,

00:30but a part of you believes it.

00:32So the entire confusion is basically just this internal conflict of what you've been sold and what you believe in,

00:42and which is the right one to go with.

00:48Thank you for speaking to Gulf News.

00:50Obviously, it's a series on adulting and I think Bollywood needs, I think web series needs more of it in Hindi language.

00:56Do you guys agree as well that this series will resonate with all those who are struggling to be in their 30s?

01:03I hope so.

01:07I hope so that it makes them not feel so alone in the journey.

01:11So it just kind of shows them like everyone's in the same place.

01:16I see. What about the others?

01:19I hope the same. I want to be sure about it, but I'm just hoping that people relate to it.

01:27Because I really found a relatability while working on the script, while acting.

01:34And I am that generation. So I think other people will too.

01:39Oh, finally age appropriate casting. I love it.

01:42You guys are not in your 50s pretending to be 30.

01:47Well done filmmakers for doing it. How about you Arunima?

01:52So the whole idea only was to make it relatable.

01:55And that is why coming from our lives and my co-writers and my friends

02:01and our individual and collective experiences as a generation.

02:05So it is not about any major event. It's about a million small things, you know.

02:12And that's what we've tried to put together and string together.

02:15Finally, the idea is only that someone should resonate.

02:19Like that is the core.

02:22Right. Of course. And Tamanna, the bit about where you seem to be confused in love.

02:26I don't know if you truly want to get married to that mate of yours.

02:29That kind of made sense.

02:31These days, I don't think people want to commit to a burger.

02:33Do they want vegan or not? They can't commit.

02:35So I'm assuming that is a real issue.

02:38Was that fun for you as well?

02:40Playing somebody who you could totally relate to.

02:42Like you're confused. You don't know what you really want in life.

02:46I think what the show and Lavanya actually signifies is

02:52most of us, at least the entire millennial bunch of us,

02:57we were sold an idea of a timeline for things.

03:02And we were sold an idea of how it should be done as well.

03:06And we were given limited options.

03:08And it felt like you have to make a choice and choose something.

03:11Otherwise, you're doing it wrong.

03:14So the confusion arises from the fact that

03:17you're not actually identifying with these things that are sold to you.

03:22But a part of you believes it.

03:24So the entire confusion is basically just this internal conflict of

03:31what you've been sold and what you believe in.

03:34And which is the right one to go with.

03:36So I think that is essentially what Lavanya's character

03:39and the entire journey was.

03:41So I think I, to a certain degree in difference,

03:45not in love particularly, but in various aspects of life,

03:49I went through similar findings where there were certain ideas sold to me.

03:54But I didn't confine to it.

03:57So when I played Lavanya, I understood her confusion.

04:02I understood why she was confused.

04:04I understood that her confusion comes from this

04:07want of perfection in everyday.

04:11But nothing is more perfect than being yourself.

04:14And that's something, I guess,

04:17hopefully Lavanya will know in season 3.

04:20Oh, wow. I like it.

04:21I like how you're so like robust about, yes, we are going to have multiple...

04:25Why not?

04:26Yeah, yeah. When you dream, you dream big.

04:28Let's have like, it should be like Grey's Anatomy,

04:31which I think I'm on season 19.

04:33I'm still watching it.

04:35I'm very invested in it still,

04:37in those doctors and their crazy love affairs that they do in surgeries.

04:42But listen, for a guy, is it different?

04:46Is the pressure to conform a little lesser, do you think?

04:50Or do guys have it more easier than the girls generally, than the women?

04:54In what sense?

04:57Like she was just talking about like, you know,

04:59society tells you what to do at a certain point in life.

05:02Do men have the same stressors, maybe?

05:05Like, it's slightly better because, you know, you can't deny patriarchy.

05:10You can't deny the male privilege that we have.

05:13Like, I don't have to think twice before leaving my house at any hour.

05:17And it's the social conditioning.

05:21Right.

05:23So it is like slightly easier.

05:26But, you know, there are some things where struggle is the same.

05:31But I think guys...

05:33Give me an example where you feel the struggle is the same.

05:36Like, you know, in terms of getting work.

05:39Like if I'm trying to break into mainstream,

05:43so it's the struggle will be the same.

05:45And if I'm a talented, beautiful looking girl,

05:49I think it will be easier for me.

05:51I doubt it.

05:53This is what I've felt.

05:54Like, that's my personal observation.

05:58And you can't really pinpoint.

06:03Okay.

06:04Okay, you think girls have it easy.

06:05Tamanna, would you like to just set this record straight or should I?

06:09I'm just kidding.

06:11No, I actually...

06:13It's like four women against one boy.

06:15Please.

06:16I wouldn't mind.

06:18I'm telling you, it's very difficult.

06:21It's very difficult for me.

06:22I feel like every girl has a hidden boy.

06:29And every boy has a hidden girl.

06:31And I think that is like...

06:34I know that's another like...

06:35Hopefully that's another show to discuss.

06:37But I do feel like I don't completely...

06:40When you're going through it, it's real to you.

06:43So whether you're a guy or a girl,

06:45problems, complications, complexities

06:49are all true to that person who's experiencing it.

06:52So in his world, that is his reality.

06:54So it's not wrong for him.

06:56Maybe the three of us might have a difference of opinion.

06:59But how do you generalize human beings?

07:01Because human beings are so unique.

07:03Everyone's world in itself.

07:05So I think I would hear him.

07:08I would say that he has an experience which he's actually sharing.

07:11So in his experience, girls are...

07:13It's easier for girls.

07:15Yeah.

07:16Look, our followers don't increase.

07:21You can't put up a cute pouting selfie.

07:24I see.

07:25I tried.

07:26It's a real-life problem.

07:30Or did they say like, aww?

07:34So Arunima, did you grow up with a diet of all these angst-ridden movies and series?

07:40Why did you want to make this show?

07:43And why with these actors specifically?

07:45Angst-ridden?

07:46And what is the connection between this show and watching angst-ridden movies?

07:51No, I'm just thinking.

07:52Did you grow up on a diet of such...

07:56Why did you gravitate towards this genre?

07:59I grew up mostly on the mainstream Hindi films.

08:03And that audience would go to the theatre again and again to see.

08:07Dilwale Dhuraniya le jayenge.

08:09And life didn't turn out to be like that.

08:14The love stories in my life didn't turn out to be like that.

08:19So it's just, I think, a case of living, you know.

08:23And the passage of time.

08:2520 to 30 went in the blink of an eye.

08:28And I had made my share of mistakes.

08:31And 30 did hit me like a big number.

08:34Because I had thought I will be a successful person, a filmmaker by then.

08:38I'll have my settled bank account.

08:40I would hopefully have found love.

08:42Because I had all of my 20s to do that.

08:44But the 20s rushed so quickly.

08:46And now I'm almost going to be 40.

08:48So time is running so fast.

08:53And the characters in this show also.

08:55Subtext is that only.

08:57They're still grappling.

08:58They're still children somewhere.

09:00And 30 is a weird age.

09:02You're not old.

09:03You're not too young.

09:04It's all of this.

09:07And the inspirations have been many.

09:11Even like a Dil Chahta Hai and everything.

09:14All the beautiful nuanced friendship films.

09:17You take them.

09:18But you have to make them contemporary and contextual to the exact times.

09:24Because it's based in, say, 2022 or 2023.

09:27So how do you, in this very, very done genre.

09:31How do you innovate?

09:33So for me, I didn't take the pressure of innovating.

09:37I just took the goal of being honest to the chosen characters.

09:41Their stories and honest.

09:43I try to not do anything for the gimmick of it.

09:47Or for the effect of it.

09:49So whatever we're trying to explore.

09:51This is the story we want to tell.

09:54Let's just tell it for what it is.

09:56Right.

09:57So tell me something.

09:58You guys didn't try to be woke for the sake of being woke.

10:01Or trying to be hip for the sake of being hip.

10:03You know what I mean?

10:04There's always a pressure to seem woke.

10:06I don't know.

10:07Especially because you're a woman.

10:08You're directing a woman.

10:10Even among actors, is there that pressure?

10:13You have to choose roles that make you seem very progressive, etc.

10:17In web series especially.

10:21The pressure exists.

10:22But I didn't take it.

10:23Because then I would just screw up my own debut.

10:27Trying to do something.

10:29The show is only as woke as I am.

10:32It's not more than that.

10:34Really?

10:35We should put that on a t-shirt.

10:37Do you face that?

10:39As an actress you should be.

10:41Now if you're in a web series, we have to see you as something different.

10:44Not what we have already seen you in movies.

10:46Like, you know, romance, the hero, etc.

10:48There must be that fear in your head, right?

10:50Like if you're doing something different, may as well do it really radically different.

10:54Rather than conform.

10:55See, that comes from just being an actor for us.

10:58Because the idea is to play different parts.

11:01There's no point repeating yourself.

11:03And why would you want your audience also to see you the way they always see me?

11:08So the idea is not to be woke or, you know, cool or hip or any of that.

11:14The idea is to actually, like Arunima said, just tell different stories.

11:20And play different characters.

11:24This one, Lavanya, in my case, happens to be the closest I have played to someone like myself.

11:29In the sense of the way I look, the way I am, the strength in my character.

11:36You know, how she's clear about a lot of things about her life.

11:39How she's high achieving.

11:41Those elements are similar.

11:43And also I got to represent, you know, the time I've been born in.

11:49The city I've been born in.

11:51And brought up in.

11:52The place I've schooled in.

11:53The kind of friendships I actually have.

11:55Those kind of friendships, I got to relive them in some capacity through the show.

11:59So, in that sense, this is the closest I've gotten to playing something that is like myself.

12:06So, of course, Lavanya and I are two different people.

12:09But I think this is an opportunity that was the closest.

12:11Brilliant.

12:12I just want to add to what Tamannaah is saying.

12:14That for Lavanya and the female characters of this show, it was important that we give them the luxury of being great.

12:23The luxury of making mistakes.

12:26Without being categorized as positive or negative.

12:30Just keep them in the large category of human beings.

12:34And let them make their mistakes.

12:36As a filmmaker, I'm not here to judge you.

12:39And I hope the audience doesn't do that.

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