Ghar Waapsi was like recreating real-life ‘kheench taan’ with parents on screen: Director Ruchir Arun

“When I read the script, I thought it is the story of my family only,” director Ruchir said while talking about how he came on board Ghar Waapsi and how the show was created. He added, “We sat down with the writers and jammed with them on sequences and character types. We shared each of our personal experiences, and finally, we arrived at a place that was honest for all of us. We felt we have experienced such emotions (which were mentioned in the script) with our brothers, sisters or lovers. The script came out to be so real that I had to just find the right actors for these characters and then the shoot was just a cakewalk.”

Ruchir shot Ghar Waapsi in Indore and Bhopal where it has been based. For him, the space where the show had to be shot mattered a lot as it has “its own charm and beauty”. He also applauded the writers of the show and promised the viewers would never feel alienated from the story or the characters.

“It’s not that the incidents and dialogue exchanges need to be the same, but that emotion towards your parents is the same. The guilt that you feel for leaving your family at a place and going and chasing your dreams, is the same for everyone,” the National Award winner said.

While making the show, there were some of his “lived experiences” with his parents that Ruchir included in the script, and now he plans to leave all his family groups once Ghar Waapsi starts streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar on July 22. He joked, “I will leave all my family groups when this show releases and will be absconding for at least a month.”

Actor Anushka Kaushik, who plays Suruchi, the sister of the lead character Shekhar, feels the show is perfectly timed as it is coming just after the pandemic when a lot of youngsters lost their jobs and returned to their home towns.

Anushka Kaushik in Ghar Waapsi. (Photo: Dice Media/Instagram)

She explained one of the hard hitting dialogues from the trailer where her character says, “Chote shehron ke bhai behen apne chote bhai behen ke saath 10-12 saal rehte hain aur achanak se vo long distance ho jaate hain.” Talking about the emotionally charged dialogue, Anushka said, “We talk so much about long-distance relationships between lovers, we have shows and films that reflect on them. But that dynamic between a brother and a sister is not explored as much. In that scene, the angst that Suruchi shows is coming from a place of love. That’s the beauty of the character and also the direction.”

 

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Of late, we have had web shows that captured the essence of a middle-class household, be it SonyLIV’s Gullak or Netflix’s Yeh Meri Family. But Ruchir is confident that Ghar Waapsi is not like the ones which people have watched already. For him, the audience will watch it not once but multiple times. He believes the show, “is not a story of only one person or one family. It is the story of a lot of people. Every character is so well written and acted that it all feels organic. You will feel that you know all the characters personally. I do not know any other show which has such diverse characters yet they have harmony between them.”

The official logline of Ghar Waapsi reads, “The life of Shekhar, who is out of work, changes forever as he moves back to his hometown and finds a road to self-discovery.”