Biswa Kalyan Rath: Our ambition was bigger than our budget

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Making people laugh about the mundaneness of life is his forte, but Biswa Kalyan Rath has a knack for telling heartfelt stories in the garb of humour. Not surprising then that his recent offering, Laakhon Mein Ek S02, has been nominated in the Best New Season category and has fetched him a Best Creator nod at the upcoming mid-day and Radio City Hitlist Web Awards.

After the success of Laakhon Mein Ek, which revolved around an engineering student, Rath decided to examine the medical profession for the second outing. "We wanted to continue our human versus system narrative. The medical world was a natural choice after the engineering field since these are the two options most middle-class Indian kids are given," he reasons.

While there have been several shows and films on the malpractices in the medical industry, his team relied on on-ground research and personal experiences. "Abhishek [Sengupta], our director, had a lot of childhood stories since his father was a doctor. Hussain [Haidry, writer] had also worked in a hospital as a CFO. Meanwhile, my friend Sneha Vakharia gave us basic insight into how this system works. We also spoke to doctors, medical students and medical journalists."

Developing a show from scratch, with limited resources, is no mean feat. "Our ambition was much bigger than our budget. Every person in the crew burnt the midnight oil to make this show possible," says Rath, glad that Shweta Tripathi Sharma - their first choice for the lead role - gave her nod to the series.

In 2019, Rath also released his comedy special Sushi that has been nominated for Best Comedy (Non-fiction) at the awards gala. Ask him how he came up with the name and the funny man responds, "I visited Japan; that had a big influence on it." The material that didn't make the cut in this comedy special will be included in his next outing. "I wanted to make it relatable, and not too cerebral. So, I removed [sets] that didn't fit."

More about Laakhon Mein Ek

The team had a doctor on set every time they shot a scene with any medical reference
Shweta Tripathi claims that the makers referred to her as the 'Masaan wali ladki' before approaching her for the role

Cast your vote for the Hitlist Web Awards

Biswa Kalyan Rath has been nominated in the Best Creator category for Laakhon Mein Ek S02. The other nominees are:

• Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti (Made in Heaven)
• Vikramaditya Motwane (Sacred Games S02)
• Raj-DK (The Family Man)
• Richie Mehta (Delhi Crime)
• Rath also enjoys a nomination in the Best Comedy (Non-fiction) category for Sushi (Stand-up Special; Amazon Prime). The other nominees are:
• Going Downhill (Stand-up special: Neville Shah; Amazon Prime)
• One Mic Stand (Sapan Verma; Amazon Prime)
• Jestination Unknown (Vir Das; Amazon Prime)
• Comicstaan 2 (OML Entertainment; Amazon Prime)

There are 14 categories that the public can vote in. Log on to www.hitlistwebawards.com to cast your vote.

You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c/d as on the website) to 57575.

Voting lines close on March 8.

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