Sushmita Sen’s portrayal of Shreegauri Sawant in the series Taali has been garnering positive reviews. Post the shows release, News18 Showsha spoke to the creators, Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartk D Nishandar, who have beautifully captured Shreegauri’s journey of facing challenges, showing resilience, and achieving victory.
Revealing that Sushmita Sen took close to six months to say yes to the role, the creators said, “When she read the script, she loved it. It’s the story of Gauri Sawant, a transgender who goes to the Supreme Court for equal rights. And she is also a mother. Gauri, much like Sushmita is a very logical, opinionated person. You can make Gauri sit with anyone and she will hold her own. We wanted an actor like that. Sushmita was the obvious choice."
The creators were clear that the story had to be positive — that of inspiration and triumph. “From the very beginning, we knew that we wanted to tell a positive story. We wanted the character to feel very lovable. This is the story of Ganesh, who realises that he has been a woman all along. We wanted to tell the story from when he realises he is a woman to when he gets a sex change operation to becoming Gauri Sawant and inspiring many others," they said.
But they didn’t want to compromise on the entertainment factor either, lest it becomes too preachy. “We wanted to make an entertaining commercial show with a message. We wanted to show the transgender is just as human as we are today they can buy properties, her driving license and more. Through the show we wanted to start a conversation," added Kartk and Arjun.
The shooting set had to be inclusive, a fact the creators were very particular about. “For the show, we had hired 2200 transgenders - who played secondary characters and were also junior artistes. Everyone adored Susmita Sen and the shoot was very impactful. This one time, she was running 102° fever on sets and a few of the transgenders who were a part of the cast, bought home-cooked food for her," they recalled.
Taali is streaming on JioCinemas.
