Jumping from William Shakespeare to Agatha Christie was seamless for Bollywood director Vishal Bharadwaj. But he picked the least known Agatha Christie novel — The Sittaford Mystery — for his OTT debut, Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley.
Bharadwaj has adapted Christie but there is no finicky Hercule Poirot or an inquisitive Ms. Marple to intrigue the viewer.
“This was not the specific book I wanted to adapt. But this was one of the few left, considering directors like Kenneth Barnaigh or studios like 20th Century Fox had also picked up books to adapt,” said the director of Maqbool (2003), Omkara (2006) and Haider (2014).
But what it does have is his signature style of adapting the plot, characters and location to a contemporary desi setting.
“I do not think it is a very famous book, because there are some issues. But the plot and modus operandi of the killer is so good that I could not guess till the end, who the killer was and how the crime was committed,” said Bharadwaj.
An Agatha Christie fan, his plan was to set the show in Joshimath. But the man who brought Othello to the heartlands of Uttar Pradesh, Hamlet to Kashmir and Macbeth to Mumbai was forced to look somewhere else with reports of Joshimath’s sinking.
“Snow is also an important character in the story. So we decided on Solang valley,” he said. Kashmir could have been the other choice. But Bharadwaj did not want the state to be just a pretty backdrop.” I had already set Haider in Kashmir, and if you set anything in the place, it has to have political relevance,” he said.
Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley features the entire family of Naseeruddin Shah-Ratna Pathak and has an ensemble cast including Neena Gupta, Gulshan Grover and Wamiqa Gabibi who plays the titular role.
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What’s in a name
Finding that perfect name for the show was the first challenge—it changed multiple times. Finally, he decided on his favourite name–Charlie. He had previously composed the song Oye Boy Charlie for his film Matru Ki Bijlee ka Mandola (2013), and in Kaminey, Shahid Kapoor plays a character named Charlie. When nothing worked out, he decided to name the show and its lead protagonist, Charlie Chopra.
“I wanted to name it Imly. But I heard Anurag Basu had the rights to that name,” said Bharadwaj. That did not deter the director as he promptly dialed Basu, and told him that he wanted the name. Basu, who is a friend, agreed over the call. But the next morning, Basu texted Bharadwaj and told him that he could not actually give him the title.
After a few trials, Charlie Chopra was finalised. The next task was getting the right lead. Bharadwaj zeroed in on Gabbi, who had previously worked with in an episode in the Amazon Prime Video anthology Modern Love:Mumbai, the short film Fursat, and the upcoming Netflix film, Khufiya.
“Wamiqa is as Punjabi as it gets. I observed her while shooting, and how she becomes a completely different character when she speaks Punjabi,” said Bharadwaj.
Bowled over by Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s stellar performance in the comedy series Fleabag, Bharadwaj also decided to adapt the technique of breaking the fourth wall. The idea took shape when he got Gabbi to speak to the audience in Punjabi.
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Ensemble cast woes
Getting actors on board, for the most part, went off smoothly. Charlie Chopra and the Mystery of Solang Valley also has Priyanshu Painyuli Naseeruddin and Lara Dutta Bhupathi among its stellar cast.
“He is the king of adaptations, and when I got the call, it was a dream come true,” said Painyuli, who plays a small town yellow journalist Sitaram Bisht.
With seasoned actors on board, Bharadwaj also knew that his task became that much easier. “Ratna Pathak Shah’s role was originally very sketchily written. But she brought in her own elements, and then we rewrote it,” he said.
But with an ensemble cast, there are other challenges in place. Naseeruddin Shah initially wanted to play a different character, and Bharadwaj had to coax him out of it.
“I told Naseer bhai, that the particular character would have to wade through a lot of snow, and he would make my life hell over it,” said Bharadwaj, smiling.
Bharadwaj’s rapport with Shah is what finally also got him the entire family as part of the show, and he pulled a feat never seen before. Imaad and Vivan Shah, and Naseeruddin Shah’s daughter Heeba Shah too, came together for the show, and set the ball rolling.
Bharadwaj, however, is just gearing up for more stories and storytelling. With the espionage thriller Khufiya next in life, he is taking the OTT space very seriously.
As for his next location, he’s looking at Assam.
“I have always loved the music and the food, and the beauty of the place. Rangoon was set around it. But I want to make something on the place,” he said.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)