Exclusive! Manoj Pillai: The Whistleblower will be a gamechanger for Ritwik Bhowmik

All set to make his web series debut with The Whistleblower, Manoj Pillai could not help but spend sleepless nights thinking about how he can up the game after Scam 1992. While the series comes closer to release, he still believes in making last-minute changes. As anxious as he is, Manoj is also excited and confident about his actors, Ritwik Bhowmik and Ravi Kishan.

While talking to OTTplay, Manoj also shared some details about the show, what makes it different from and similar to Scam 1992 and how Ritwik might just be the next Pratik Gandhi. He also discussed some technicalities associated with the show.

Excerpts from the interview:

You are making your web series debut with The Whistleblower. What is your state of mind currently?

We're on the last leg of the series. You're never happy till the last moment. I'm having sleepless nights and am completely excited at the same time.

There are various reports making rounds that the show is based on the Vyapam scam. How closely would you say the show is inspired by that event?

First of all, I would like to clarify that it is not based on any scam, whether Vyapam or anything else. This is a purely fictional work. The researchers, creative team and writers had dug into a lot of true events which happened in the country. We have taken bits and pieces from those events but it's completely a work of fiction.

Since Sony LIV has already produced Scam 1992, the expectations would be on a new high. How did you deal with that?

Yeah, you rightly said it. After Scam 1992, the expectations are really high. We have to live up to it. We worked closely on the screenplay and the script. We had to work in-depth on everything based on the series. When we felt like it was close to 10/10, that's when my journey started. I did my bit of research. Cinematically, I wanted something very refreshing. We had to bring certain plans in place. The script was in place and then came my treatment - about how I want to treat the plot and performances. I wanted nuances in the performances. You will find that in every character in the series. You will find certain detailed nuances in the characters. It might not be in-your-face but a lot more detailed circulatory which we have got in the performance. The way we wanted to shoot and mount it also mattered because there are multiple worlds in the series. We wanted to bring life to every world in a certain cinematic way. That's what we really worked hard on.

Do you believe there will be comparisons with Scam 1992 especially since the teaser showed a media angle to The Whistleblower which was the whole crux of that show? The media exposed the scam there and here as well. So are you expecting to see comparisons between the two?

I do think there will be comparisons. It's almost inevitable since Scam is also from the same production house. It's a pathbreaking script but the execution is different.

How would you react to the comparisons?

I would say that the two worlds are very different. The way it's shot and the storytelling is quite different. The soul is very much similar. We kept the soul alive but treated it differently. Also, Scam was about the financial world and this is education.

Do you think The Whistleblower will do for Ritwik Bhowmik what Scam did for Pratik Gandhi?

Ritwik has already done Bandish Bandits in which he was shown in a certain manner. He has done a great job in that as Radhe. The Whistleblower definitely will bring in a very different shade of him which no one imagined him in. It was a very difficult journey to get Dr. Sanket's character out. We were having difficulty finding someone to play the character before we found Ritwik. The way he worked on himself, the entire credit goes to him. It will be completely poles apart from Bandish Bandits. People will definitely want to know what this guy thinks about and how he behaves.

Pratik, on the other hand, had done various Gujarati films in the past. He gave the character a different shade and it became a National show. People saw him in that manner. I think The Whistleblower will be a gamechanger for Ritwik too.

What made you think of Ravi Kishan vs Ritwik in the role?

Ravi Kishan is a fantastic actor and a delight to work with. I can shoot with him for a whole day. His range is endless. He came on board because I wanted a certain subtlety that he brought in the character. He comes from the shade of an antagonist in the series. He has a dark shade but I don't want it to be in-your-face thing. There is certain manipulative calmness in him. He wanted to play that out. He would come and talk to you and you wouldn't know how he manipulated you. The whole idea was that. My idea is that Sanket (Ritwik) is drawn to Jayraj (Ravi)'s world and vice-versa. Sanket is a cool doctor who has the wisdom. Jayraj has power and is a larger-than-life character. They are attracted to each other but don't know that. That's the beauty of the character.

Emraan Hashmi's Why Cheat India dealt with a similar topic. How would you say The Whistleblower is different from that apart from that being a movie and this being a series?

The Whistleblower has a more in-depth and detailed world. There is a medical world, there is media, police. There are also parallel stories going on. The scale and magnitude are much bigger. This is for eight hours. The colours, shades etc. are very different. Both the projects are poles apart.

You mentioned that there is media, doctors, police and education. They are a new topic in themselves. So, will we get to see it dealt with individually?

The worlds are meeting together at one point. The dots are connected. You'll find the connection in everything. It's about how every world unfolds while exposing. It's a circle. Everything is connected.

When you deal with so many topics together, it could become complex even for the audiences to understand. So what did you do to keep the scenes as simplified as possible?

The comprehension had to be absolutely clear. We have simplified many things in the narrative. There is no complexity there. The way it is told is engaging and interesting. The way the scenes are captured or unfolded is engaging. The story grips you. We didn't want to bring in more complexity by adding any layers because the story itself is so engaging. You have a lot of cliffhanger moments in place. We wanted the scenes to be very different and engaging. The audience wouldn't find such complexities.