Exclusive! Sutliyan cast open up about ZEE5 show, how it stands out and how they hope it sparks a conversation

There aren’t too many homegrown family-themed shows one can name that have quite hit the mark. Sure, we’ve had a host of saas-bahu soaps on TV, but they’ve resorted to slow-moving fantastical plots that are as wretched as the acting and in some cases, fantastical VFX effects. But things have been quite different in the digital space.

Gullak (on SonyLIV), recently renewed for a third season, is a warm and unadulterated look at a middle-class family, as is Yeh Meri Family (Netflix). ZEE5 series Sutliyan, directed by Shree Narayan Singh, that has Ayesha Raza (Supriya), Plabita Borthakur (Ramni), Shiv Panditt (Rajan) and Vivaan Shah (Raman) hopes to be remembered on the same note.

The first look teaser didn’t give out much except the reunion of four family members to celebrate Diwali and the memory of their deceased father, but the trailer hints at a layered, poignant story. “Although it comes under a certain traditional aesthetic, it is more than just that,” explains Shah.

Recently, the cast of Sutliyan gathered on a Zoom call to briefly speak with OTTplay about their show that releases on Friday.

Excerpts from the conversation below:

I just saw the trailer and Sutliyan seems very wholesome. It’s about a regular family dealing with very regular things — loss of a parent, loss of a partner, sibling and family dynamics. We’ve had content where family forms the crux of the story: Dil Bekaraar, there’s Gullak, there’s Yeh Meri Family. Then you also have English language shows like This Is Us. How does Sutliyan stand out?

Ayesha Raza: I don’t know if it’s going to stand out. It’s not a crime thriller, it’s not about corruption or murder. It’s not about a lot of OTT things [genres] that are getting space right now. With the exception of Gullak, which has really made a splash in terms of a family show, there aren’t too many of these shows in the OTT space. Therefore, I feel that Sutliyan does have space and it does have something to say in terms of relationships, parents, children, getting your family together after a pandemic, after a disaster situation. It’s about how [these events and relationships] impact us as Indians. So I do think Sutliyan has something different to say.

Vivaan Shah: This Is Us was a big influence on our creative producer Shagun Luthra. She’s a big fan of that show. She mentioned it to us when we began work on the show. It’s really interesting because as Ayesha said, what ‘distinguishes’ Sutliyan is that it’s ‘wholesome’, as you called it. Even though it comes under the garb of a traditional family drama, I think it’s more complex than that. It explores something different and although it has a garb of something very traditional, it is modern. There are a lot of interesting ideas and topics being explored in the show. Hopefully, it will initiate a conversation on certain issues, which would be a great result of the show. If it does encourage people to have discussions on certain topics, which are very important in today’s day and age, would be great. Although it comes under a certain traditional aesthetic, it is more than just that.

Shiv Panditt: I agree with what these guys have said. I also think that barring the metros, because of the way Indian society is structured, there are a lot of things that are not said within families. With your elders, there’s a certain line you don’t cross. And because of this what happens is, like you say in Hindi, ‘Baat ko pi jaatein hain (Bear in silence).’ Baat ko pine se kya hota hai, wo baat ankahi reh jaati hai. (Then that issue is never out in the open). Then what happens is it creates angst and depression, your relationships are affected. Free communication is a little limited. This show is about a family from Bhopal, a middle-class family, maybe even a lower-middle-class family, and what are the unsaid things, what are the issues they are facing. This may shed light, like Vivaan said, on certain issues that need to be spoken about in our society regardless of where you’re from; whether you’re in Mumbai or in a small nook of the country. Hopefully, due to the ever-expanding mobile network and due to ZEE’s reach, people will get to sample this show and maybe use it as a talking point within their own families.

Plabita Borthakur: There are many shows that revolve around family like This is Us and others. But I feel there is so much in these relationships between family members that there can be hundreds of family shows. We can always have something more to take [away]. These are characters we can all relate to because this [the story of Sutliyan] can happen to us, maybe not the same thing but something similar. I don’t feel [the show] necessarily needs to be completely different, it can be similar as well.

Ayesha, you have played the mom a lot of times so far, how is Supriya different?

Supriya is different because this role gives me more screen time. Essentially, when you play a typical Bollywood mom, 90 per cent of the time the female characters are not well-written. The mom characters are pretty stock – either you’re the sweet, friendly mom or the dominating wife who is a dominating mom that’s always trying to get her child married. There are very few agendas for personal growth in the way women characters, especially mother characters are written. So for the first time, I got a character to play that had some meat in it. Her personal life was explored here, she was not just a mother to other people’s journeys. This was her journey. So for me, this is why Supriya was important. It also gave me a chance to work with fantastic actors like Vivaan, Shiv and Plabita. It was amazing because I got to do these scenes with really good actors who became really good friends, so the entire experience became so much more meaningful. Supriya represents a woman who has her own journey as opposed to being just an accessory to her children.

She’s not just a mom. She’s more than that.

AR: She’s not just a mom, she’s a whole person.

SP: Being a mom is the biggest full-time gig in the world. ‘Just a mom’ is also a huge thing.

AR: Just a mom in terms of a character in a film. It’s not about the value of being a mother.

SP: And Ayesha’s character is explored in two ways. Not only do they show her as a mother in terms of sacrifices she made in raising these children, at the same time they show her story individually and personally as well.

VS: It’s really like a character study of a mom in an interesting way. And we seldom see that.

Vivaan, Shiv, Plabita, you all have siblings. Did this factor in any way help establish or better the on screen dynamic between the three of you?

VS: Yes.

SP: Definitely did.

How?

VS: There’s a sense of fun camaraderie, sort of ribbing, bullying, teasing which happens amongst siblings. And funnily, whenever one is playing a family, it happens very organically. You don’t have to make a conscious effort to pretend or behave like a family. In this case, it completely happened organically. When we were in Bhopal and we got to know each other and really learned a lot from each other’s processes because all four have different acting processes just like in real life if all four of us were a family we would have different personalities and temperaments. So that also fed into it and created an interesting dynamic.

SP: If we were a family in real life, Vivan would have strangled me by now.

VS: We would have been wrestling like in WWE. (laughs)

SP: Vivaan would have thrown ten books at me.

PB: In my family, we are three sisters and we are a little apart in age. Growing up, we did have a lot of fights, but now we are like best friends. We’re each other’s support, we meet every other day and we share everything. So now, we’ve become more like friends. What I could relate to in this character was that she is going and doing whatever she can for her family. She might not like her siblings for certain things that they have done but she will fight for them. Just the thought that you will do anything for your siblings helps. Apart from that, I don’t think I needed to think of my siblings. As Vivaan said, we all really got along well and we vibed. Everything just happened organically.

Watch the trailer here: