They are undoubtedly one of the most exciting storytellers in the Indian creative landscape today. Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK — better known as Raj & DK — have redefined the template of long-form storytelling, giving us web winners like The Family Man and Farzi, even as their films 99, Shor in the City and Go Goa Gone have all spawned or brought back diverse genres. The duo’s latest streaming venture is the Netflix thriller comedy Guns & Gulaabs, starring an eclectic ensemble cast led by Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan, Gulshan Devaiah and Adarsh Gourav. Their next is the Indian version of the spy thriller series Citadel, starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, before they plunge back into the world of feature filmmaking next year.
Over an extensive chat with t2oS, Raj & DK discussed their craft and process, what works for them as a team and the world of sequels, universes and crossovers.
FARZI
Shahid Kapoor’s web debut had Michael Sethupathi walking away with most of the accolades, thanks in no small measure to the crisp lines written for him by Raj & DK. Farzi may not have achieved the heights of The Family Man but has definitely been yet another triumphant feather in the duo’s overflowing hat.
Let’s start with your latest. What was the genesis of Guns & Gulaabs?
Krishna DK: We had a basic seed idea for a while. When we initially worked on it, we called it ‘The Last Benchers’, which is an overall term for backbenchers, underdogs, misfits, and the people you don’t really notice. One of the tracks is, of course, the school kids’ track where they sit on the last bench, hence accentuating the idea. But we also have this mechanic (Tipu, played by Rajkummar Rao) who has big dreams of having his own mechanic shop. We also have the son (Jugnu, played by Adarsh Gourav) who is a misfit for the role that he has to take on. So we decided to tell the story of all these misfits in the fictional town of Gulabganj.
The duo with their Guns & Gulaabs cast — Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan and Adarsh Gourav
A lot of Guns & Gulaabs (now streaming on Netflix) is about innocence and the simplicity of the characters. Even if we have someone who is a gangster and is killing people, at the core of it there will be something simple about him. And hence, we wanted to take the audience to a simpler time. So we set the story in the late ’80s-early ’90s, the turn of the decade, so to speak. It was also the time when we were in high school and we wanted to draw from our own experiences, from our innocence at that time. Of course, 30 years from now, people will perhaps argue that the times we are living in now were simpler. God knows where we will be 30 years from now!
With Guns & Gulaabs, Raj and I wanted to make a fun, fun, fun show. We had The Family Man and Farzi and we wanted to do something that was completely different from both these titles. We wanted a lighthearted, fun watch. Nowadays, I see a lot of shows, which are very good, but they are all very serious. We wanted to do a comedy.
In Guns & Gulaabs, the characters may be reminiscent of a certain milieu and era which is serious, but they are funny. The show is pulpy. It’s a don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously kind of a show.
Guns & Gulaabs has misfits. The Family Man is about an Everyman. Farzi is the story of an underdog. Do you naturally gravitate towards such characters?
DK: It’s not necessarily a conscious thing, but we end up picking characters like that. Firstly, being an underdog is more interesting from the storytelling point of view. Our stories mostly centre around people in the middle-class milieu. That’s where Raj and I both grew up. Right from our first film 99 to Guns & Gulaabs, we have looked at the middle class and the lower-middle class. That is apart from A Gentleman, which was an action thriller, and Shor in the City where there was a conscious effort to split the story into different social strata. I don’t think we have made a film about anyone who is really, really rich. The middle class and small town are what mostly distinguishes our work.
Your stories almost always blend various genres. Does that organically creep into your writing or is it done with the conscious idea that you are catering to a diverse audience, especially on the web?
Raj Nidimoru: We never set out to make anything saying: ‘Let’s make a movie in this genre’. We set out to make a story with a certain tone and then it keeps finding itself moving in different directions and into various genres. So our projects either tend to be a mashup of genres or at least keep switching between various genres.
DK: And more often than not, a kind of situational comedy creeps into our stories. So when we made a horror film, it turned out to be a horror comedy (Stree, which they co-wrote). When we made a zombie film, it was a zombie comedy (Go Goa Gone). Guns & Gulaabs has comedy, but there is also a huge underlying thread of romance.Raj: There is also an element of satire in our thematic work. We enjoy mixing up things. Also, in our work, we try and let the audience travel with us all through the way and yet throw a curveball at them every now and then.
You are known to create magnetic, out-of-the-box characters. The latest is Chaar Cut Atmaram in Guns & Gulaabs, played by Gulshan Devaiah. He is both a comic-book villain as well as an ode to the over-the-top characters in the ‘80s and ‘90s masala Bollywood. Is this the most fun you have had creating a character in recent times?
Raj: It is, quite definitely. Guns & Gulaabs, and specifically the creation of Atmaram, belongs to the genre that we internally refer to as ‘free for all’. Where we just go all out! (Laughs) There are no rules and we just say what we want to say. Just venting in a fun way, I guess (laughs). Free-flowing, free-association kind of a project.
Atmaram encapsulates the spirit of that. With this character, we wanted someone with a legend attached to him. In small towns, while growing up, we have all heard stories of a bad guy, a rowdy guy and all kinds of strange stories are attached to him, in terms of what levels of badness he can plunge to. In the case of Atmaram, we wanted to give him some outlandish characteristics, give a fantastical nature to this character and make him surreal almost. And then we kind of ground him by giving him a Bollywood influence, like his hairstyle and swagger is like Sanjay Dutt’s.
But then we also started cutting him down because we didn’t just want this paper cutout of this bad, outlandish guy. So we started giving him strange things... he giggles, he doesn’t roar like a villain. He doesn’t have a gun, he just needs a small Rampuri chaku. When he murders someone with four rips in their bodies — hence the name Chaar Cut — they actually mean something both medically and spiritually, which we have researched; he believes he is cleansing their souls. He also has a bit of a value system and demands respect. He is a pretty strange and fascinating character.
Your style of filmmaking is almost always described as ‘quirky’. Do you think that’s a lazy descriptor or would you rather be called quirky than anything generic?
Raj: It definitely is a simplistic way of describing us...
DK: I guess it’s okay because it kind of describes something that doesn’t fit the norm. It’s not praise, nor is it an insult! (Laughs)
Raj: We came to Bombay to make movies and told ourselves: ‘Listen, we don’t think we can make what’s out there’. First, because it’s already out there. Second, whoever is doing it is pretty good at it. Third, why not make something of our own style, our own signature and our own way of storytelling? For us, ‘quirk’ comes within the story itself... it’s not an idea like: ‘Let’s tell this story in a reverse way’. or ‘Let’s tell a story in five scenes only’. It’s actually about approaching a scene or character — which may be familiar in many ways — in a fresh manner and paint it in an interesting way.
DK: We approach a character like a person, not like a filmmaker. At the core of it, you have to say: ‘This person is like that person I know’, versus saying: ‘This person is like that character in that movie’. We are human beings looking at another human being rather than filmmakers looking at a character.
Raj: If you take Guns & Gulaabs, for example, Tipu’s (Rajkummar Rao) introduction scene has him at his father’s funeral, which is like any other regular funeral scene, but the quirk comes from the fact that he is just unable to cry no matter how hard he tries. He’s yawning, but there’s nothing out of place in that because if one is sleep-deprived, one will yawn. It’s just about placing a very human characteristic at a point where it will make the viewer chuckle. Most of the time it’s about how you structure the scene.
Are the two of you always on the same page? Is the idea anyway to be on the same page?
DK: Ultimately, we have to be on the same page, otherwise there will be two movies coming out instead of one! Out of 100 pages, we will be on the same page for 90; of the remaining 10, we iron out things by the time we get to the shoot floor. We debate sometimes, but that’s rare. We have to also debate with the actor in question in a project because that actor also needs to get on the same page. The crew has to get on the same page... if they see a story or a character differently from us, then it may not be a smooth ride.
Eventually, it has to be a collaborative process, and not just between the two of us. An actor, for instance, can have an entirely different opinion about how a scene should be done. It’s then that we have to all sit and discuss. With us, it’s never a question of powerplay. I am always okay with an actor having his own opinion. If the actor’s opinion is good and his/her point of view works, we may even end up changing a lot of things just to go in that direction. Everything that is for the better, we will do. If we feel it doesn’t work, part of our job is to convince the actor.
Raj: Most of the time, the disagreement is more with the actor than between the two of us. DK and I have been ‘married’ for far too long!
(Laughs) All the problems have been ironed out. Unless it’s an amazing, wholesome, fruitful relationship between the two of us, we won’t be able to create an amazing product. Even if we fight, it never goes beyond a day. But work never stops because of that. At the end of the day, it’s two people making a unique product with a unique voice and we better be in sync. We often get asked how we direct together. Even the actors who work with us will invariably ask this question at some point.
Why aren’t you making films now? Is long-format storytelling more compelling at this point?
DK: We started off making movies and then we made The Family Man and the pandemic happened, after which we made a couple more shows. We can’t wait to get back to making a film. There is a film (Go Goa Gone 2) which we will get down to making soon.
Raj: There is no denying the amazing things one can do with the long format in terms of storytelling and technique. That’s what we discovered while making Season 1 of The Family Man. We were like: ‘Oh my God! We can do a lot!’ It’s a happy playground for a filmmaker, especially if you also happen to be the creator, writer and producer. We have been really enjoying working on this medium, but ultimately, we are feature filmmakers... that’s where the passion actually started from. It’s just taken an extra year or so to get back to it. We are getting back next year.
You have shown more than a hint of a crossover between The Family Man and Farzi. You are directing the Indian version of Citadel, which will eventually tie up with the mothership series. How much does the concept of crossovers and multiple universes, which seems to be quite the flavour of storytelling, excite you?
DK: If you look at our filmography, we have always moved away from doing what we have done previously. We jumped from 99 to Shor in the City, which were very different. From Shor, which people described as a gritty portrayal of the lives of people in Mumbai, we jumped into Go Goa Gone, which was a zombie comedy. While most filmmakers want to do a sequel and expand on an already existing idea, our natural tendency has been to move away and do something else. None of our films has had sequels, although there has always been a huge demand for them. Of course, we did do a second season of The Family Man and now a third because it gave us a natural format to expand the storytelling and spread our wings.
But then our intention is not to build everything around The Family Man. Farzi lent itself naturally to The Family Man universe because Srikant Tiwari (played by Manoj Bajpayee) in the Family Man, who works in the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC) could have easily crossed paths with Michael Vedanayagam (played by Vijay Sethupathi) of Farzi who works in the Counterfeiting & Currency Fraud Analysis & Research Team (CCFART). The worlds of Farzi and The Family Man just tilted themselves towards each other organically.
While a crossover of universes is interesting, we will never force it. But if it happens naturally, why not? Sequels are hard work. Many people make them very successfully. George Lucas has technically made only one film (Star Wars) his whole life!
Raj: All our films, because of the worlds we have created, have one more film in them, at least. From the audience’s point of view, they want to visit the same world that they have loved so much. It does bring its own challenges.
DK: The challenge of making a sequel is that one might think that the audience liked the first serving and they want a second serving of it. But that’s not what they want. You can’t tell them the same story again, or even a similar story for that matter. In Season Two, you will have to surprise them as much as you surprised them in Season One.
Are there certain filmmakers whose films you will definitely catch? And who, for you, are the masters?
Raj: For a long time, I have gone by films as opposed to filmmakers. But if a (David) Fincher film is releasing, I will make sure I watch it.
DK: There are certain filmmakers whose voices I love so much that I have to go back to them again and again. I will always watch a (Christopher) Nolan film. But that doesn’t mean that every film made by him is a masterpiece. My list of favourites would include Nolan, (Martin) Scorsese, (Steven) Spielberg of course, (Quentin) Tarantino, the Coen Brothers and David Fincher. David O. Russell is famous for getting the best-ever performances out of his actors, most of them end up getting nominated for the Oscars.
And in the Indian space?
Raj: I have always loved the unique voice of Anurag Kashyap. Lately, I am loving Malayalam filmmaking. They were always great, but now they have matured to a different level. They don’t worry about the box office but they actually make such strong content that it also works at the box office.
Is there a Raj & DK project that you would like to rework partially if not fully?
DK: I don’t think we have ever thought that what we have made is flawless, that’s never been the case. There has always been room for improvement...
Raj: But DK, I am liking Guns & Gulaabs as it is... I don’t think I would like to change much about it. But if a story of ours didn’t work, we have invariably taken the spirit of it and redone it in a different way in another project. We have done that a couple of times. Like a piece of A Gentleman exists in The Family Man in a completely different milieu and mood. Go Goa Gone, in a different kind of style, is also present in Stree.
RAJ & DK ROSTER
Saif Ali Khan in Go Goa Gone
GO GOA GONE
This zombie comedy — widely regarded as Hindi cinema’s first stoner film — was a trailblazer in many ways, which never took itself seriously and had no qualms about getting downright silly. Raj & DK spawned a mint fresh genre which Bollywood has, many years down the line, still not been able to emulate or build on.
99
After a few short films, Raj & DK burst into feature-film storytelling with this comedy built around the match-fixing scandal in Indian cricket. 99’s tangy, tongue-in-cheek humour heralded the duo as fresh voices who had a lot more to say and were here to stay.
SHOR IN THE CITY
An incisive look at the lives of people in the various social strata in Maximum City, this film stood out for its performances and music as well as for Raj & DK’s unique ability to cull out humour from dark spaces.
THE FAMILY MAN
A bona fide winner in the Indian streaming space, the two seasons of this Manoj Bajpayee-headlined spy series which also doubles as a family drama, have been consistently engaging, drawing viewers in with its top writing and the makers’ trademark elements of crackling humour and everyday characters. Its strength lies in the fact that it almost spoofs the genre but is never reductive or light-footed in its handling of geopolitics.
STREE
Winningly directed by debutant Amar Kaushik, Raj & DK pitched in with the screenplay for Stree. The horror-comedy, perhaps the best in Bollywood so far, turned an urban legend on its head and delivered a succinct commentary on patriarchy, all the while bringing on both claps and chuckles.
