Masaba Masaba — a part-factual, part-fictional look at the life of fashion designer Masaba Gupta, along with her actor-mother Neena Gupta — found a large number of viewers when its first season streamed on Netflix two years ago. The irreverent, fun tone of the series, coupled with Masaba’s natural ease in front of the camera, ensured that the streaming platform greenlit Season 2, which dropped last Friday. Reason enough for The Telegraph to catch up with the mother-daughter duo and the show’s director Sonam Nair for a chat.
If we go back a little, were any of you surprised by the kind of popularity that came the way of the show’s first season?
Sonam Nair: I was completely surprised! All of us went into the release of Season 1 with our expectations low because the format was experimental and people were anyway confused what the show was about. We were just waiting to see whether it would work or not. And then, within the first day, it really exploded! And we realised, ‘Oh my God! It’s really worked!’ (Laughs) This was the first time in my life when I was completely overwhelmed by the number of messages and calls and comments on social media.
Masaba Gupta: It was a very pleasant surprise, especially because it happened at a time (August 2020, in the first wave of the pandemic) which was tough for everyone. We had thought only women would watch it, or a bunch of girls would watch it together, but then suddenly men started writing to me saying, ‘We love it!’ Many of them were in their 40s and they were enjoying it! The fact that it was liked by people across the board was the best thing for all of us.
Neena Gupta: Even now when I go outside the country, people talk to me about Masaba Masaba. When the producer Ashvini Yardi first told me about the concept, I was like, ‘Yeh kya hain?!’ (Laughs) I couldn’t even understand how they would make a show like this. Maine kaha, ‘Masaba apne life ke baare mein kaise bol sakti hain? Kaise sach bolegi?!’ But then the series was made very nicely, and I liked the fact that it wasn’t preachy.
People have told me that they love the chemistry that Masaba and I share on the show. They find us very real... ‘hum bhi aise hi hain’, they tell me. The realistic approach to the subject has done a great service to the show.
The other day, someone told us that he was feeling low and watching the show made him happy. It’s a very happy show. Even if the characters face problems on the show, they are tackled in a nice, effortless manner.
I know that Netflix would have to give a go-ahead, but was Season 2 always on the cards?
Sonam: I was hoping for it. I felt that there were many more things to tell in Masaba’s story, and only a few things were said in the first season. In Season 2, we have said so much more about life, about relationships.... This show is the perfect palette to say a lot of things that I have always wanted to. Like different types of women and their stories, the behind-the-scenes of their lives....
Masaba, Season 2 shows your character evolving a lot, both in terms of personality and your relationships with those around you. Did you feel more comfortable putting yourself and your life out there this season?
Masaba: Ya, because a trust has developed. Also, I think the more sensitive parts were played out in the first season, be it the divorce or whatever. I always knew that it would be handled well. I don’t think the show, at any point, becomes tacky in its handling of any relationship or any emotion.
This season, I was hoping to give more (material) to the writers. I don’t think I can ever be satisfied 100 per cent with the number of stories we have told in these two seasons because I am always like, ‘Oh shit! I wish I could have said something more’.
I really, really like all the writers. they are all a bunch of intelligent and happy girls. There is a big difference when you have generally happy people writing a show. Also, none of us hate men... we all love men! (Laughs)
Sonam, Season 1 was an equal mix of fact and fiction. Season 2 takes a narrative leap, there is more storytelling, there is more imagination. How did you go about handling that?
Sonam: Yes, it’s a lot more fiction. Not just Masaba and Neenaji, we have added a lot more characters, a lot of tracks are fictional. Once we finished Season 1, we fell right into the pandemic, and nothing much happened in anyone’s lives, including in Masaba’s and Neenaji’s.
Masaba: That’s what mum also just said, ‘Kuch zyada hua hi nahin life mein inn do saalon mein!’ (Laughs)
Sonam: The real, dramatic things were dealt with in the first season. In this season, the soul of the characters remains the same and how they deal with life remains the same, but the story woven around them is about 80-90 per cent fiction.
Masaba, what was it like doing the more ‘heroine’ bits in this season?
Masaba: Oh my God! What a blast! What a blast! (Laughs) I won’t ever forget that moment in Kashmir where we were on this golf course and Sonam told me, ‘Just twirl and twirl and twirl!’ (Laughs) Her brief to me was, ‘Just have fun. This is your Yash Raj moment!’ For me, that was the best day of my life because my dream, quite literally, has been to have a steadicam follow me all the time!
When we were prepping for this season, Sonam told me that there would be a little more acting than in Season 1. Honestly, it’s not that there is more fiction-fiction this season.... There are real characters that may not be inspired by my friends or mum’s friends, but it could be someone else we know. Yes, the situations have been fictionalised sometimes. But it’s so seamless that you can’t really tell.
I had a really good time doing this season. I love crying! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy crying and laughing on screen... it was a blast. It was like playing a video game... you have to quickly change your strategy, change your mood... I had a blast.
Sonam: I have to say that Masaba was so good at the ‘heroine’ bits... one could see that she was living for it!
Neenaji, you had told me how Masaba had surprised you with her acting in the first season. What was it like in Season 2 where she had to perform a lot more emotions?
Neena: I like how she does the subtle emotions very well... she did that in Modern Love (Mumbai) too. She and I have some very beautiful scenes in this season. She improvises a lot, she gets the nuances very well. She has improved a lot.
Masaba, how does being a designer contribute to you as an actor and vice versa?
Masaba: There is so much that happens on set that as an actor you really need to put your blinders on. I am someone who is very sensitive to peoples’ energies... like if someone has walked in and I know that they are not feeling their 100 per cent, I immediately pick it up. And in Season 1, I found it very difficult to move past that. But I have now evolved to blanking out everything and just focusing on the job at hand. This kind of focus helps me in my designing work because I have now become much more zen as a professional, and that’s purely because of my experiences as an actor.
I am also very disciplined and that comes from me being an entrepreneur. I don’t have the guts to disrespect the importance of anyone’s time or even my own time.
Neena: Masaba, I think you being disciplined also comes from me!
Masaba: Yes, yes! My discipline is also because of my genetics!
Neena: Not just that, Masaba... it’s also about what you imbibe and learn from your parents. One day, she was shouting and I was like, ‘Why you screaming?!’ And she was like, ‘I have learnt it from you!’ (Laughs) So yes, good things and bad things.