Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 23 : Actor Darsheel Safary and producer Neeta Shah talked about their series 'Gamerlog' and what makes it relatable and relevant.
The series is directed by Arya Deo and produced by Abhinay Deo and Neeta Shah. Apart from Darsheel Safary, it also stars Anjali Sivaraman, Chinmay Chandraunshuh, Kunal Bhan, Chetan Dhawan, Shubroy Chowdhury, and Akash Menon in prominent roles.
In a conversation with ANI, Neeta shared how the project is relatable and its relevance in today's context, "Today, gaming in India is an industry worth 2.2 billion dollars. And here, many kids are making their professional careers. They are earning a lot and making careers. It is a very secure career. As parents always say, focus on your studies, start a business or do a profession. But today, parents are also realising it...So, you can make a career there. And it is very secure. Our story is based on this world."
"It is a fiction story. But how these 6-7 characters in this world, the kids, are making their mark. This story is about them," she shared.
Darsheel added, "My job as an actor is to connect with the audience. To give them a small message. And to provide them with paisa vasool entertainment..the series shows throughout how the parents and their son have disagreements about gaming..This show, in fact, teaches you in an entertaining way how gaming can be very good for you. It can be a career option. It can be a skill-based thing. And secondly, you should know that there is a world outside of gaming where you live, you have life lessons. You get to see ups and downs. So, for me, this was the project that was in my eyes..."
He continued how he got interested in the project, "I have been a gamer since childhood. I have wasted a lot of my time in gaming parlours. And I have spent a lot of time by bunking my college lectures. But not only that, because I am playing such a character who does gaming but there were two things in it. One is the story. It actually tells you the story of the people who play games. Now, all these people have come from different parts of India and they have become a team to win a competition. There are a lot of problems. ..end moment problems, unexpected things happen. So, what do you do in these moments? So, this becomes a very inspiring thing for me. I was like, this happens in everyone's life..for me, all this is being shown to you from a gaming perspective. that was the unique part for me. And the second thing was that we have brought the game into live action. If you see in the trailer, that we have not only played the game, but we have lived the game. We become that character."
Recalling shooting for a sequence from the series, he shared, "I picked up that 9 kg gun and shot an entire action sequence of 5-7 days. And that for me, experience-wise, was mind-blowing..."
On why the makers chose Darsheel, Neeta shared, "So, when our script was ready, my partner, Abhinay ji, who is also a creative producer on this show, apart from being a producer. And when we were discussing, I and Arya, the director of this show. So, all three of us thought of Darsheel. Because this character is very young. He is a 17-18 year old young kid. We wanted this character who looked young and had innocence on his face. But when the time comes, he should move forward confidently with his team. So, these are both aspects of the character...he is very vulnerable. But at the same time, when the right opportunity comes, when his team needs him, he goes all out for them. So, I think Darsheel was the first choice for all three of us."
'Gamerlog' is streaming on Amazon MX Player.