Trauma appears to be the next big thing in web projects, from The Fame Game to Undekhi to Tabbar, and its creators claim it’s a reflection of an emerging audience.
Recent online series and films, such as The Fame Game, Tabbar, Grahan, Special Ops, Gehraiyaan, Mumbai Diaries, Paatal Lok, Bestseller, and Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega, have increasingly focused on the issue of trauma. This is an attempt by filmmakers and actors to reflect reality, appeal to a changing public, and, in many cases, address their own scars.
“With the evolution of OTT, as the stories become more and more real, so have the conflicts of a character,” says actor Gagan Arora. “For example, in Tabbar, it was the trauma of how far will he go for his family as a loved son, and on the contrary, in The Fame Game, it was the absence of a family for an orphan.”
All tales, according to Tabbar founder Ajitpal Singh, begin with trauma. “The way people create and consume content is changing. Previously, there was entertainment, music, and dancing. People are now seeing it on social media and looking for something new to watch on OTT. We need to come up with something unique and relevant. And this (all kinds of trauma) is a part of our lives and how complicated we are, as told via our tales,” he continues.
In some circumstances, it may be the mending of ten-year-old scars, in others, it may be the death of a parent, and in still others, it may be the haunting of the past. Undekhi, for example, may appear to be a narrative about mafia Rinku Paaji attempting to conceal his and his family’s crimes on the surface, but it is also a story about his painful upbringing, which led to his obsessive love for his father-like uncle. Indeed, the creators of Rocket Boys alluded to the anguish of losing a parent.
It is merely a symptom of the contemporary reality of the times, according to writer Bhavani Iyer, who has worked on Breath: Into the Shadows and The Empire.
“When the oppressed’s reality is conveyed for the goal of generating empathy, it can be a very therapeutic thing,” says actress Richa Chadha. However, when old wounds are resurrected only for the aim of profiting from a catastrophe, it creates more suffering.”
