Ek Tha Rusty’s third season will focus on early writings and inspirations of Ruskin Bond. Its director Shubhadarshini Singh spoke to Darpan Mago
Imagine a scene amidst beautiful mountains, where a handsome lad everyday takes leisurely walks through the rugged terrain and catches inspiration like bits of paper in the air. His life is like a melodious song, one that flows at its own pace. You hear the music only if you align yourself to the flow of the song. A world where there is no stress, no haste and the protagonist (Rusty) lives in the luxury of intellectual space trying to unravel the incidents in his life. There is a friendly police officer, friends, a daku and pretty women who take up most of the time of this boy. He is caught in pulls of romance and mystery, and spends his time mulling over happenings in his life. The young boy records all the events in form of stories. All his day-to-day episodes form a pivotal source of ideas to pen his thoughts on paper. Ruskin Bond says, “According to me mountains don’t change, people don’t change and therefore I think there is a certain relevance in the tale. This is where the essence lies.”
Ek Tha Rusty is a series on Doordarshan, directed by Shubhadarshini Singh. It presents the life of renowned author Ruskin Bond and is based on his stories. While the early two seasons of the series focussed on his childhood and his growing up years, the forthcoming third season will highlight his adulthood and his early writings.
“A sense of nostalgia will take over and the audience will dive deep in the memories of the past. The biggest challenge for me was to create a backdrop of 1960 and 70s. Arranging old costumes, managing to shoot in old bungalows and making peculiar music of those times was done painstakingly. It was sometimes difficult to find the objects I wanted to shoot with. For instance, vintage cars and antique toys are not easily available today. Besides the short stories, this series is also conceptualised around Bond’s sensational new novel Maharani,” informs Shubhadarshini. Ruskin Bond is known for his vibrant portrayal of life in hill stations. Recalling her memories from the first part of the TV series aired in 1990s, Shubhadarshini says, “I wanted to make films since I was 10 years of age. While searching for topics for a short film, I came across a novel by Ruskin Bond in my children’s cupboard. It was The Adventures of Rusty. I wrote a letter to the author and got a nice reply. I continued reading his works and decided to come up with a televisions series on his writings. Now, Ruskin Bond has becomes a very good friend.”
The series with a total of 52 episodes will include elements and episodes from Ruskin’s stories, that are dear to the director. “My father was a pilot in the Indian Airlines and I hardly got an opportunity to travel through trains. The scenes which we shot on trains are indeed interesting and close to my heart. lots of animals have also played a part in this show. The dog, Pyarelal, is my own dog and plays a prominent character. I have bought in goats, hens and dogs on the sets,” she concludes.