After getting critical acclaim for making silent comedy shows like Gutur Gu and Malegaon ka chintu, SAB TV is back with Rumm pumm Po — a rom-com. Sangeeta Yadav caught up with the producer and actor of the show who says that one of the biggest challenges of making the tele-series was to have a strong choreography
lights, camera, action and silence. Yes, there is absolute silence even as actors go about shooting for a scene. It is this silence that the viewers have been sitting and watching on the show Rumm pumm Po. Here it is not the dialogues that will entertain, but the miming. However, this is not the first time that silent comedy as a genre has been explored on TV. Earlier, also SAB TV had come up with a series on similar lines. This time round, the channel is back with a new theme with plenty of family drama.It’s the romance and love story of Raja (played by Abhishek Sharma) and Rani (played by Chehstha Mehta) that will take the centrestage in Rumm pumm Po, apart from the comedy quotient. Al Amin and Hemali Karpe plays Sharma’s parents while Manini Dey and Amit Behl play Mehta’s parents.
“The story is simple. Raja is a down to earth kind of a person. He is his mother’s blue-eyed boy; his father on the other hand is very strict and wants him to do something worthwhile in life. Raja’s life changes when a family moves in next door; he falls in love with the daughter — Rani. They become friends. But the families do not approve of this friendship. The series is about how Raja tries to set things right between their families. It’s a nice situational comedy and the romance is very cute and innocent. We are trying to show the innocent love through our show,” Sharma tells you.
Deepti Bhatnagar, who is the brains behind the show, says that she wanted to make a feature film on the concept but it turned out to be a finite tele-series. “Before doing Rumm pumm Po, I created a series of silent comedies titled Chintu for SAB. It was a story of a village boy. So we named our first series Malegaon ka chintu. Then in the second series, he travelled all over the world and met a lot of people and thus, we named it Chintu Ban Gaya Gentleman. In the last series titled Chintu and Pintu, we showcased Chintu getting married to his girlfriend and having a son, Pintu. All three series became super-hit. During that time, I thought of a nice silent rom-com film. I just happened to mention the project to the channel, they liked it so much that they convinced me to make it into a TV show,” Bhatnagar says adding that she will make a film on silent comedy.
From its picturesque best set-up, amazing music, well-written script and mind-blowing acting of the actors, Rumm pumm Po has everything in terms of family entertainment. “Making a show with no dialogues is a very difficult genre especially when one has to communicate to the viewers sitting at home what the actors are doing and what exactly is happening. There are no dialogues, only acting. For this, choreography has to be very strong and should have a smooth flow from one scene to another. The body language and expressions have to come across very effortlessly and clearly,” Sharma says.Along with strong choreography and acting, what’s equally important is the background music. Despite going for the known TV or Bollywood music team, the showmakers roped in new music composers.
“Even the entire team — the scriptwriters, choreographers, etc are also working on this series for the very first time. “They may lack the experience and not know much when it comes to the technical aspects of what goes into making a show, they more than make-up when it comes to being creative. In that sense, they are the best that Mumbai has to offer. They think very clearly about what they want. That gave me the confidence to go ahead with the project. Otherwise not every production house can make a show like this,” Bhatnagar says.
For Abhishek, acting on a silent rom-com was a different experience. “It’s difficult to enact when you don’t have any dialogues. The scene has to be written in a way that you don’t need to speak. It’s very challenging. We did workshops to learn how to mime. We worked on the characterisation. Once you know the character, the performance comes naturally to you. Not staying true to the script and to keep improvising requires lot of effort and creativity,” Sharma says.
Talking about the first silent show on TV, Gutur Gu, Bhatnagar tells you that it was well-received by the viewers. “This gave us the confidence to come up with a silent romantic comedy show. It’s a youth-based show. Every scene has interesting captions and graphics to make it look more interesting,” Bhatnagar says.