Y. Sunita Chowdhary
Director Marthand Shankar’s debut project Expiry Date is a web series and will be streamed on Zee5 in both Telugu and Hindi. The Hindi version will be released on October 2. “We approached Zee 5 through Sharat Marar (Producer, North Star) for the Telugu series and they wanted it in Hindi as well. It has ten episodes and the duration is 300 minutes overall. It is a crime thriller and we had to change the uniforms, police stations.
Ask him what made him pick the title and how apt it is for the project, he explains, “The story is written by me. Every product comes with a manufacturing date and there is an expiry date as well. But for one cannot and many more. We had to do double shoots, we had different artists speaking their respective languages. We finished it in 57 days. The call sheets 7 to 9 were helpful and the artists were helpful too. The pre-production was meticulous, long drawn and exciting. We all enjoyed our work,” says Shankar. If someone has planned a murder, the expiry date is known to the man who is going to execute it. The story happens between two couples; Tony Luke of Badla fame and Sneha Ullal is one couple. Madhu Shalini and Ali Raza form a pair for the Telugu series. What happens if either a husband or a wife has an illicit relationship is the crux of the story. There are a lot of twists and turns in the film, I once happened to see Race and loved it, the unpredictability is the highlight of the film and the same pattern is followed here. A person plans something but what happens if it doesn’t work? Each person has his own design and we won’t know if a person is good or bad.” There are a lot of films and web series coming up on October 2 but the team is confident about its success.
Suresh Raghutu of Chandamama Kathalu has done a splendid job, a hard worker and very efficient. He came up with quality and Anoop Reubens infused life with his background score. Prasad, who is the technical head of Zee5 has been very helpful. Sharat Marar is well versed in everything, he has complete clarity on what he wants, knows technical value. He is just not a producer who spends money, it isn’t easy to do a small project after doing big films. We didn’t waste time and shot during Corona time too after taking precautions. Movie is like an advertisement and we show what we want in two hours. For a web series, we can create impact with the drama we want, no time limitation and there is no censoring. There are certain rules we need to follow nevertheless like shooting a particular number of minutes every day according to which the budget is issued.
The pre-production and planning is heavy and if there is shifting of location, it involves a lot of preparation. We can’t afford to waste time. There is pressure but if you love your work, everything becomes a smooth trip. The technicians bag work irrespective of the project being a hit or a flop, the work is recognised.
