TV’s wonder boys come to town

True Detective director Cary Fukunaga and Homeland producer Gideon Raff joined Nikkhil Advani to discuss writing for the small screen in a session at the Mami film festival

Television’s wonder boys Cary Fukunaga and Gideon Raff shared their views on the Evolution of Television Storytelling at the 18th Mami film festival, on Tuesday. Cary is best known for directing the first season of cult series True Detective. Gideon is the creator of Hatufim, the original Israeli series, which was adapted into Homeland in the U.S. and closer home, film director Nikkhil Advani is helming an Indian version, titled P.O.W: Bandi Yuddh Ke.

Cary previously directed films such as Sin Nombre and Jane Eyre before taking a leap into television. What prompted him to make a switch For Cary it was the long form storytelling that attracted him the most. “In the U.S. there is a dearth of mid-budget drama movies — television is tapping that niche market. However, after adapting Jane Eyre, where I condensed a 300-400 pages book in two hours, I wanted to try some long form,” Cary said. “Also, the levels of restriction are far lesser in television. You can really tell your stories here. There might be some censorship, but for me they are only certain frameworks,” Gideon chips in.

Talking about his phenomenal rise after True Detective, Cary says, he was “fortunately or unfortunately” in Ghana when its popularity shot up, so he missed the entire fanfare. While Cary spoke about his upcoming show Maniac starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, he also suggested almost as a passing remark, how there could be a True Detective adaptation in India, which the panelists received quite excitedly. “We can set the story somewhere in U.P. or Jharkhand. In any case, I am up for it,” Nikkhil exclaimed as the theatre cheered.

The session was preceded by the world premiere of the pilot of P.O.W: Bandi Yuddh Ke, which was well received by the audience. Nikkhil, who has directed 126 episodes for the show, says it is the commitment towards a TV show that was most daunting. “Soon after I completed D-Day I was offered to work on a television series. But I did not know then what I was signing up for,” he said, adding, “Everyday has been a learning experience for me while shooting P.O.W.”

Gaurav Banerji, the general manager for Star Plus, who was also a part of the panel, maintained that Indian television too has seen some sort of revival in the recent years.

“There has been a stellar shift in the television in the past decade,” he said. “With Ekta Kapoor’s serials, the focus of the conversation switched from the men in the house to the women in the house. In India, there is a general idea that people look down upon television. But these criticisms come from an elite section of the society, who have the privilege of viewing the works of the esteemed gentlemen (Cary and Gideon) sitting next to me. But for most of the Indians whom we really cater to, India is still ‘Bharat’. And television is still the only medium which has the power to shape the country’s conscience,” he said. “Television viewers in India,” Gaurav pointed out, “is larger than the entire population of Europe.”

The panelists agreed that television is after all the writer’s medium. “It is important for me that I keep myself surrounded by the best writers,” Nikkhil said about his creative process while shooting P.O.W., which will be aired from November 7. “It is a kind of drug, people will keep coming back for their fix,” said Nikkhil about the show.

We’ll have to see, won’t we