Mona Singh, Kunal Roy Kapur on 'Thode Door Thode Paas': Relevant show in the age of social media

Mumbai, Dec 8 (PTI) Actor Mona Singh and Kunal Roy Kapoor say they deeply resonated with the theme of their new show "Thode Door Thode Paas", which talks about how technology has impacted inter-personal relationship.

The slice-of-life-drama follows the Mehta family, whose patriarch, played by Pankaj Kapur, challenges his family to undertake a six-month digital detox in exchange for a monetary reward. The five-episode show for ZEE5 is written by Shiirshak S Anand and directed by Ajay Bhuyan.

“We’ve witnessed all of that (the era before social media and after that). It is 100% nostalgia. It was a yes from the word go for this show,” Singh told PTI in an interview.

Kunal Roy Kapur, who features as Singh’s husband in the show, said he felt the story to be relevant for every household including his own.

"I've kids, so I know what it means for them to hand over their device. Like, there's a time limit especially during exams for them otherwise, people are constantly on their devices. It (tech) becomes a kind of co-parent to you, and you don't know what that parent is telling them. You don't know who is giving them information from which part of the world, whether they're being radicalized (or not). It is scary,” the actor said.

Roy Kapoor said the show talks about taking a break from screens.

"I know there's no running away from it, it's part of your work, and social circle. But just stop and think how it's affecting the people around you,” he said.

Asked about the relevance of social media in an actor’s life, Singh said she doesn’t succumb to that pressure to be seen constantly.

"I don't take the constant pressure of posting. My team keeps telling me to post saying, ‘Instagram is drying out’. I’m like, ‘I'm not doing anything, I'll do it at my own leisure'. The number of likes and comments don't make me personally happy; it's not the bar to happiness.

"We should realise that human touch, human relationships matter the most. I don't let social media consume me so much that I feel bad about not posting,” Singh said.

Roy Kapur said he is more engaged with social platforms like YouTube and likes watching automobile, architecture and cooking related videos.

"Digitally, the challenge for me is to get off the phone. I don't want to see my life (on it), but I want to see other people's lives. I'm not being holier than thou, I'm happy to be on YouTube, Instagram or Twitter,” he said.

Singh and Roy Kapur also shared their experience of working with Pankaj Kapur.

"We talked about the process of ‘Office, Office’, and the beauty is that they used to rehearse for the first half of the day, and they'd shoot the whole episode in the second half of the day. He shared these kinds of stories, it was so fascinating for us,” Roy Kapur said.

Singh described the veteran actor as a “simple and high thinking man”.

"It was lovely to shoot with him. He is a simple man, simple living, high thinking,” she said.

Singh, who has straddled different mediums from TV to OTT to films, said the key for her survival in the industry is the ability to take risks.

The actor, who was most recently seen in "The Ba***ds of Bollywood", said, “There was nobody to guide me, I kept taking risks, trying something new, to know myself, to see whether I can do this or not. The worst thing in this industry is to stay complacent, which I never wanted to.” Sometime in 2014-15, Singh said, she felt “lost” career wise and didn’t know what else to explore but luckily OTT came.

"It was a time when OTT was coming into India with YouTube, TVF producing shows like ‘Tripling’, ‘Permanent Roommates’, I was like, ‘Why am I not doing this?’,” the actor who made her debut on OTT with the series, “Yeh Meri Family”, said.

Roy Kapur, who became one of the popular actors in early 2000, courtesy, the teenage-comedy drama show, “Just Mohabbat”, said TV became his learning ground.

"It was literally like going to film school, and understanding how the camera works, what are the systems? What are the roles that people play on a set, and that helped me throughout my career.” The actor later forayed into films with supporting roles in “Delhi Belly”, “Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani”.

“‘Delhi Belly’ gave me a career in films, then ‘Yeh Jawani ...’ (happened). But you need to try different mediums to see how things work out, you find your niche. Later on, as you get more comfortable with who you are, and how the world sees you, you have that self-awareness also as you go along in your journey,” he said. PTI KKP BK BK