Before it was packaged and released for global audiences to laugh, more than three months of intense behind-the-scenes work went into putting together the sets of The Great Indian Kapil Show, comedian Kapil Sharma’s latest series. Production designer Varsha Jain detailed the preparations that went into preparing for the Netflix show, which recently released its fifth episode featuring superstar Aamir Khan.
When the show debuted with the first episode featuring Ranbir Kapoor, his actress mother Neetu Kapoor and sister Riddhima Kapoor, Varsha Jain was “extremely nervous” to see how audiences would react to the show’s new world, which takes place in an airport. “Since we were creating an airport, we didn’t want to be set in stone, it was very important to us and fortunately the reception was positive,” she told Indianexpress.com over a Zoom call.
Varsha has worked with Kapil and his production house on his previous shows, editing three seasons with them on television, becoming a must-have weekly routine in several Indian households. Naturally, she also joined the Netflix project, which had a clear goal: to get out of their comfort zone and place the series in a different environment.
“The idea was for Kapil to open a cafe in an airport. What the writers explained to me was that since the cast travels a lot, this would be the perfect place to catch them as they board a flight. Everyone connected to the show works at the airport or comes and goes. The whole setting revolved around that, so I had to build an airport that represented the characters and the premise of the show,” she said.
Production designer Varsha Jain. (Photo: PR document)
Keeping this in mind, Varsha started pre-production. This time, the setting was “on a larger scale” and had to have global appeal thanks to Netflix, but “keeping the Indian essence alive”. The streaming show took place in the same Film City studio where Kapil’s previous shows were filmed, so the size remained the same, but the team put up a ceiling to give it a “feel” “, making the space larger.
“Pre-production lasted about two months, when we were planning the design on paper. We had to take into account what the characters in the show were doing. So it was important to know where Krishna would come and go from, or the movements of the cook. There’s a golf cart that comes and goes, so we had to make sure we fit it into the space we had,” she added.
The Great Indian Kapil Show. (Photo: PR document)
Varsha and her team took inspiration from the Mumbai airport, which houses many pieces of Indian art in contemporary architecture. The team kept the use of glass and steel to a minimum and played with the colors and texture of the wood to enhance the “warmth” of the show.
“We went back and forth to decide what art we wanted to use in this airport, what kind of cafe it would have; would it be too contemporary, not being part of India, among other things.
Set images:
The Great Indian Kapil Show. (Photo: PR document) The Great Indian Kapil Show. (Photo: PR document) The Great Indian Kapil Show. (Photo: PR document)
As part of pre-production, Varsha and her team had to check off important basic questions before designing and ultimately executing the set construction: the number of cameras used for the show, their location, the space of which the actors would need for the set-ups and gags, the number of audience members being incorporated.
“Once the designs were ready, we had 45 days to put them together. We had almost 60 to 70 people working on set every day. We usually work a 9 to 9 schedule, but towards the end, when the lights are finished and the cameras come in, those are the days we work nights and at that time there were about 120 people there some days, that was the maximum.
“There was a part where we wanted to show the planes landing and taking off. But it distracted the cameras and created a distraction from the whole gag. But behind the band is my favorite part, it’s the runway and the view of the airport,” she said.
While the teams work behind the scenes, around the clock, they only contact Kapil once everyone has reached a common consensus within their respective departments on the design they like.
“That’s when we present it to him for his return, what he wants to change, what works for him. This one pretty much worked for Kapil, the only thing he added was that he didn’t want the same backdrop to be there when they do gags. In this sense, if it was a mohalla set in the previous season, they would put props in front of the house and do gags there.
“But we didn’t want the cafe to always be the backdrop, because that would reveal that we’ve set up an installation right in the center of the stage, in front of the cafe. So here we have a rotating cafe. Every time there’s a tag, it just flips over and there’s a simpler background so we can do different setups each time. It was the only thing that came with it,” she revealed.
But with so many people involved, a set to direct and a show to film, are there any nightmare days for a production designer? Varsha laughed and said “several” as she listed the last minute changes that often happen.
“Like certain colors or cushions that don’t work when the cameras have arrived and we only have a few hours of the night to touch up, to start again. What is difficult is to rectify the situation in a limited time with the things we already have. When the cameras arrive, we’re very close to the filming dates, so we don’t have much time to reconsider or try something else. But there are no last minute changes on the day of filming, which is why they carry out technical checks.
“We do a lot of things before the guests arrive or the last day of filming. So tech day is a tough day, where you have to figure out if the red looks too red on camera, if certain parts of the sets are just not visible. The first episode filmed is the one where all the questions are answered, all the necessary adjustments are made. Once the first episode is shot, and if everything goes well, we don’t need a lot of changes. They are just accessories. We did a test for this one, we prepared very well and the result was fantastic,” she concluded.
