Rohan Sippy: Key to any adaptation is not to make it look like a ‘copy-paste’ job

Mumbai, Feb 13 As the show ‘Mithya’ is releasing, which is an Indian adaptation of the British show ‘Cheat’, director Rohan Sippy says the most tricky part of any work of adaptation is to bring about a sense of originality without tampering with the very essence of the story and not make it look like a ‘copy-paste’ job.

Decoding the process, Rohan told IANS: “When it comes to ‘Mithya’ we have to understand that it is a British show and we are making an Indian version of the core story. So, there will be some similarities of the main narrative but at the same time, it is an Indianised version. So, where we are setting the story, our society, our mindset everything has to be included in the story to make it relatable.

“When our dialogue writer Purva Naresh came up with the idea of making Huma Qureshi a Hindi teacher, that also changes a lot and adds a new dimension to the character because of the language Hindi. I would say that a good adaptation should be the one that does not look like a copy-paste version of the original. I want people to watch the show and say that it looks like an original work especially if they are not told that it is an adaptation of a British series called ‘Cheat’.”

While re-writing the story to put it in the Indian context was a creative challenge that he and his team enjoyed, according to the director, shooting the show was quite a task.

“I usually enjoy shooting outdoor but this was a hard shoot for us. We went to Darjeeling at a time when it was raining and the weather was unpredictable. Logistically that was a tough part but Darjeeling is also stunning visually, in monsoon.

“For the narrative, it was interesting because it shows how these characters are going through some of the uglistest reality internally while the outer world, the nature, the location everything is so beautiful! But being a director, dealing with logistical challenges is okay as long as we make the show the way we want,” shared Rohan who earlier worked on the web series ‘Aranyak’ as executive producer.

‘Mithya’, which features Huma Qureshi, Avantika Dassani, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Rajit Kapur among others – releases on ZEE5 on February 18.