The year 2024 has been rather eventful for Guneet Monga Kapoor. After doing the rounds at film festivals across the globe, Kill was released in India and opened to surprising numbers and wide critical acclaim. A month later, she had Gyaarah Gyaarah, a fantasy thriller web show, released on Zee5. Apart from garnering raving reviews, it also reportedly became the OTT platform’s most-watched series of the year. Interestingly, both projects soared despite not having a starry ensemble or a colossal budget. And Guneet, naturally, is thrilled.
Talking about Gyaarah Gyaarah, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, the two-time Academy Award winner says, “We work really hard. I live with a lot of self-doubt. I work in a vacuum hoping for people to watch, like, understand and champion my work. It’s incredible what we’ve been able to do with Gyaarah Gyaarah. I heard that it has crossed 50 crore views and is also the most Googled show of Zee5 this year. I’m receiving great feedback for it. It’s so exciting to be able to do a material like this, which is technically a police procedural show but also has a bit of sci-fi.”
Gyaarah Gyaarah marks Guneet’s third collaboration with Karan Johar after The Lunchbox and Kill. While she agrees that they ‘belong to two different schools of cinema’, she points out there is a ‘common thread’ that connects them. Referring to Kill as ‘a great co-production’, she remarks, “It’s our love for cinema. He’s an absolute cinephile. I love the business of storytelling. The intention [to collaborate] was there since a decade. We just wanted to find something and get working.”
She further adds, “I happened to take Kill to them and he loved it. It was a quick meeting. There’s a lot of faith that I have in him. I knew that they would help make the film and release it in the best way. There’s an understanding there stemming from years of all the work we’ve done.”
The Pagglait and Kathal producer recalls the time when Karan came aboard to present The Lunchbox. Thanking him, she says, “I got to learn so much during The Lunchbox. Had it not been for Dharma and Karan, the film would’ve never been released in India. They marketed it so well. They came, championed it, made it their own, and took it far and wide. The success of the film is as much as Dharma’s as all the producers.”
Guneet further busts the myth surrounding Karan, who has gained enough attention – even from trolls – for promoting nepotism. “The misconception is that Dharma only does love songs and rom-coms. But they also did Kill. They work with so many first-time directors and empower them. They’re giving a chance to so many new writers and actors. It’s a massive organisation that’s making cinema and OTT projects and mentoring a lot of people. For them to be blamed for only working with a certain kind of people is very, very unfair,” she states.
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