Sri Rao on ‘The Fame Game’ wanted to bring together all shades of Madhuri Dixit Nene

Mumbai: Filmmaker Sri Rao says the reason for him to mount his latest Netflix series “The Fame Game” was Madhuri Dixit Nene, as he wanted to create a project that would justify the actor’s talent.

The New York-based filmmaker is the showrunner and writer of the eight-episode series which chronicles the life of a movie star Anamika Anand, played by Dixit Nene, who suddenly goes missing.

Rao said when he was first approached by the streamer to make a series for them, he knew he had to craft something with Dixit Nene at the center of it.

“The trigger point for me was Madhuri, wanting to create a story and character for her that would do justice to her talent as an actress. When I was approached by Netflix to create a series for them, I knew I wanted it to be with Madhuri. Then I tried to come up with an idea that would be befitting to her talent, that is all how it started,” Rao told PTI.

The filmmaker said Dixit Nene is among those artistes who have comfortably straddled both worlds of movies— she has delivered exceptional performances in blockbusters “Devdas” and “Hum Aapke Hain Koun” and also walked away with acclaim in dramas like “Mrityudand” and “Lajja”.

“I have been a huge Madhuri fan. I wanted to mount the series on her because she has done some brilliant roles, from the huge blockbusters like ‘Devdas’, ‘Hum Aapke Hai Koun’ to what I consider the deeper cuts, like ‘Mrityudand’ or ‘Lajja’ which I really love.

“What I wanted to do was to create one story, one role, that could bring together all the different shades of Madhuri Dixit. To have her go through ups and downs, anger and sadness, love and romance, strength and vulnerabilities in one character was my aim,” he added.

Rao, along with co-writer Nisha Mehta, spent months writing “The Fame Game” from their office in New York.
The maker said despite more than a decade of writing experience — with series like “General Hospital: Night Shift”, “What Goes On” and the Bollywood film “Baar Baar Dekho”– the process of crafting “The Fame Game” was “magical”.

The duo not only deeply invested in getting the script right but also found an able support in Netflix, which gave them creative liberty, feedback and never interfered, “which does not happen always happen in this industry,” he added.

“I have written many series in my career, some are easy to write and some hard. But this one was magical because it all flowed easily. It is a complicated story. There is a mystery at the centre of it but also many different emotional relationships. On paper, it is probably the most complicated story I have ever written,” he added.

The series is directed by filmmakers Bejoy Nambiar and Karishma Kohli, with Hindi dialogues penned by Amita Vyas, Akshat Ghildial, and Shreya Bhattacharya.

Rao said the most challenging part of writing the show was the mystery. The creator dubbed “The Fame Game” as an “intricate puzzle” that required the team to pay attention to the minutest detail.

“Because what you see in every scene, every episode, ultimately feeds into the solution of the puzzle and what happens in the end. Every storyline, character that you follow through the eight episodes, in the end, it all ties together. That was challenging to create.

“People are going to try and guess the answer to what happened to Anamika. There are definitely going to be people who would feel like they know the answer but the writers are also trying to be smarter because they know the audience is guessing. I guarantee you, you won’t be able to figure out the ending,” he added.

The series, currently streaming on Netflix, also stars Sanjay Kapoor, Manav Kaul, Lakshvir Saran, Suhasini Muley, and Muskkaan Jaferi.