Actors Tamannaah and Diana Penty said that they instantly embraced the idea of Do You Wanna Partner as the show celebrates the beauty of female friendships in a professional setting.
The Prime Video show follows the journey of two best friends, Shikha and Anahita, played by Tamannaah and Penty, respectively, as they embark on an ambitious venture to start their own alcohol brand.
"I think female friendships are a rarity. But when they are good, they are beautiful. I'm really lucky to have the coolest bunch of girlfriends and I'm very happy that I'm doing a show where we are celebrating female friendships," Tamannaah told PTI in an interview.
Citing the example of her favourite movies like The Devil Wears Prada, Legally Blonde and Mean Girls, Tamannaah said the show also explores the bond of its leads in the work space. She said such stories are not often explored on the screen, not just in India but also internationally. "Now, Devil Wears Prada 2 is coming, but there are few such stories and reasons best known to people who are making these movies,” Tamannaah said.
Diana said the genre has a great 'potential' in India but there are not enough makers who have taken that chance.
"I personally feel there is so much potential in this genre. I don't want to call it a genre, but there is enough of an audience out there for girls that would enjoy watching female friendship on screen, as much as guys and girls would enjoy watching guy friendship,” she said.
"Why should it be that the audience has to be only females to enjoy such friendship? This (Do You Wanna Partner) is not treated like a typical chick flick. I think the guys can enjoy it as there's a great potential in it. I think people haven't given it a shot, maybe only after this period, they will,” Diana said.
Diana added what sets Do You Wanna Partner from other female friendship narratives is that it talks about them in a workspace.
"I'm trying to think of the things that I've watched recently like female friends getting together to do business or anything that has to do with female friends, I've not seen anything. It is rare and it was a new space, something different for us as well and something new,” the Cocktail actor said.
Both Tamannaah and Diana feel fortunate to have cultivated friendships within the industry. Their common circle of friends in Hindi cinema includes Mrunal Thakur, Kajal Aggarwal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Rasha Thadani, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Huma Qureshi.
“When we meet, we don't advise each other on work. We're only listening to each other's life stories, problems and we're sharing each other's joys and sorrows,” Tamanaah said.
Echoing this sentiment, Diana added, “Sometimes we talk rubbish and nonsense things. We want to disconnect from it (work), and you don't want to talk about work. Might as well hang out, chill, and have fun.”
Do You Wanna Partner, directed by Archit Kumar and Collin D'Cunha, also stars Jaaved Jaafery, Nakuul Mehta, Shweta Tiwari, Neeraj Kabi, Sufi Motiwala, and Rannvijay Singha. It is produced by Dharmatic Entertainment.
Tamannaah, who has worked extensively in the South industry, has an exciting slate of Hindi films in pipeline like Vishal Bhardwaj's next film, Ranger with Ajay Devgn, Rohit Shetty's Rakesh Maria biopic with John Abraham, and Vvan with Sidharth Malhotra. These movies come after a slew of special songs in big-ticket movies like Raid 2, Vedaa, and Stree 2.
