Supriya Yarlagadda: Court went against all norms

Producer Supriya Yarlagadda, who has been behind many popular shows like Vyooham and Miss Perfect among others, partook in a special panel discussions at the ongoing WAVES Summit in Mumbai, titled 'Breaking New Ground: Evolution of Storytelling in the Digital Era'. There, she shared the stage with Netflix India diretor Ruchika Kapoor Sheikh, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Tanya Bami, Guneet Monga, and Michael Lehmann. On the occasion, the producer spoke about the dire need for more writers in the industry, and what the success of Priyadarshi-starrer Court can teach contemporary filmmakers. 

Talking about Court’s box office success, Supriya stated, “We talk about the spectacle films, but Court goes against all the norms. It just says that somebody told a nice story well, told it sufficiently, they made me feel when I came out of the theatre, and I had something to talk about. Storytelling, filmmaking, content creation—whatever words we're trying to use—is essentially about wanting to be liked. And Court comes out very cleanly, not trying anything, and just saying, 'I'm telling you a story. Do you like me?'"

The producer also talked about the hard work that goes behind developing great concepts like Court. “Just because an idea is interesting, it doesn't make a great film. There's a lot of work, breakdown, and grit that goes into it. It's not glamorous. So, if you want to make a Court, you just have to believe in your idea and then put a lot of sweat, blood and hope that it works. Because we don't know if it's going to work,” she added. 

Supriya further spoke about the dire need for more writers in order to keep up with the growing demands and potential of OTT format. She noted, “Maybe we aspire to still be on the big screen, which is why we have been a little behind in exploring series format. Recently there have been some successes (on OTT) in many languages, but we need to catch up. And the only way to do that is to have more writers.  It's not about trying to mount them on stars with big budgets, but understanding that this game is very different. And to all the writers out there, with all these beautiful stories being told, I think it's our time now for digital.”