IANS Exclusive: Tamannaah Bhatia and Diana Penty on 'Do You Wanna Partner' and Entrepreneurship

IANS INDIA

Mumbai: During an exclusive IANS Interview with Actresses Diana Penty and Tamannaah Bhatia, where they discussed their experience working on "Do You Wanna Partner", a vibrant series about female friendship and entrepreneurship. They highlighted the show's relatable, urban Indian setting and natural portrayal of female bonding. After that, the actresses praise the collaborative process with directors Archip and Colin. Both actresses enjoyed exploring complex emotions and found the experience impactful, with Tamannaah joking that she became an "entrepreneur herself".   #TamannaahBhatia #DianaPenty #DoYouWannaPartner #ExclusiveInterview #femalefriendship #entrepreneurship #collaboration #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #ians

Transcript

00:00Hello Dynamam, hello Tamandam. Welcome to NS and congratulations for Do You Wanna Partner

00:05that's about to stream on Prime Video. My first question is for both of you. I saw the

00:09trailer very vibrant storytelling, a story from a very urban India so to say. When you

00:18were presented the idea as artist, what was the first thought that struck your mind and

00:23like how did you eventually weave out the character in mind that I'll do this, I'll

00:26do that, anyone can take the leading start. The first thought for me was the friendship

00:34between the two girls. I thought that was very, very prominent and very nicely written. Most

00:40importantly because it's very real. Like if I had to correlate it to the way I am with

00:44my best friend, it seemed very much like that. The conversations, the, you know, just the

00:49things they do together, nothing over the top, just very, very everyday and very real. The

00:54way they hang out together, they party together, they in this case start a business together,

00:59their hardships, fights, arguments, everything was just so natural and just felt very true

01:07to what we are used to in our friendships. So that was something that was refreshing for me

01:12because I don't feel, I mean at least I'm not, I can't think of any show or film recently that has

01:19two girls, you know, the friendship between two girls as the main aspect of the, you know,

01:25the show or the film. So that definitely and also just the fact that it's a very urban, like you said,

01:33vibrant, it's fun, it's light, it's an easy watch but it also has, you know, drama, comedy, everything,

01:41all of it mixed. And, you know, the fact that the two girls are starting this new venture in an age

01:49where start-ups are, you know, everything these days, you know, the culture has just boomed so much

01:54that it feels very relevant to today's times. So all of those things were what really drew me to the

02:00script. And the part where you asked about the characters, I feel like that was a very collaborative

02:07process. And I'm sure Tamana would agree as well, where we, you know, all of us sat together a lot.

02:13Besides the table read, we also just, you know, with our directors, Archit and Colin, we had a lot

02:19of discussions about who they felt, how they felt we should play it, how we felt we should play it,

02:26bringing our own experiences into it. So we made it very real, even the dialogues, a lot of, I mean,

02:32you get a script with fixed dialogues but then also I think on the spot, things change and you

02:37improvise a lot and you make the dialogues your own. And I think that was an inherent part of this

02:43process of making our show to you on a partner because we wanted to make sure that we make it

02:48very organic and natural and we don't stick to a fixed formula of, you know, just copy paste, copy paste.

02:53So for us, it was all very, it made us a part of these characters.

02:58So when I first read the script, I felt like, first entrepreneurial, dramedy type of concept

03:09I have not seen in a fictionalized way, I have not seen in both the protagonists and women,

03:19I have not seen in that combination. And I really love the sitcom energy that it had, which is

03:28when I was growing up and watching sitcoms, I would just love watching the characters because

03:35they are very interesting people. And when they follow their journey, you experience the world,

03:41like my favourite show growing up was Ali Nigbil and his backdrop was a law firm. So

03:48they show the world of lawyers through the characters. So I feel like this show has that,

03:55you know, that kind of vibe to it.

03:56And was that character somewhere in your mind as a template?

03:59No, no, not at all. They're very different people. But I think it's the likability. Sometimes

04:04some characters are likable because they somewhat represent a very strong section of society.

04:13I feel like what I love also about the show is that

04:18how they become powerful, how they become the journey in this show.

04:24And normally, otherwise, when you show powerful women, you already show them arrived to that place

04:29and they're already there in the suit boot, you know,

04:33whatever they're doing, they're running. It always looks like they've already reached there.

04:37Already established.

04:37Established. But here, the beautiful thing is that the journey of building,

04:44when you see the stars and stars and stars and stars and stars and stars and stars and stars and stars and stars,

04:48you know, it's fun. So, that was the opportunity for the show. And Archit and Colin, both,

04:58the drama, if I can say, Archit is, like, he had,

05:01he had an emotional graph in each scene. And Colin was just somebody who held, fought,

05:09whenever it came to anything, extremely comic. So, we had the best of both the worlds.

05:13They both are two very different directors. But they have conducted the best of our 50-day shoot,

05:21which actually normally is quite difficult to shoot on a stretch.

05:24But thanks to Prime Video and Dhearmatic, I think we were able to pull off a very ambitious schedule.

05:33And yeah, we'll be ready. But one interesting thing is that Shaya Dev,

05:38last year, April, we had finished shooting in April.

05:43But in this time, nobody has picked up any of these types of subjects.

05:46No one has a clue.

05:47So, considering that in today's time, entrepreneurship, start-ups,

05:54there are a lot of questions about it. There are a lot of knowledge about it. There are a lot of information about it.

06:02But this kind of story has not been picked up until now. So, we're hoping that we kind of have that

06:07like first-mover advantage in this space.

06:10And Dana Ma'am, you spoke about the friendship between the lead characters in the show.

06:14A few months ago, I was talking to Konkona Ma'am and Tilothama Ma'am and they mentioned this

06:20one thing that female friendships are very complex. They didn't explain it to me why,

06:23but something to that effect. What's the space or energy between the two lead characters like apart

06:29from the friendship, I mean, there's also a lot of, I mean, an entire gamut of emotions, I'm sure.

06:34What's that space like to explore as actors while you're working for the camera and off the camera?

06:38You mean in general or for this story, this show?

06:42For all these characters.

06:44So, I feel like a lot of the, of course, as a great, I mean, not as great, but as a good actor,

06:51you're supposed to either way, whether you get along with somebody, you don't get along with somebody,

06:55what you bring to the screen and to the character should be independent of your personal equation.

06:59Right. So that, that is a basis how good an actor or not you are. But in this case, I feel like we

07:06were also lucky that we got along and that it was just effortless off screen as well. So it was much

07:13easier to bring that energy on screen and into all the scenes. So I don't think we struggled with

07:20that at all. It was, it just flowed very naturally. And we were able to improvise a lot in the scenes as

07:26well, because we had a great rapport and chemistry off screen. We were comfortable enough with each

07:31other to be able to take that liberty to say things to each other or, you know, do one tana here or

07:38there, you know, whatever it was. It was not like this formal equation where we have to be careful

07:42of what we're going to say to each other. So I think that really helped. And we were lucky that,

07:47you know, we had that equation. But it's very interesting. I've also actually not done it.

07:52I did it in my first film, but that was way many years ago. And there was also,

07:56I mean, that was not just two girls, it was two girls and a guy. So it was slightly different

08:00dynamic. But after all these years to be able to do that again and to, you know, play this part of

08:07being somebody's best friend and also in this case doing business together. And it's just this gamut of

08:13emotions that I got to, we got to explore. It's sweet. It's so cute. It's fun. And it's refreshing

08:23also as an actor to do because it's like you said, and it's not something that you see often.

08:29There's so many films and shows of guys, you know, guy friends and guys hanging out and going on trips

08:36together. Like there's so much about guy friendships, but I hardly see anything about female friendships.

08:42And that is just two girls.

08:43Is it because of the limitations from the audience side that we don't, as an industry,

08:48we don't get to explore much of female friendships?

08:51I don't know. But then having said that a few people that have seen the trailer or have watched

08:56a few episodes have thoroughly enjoyed it. I think hopefully they'll be honest. But so obviously there

09:02is potential and there's enough women in the audience out there that would also like it and relate

09:08to it and understand it or young girls, you know. So I mean, I think there's enough for audiences and

09:15there's different audiences for different things. And just as there's an audience for

09:19guy friendships and like or brohood and all of that, I'm sure there's equally an audience for

09:24you know, girly girls getting together.

09:26And they're a country of a large population.

09:28Yeah. And it's not typically a chick flick. I wouldn't say that. It's also a chick flick,

09:34but there's also so much else to it. There's also just this drama, there's you know, this whole

09:39entrepreneurial journey, there's emotions going high, there's just so much and there's fun,

09:43laughter, comedy, everything. So, yeah.

09:46And Tamandamam, she mentioned this one thing that the setting or the premise of the show is very

09:52natural, very contemporary, what happens in a day-to-day life, in a routine life. In other stories,

09:58in other films or in other series, you work in a set universe or a format or a pattern. If it's a period,

10:04drama, you work according to that. But in this case, wherein everything is so contemporary,

10:09does it automatically add up to your strength as a performer because everything is very natural,

10:13what's happening in a day-to-day life? Does it allow you to expose more of yourself

10:17as a person also in your characters?

10:23Yes and no. Because I feel like,

10:27I feel like, I feel like, while the world is familiar, I feel like the people are very new in the sense that,

10:38they are very modern, so I feel like, their freedom and their culture also is a reflection of the present society.

10:46So say, if you were to act in a period film, you're also reflecting that time of society or whatever that was.

10:52So, while it is a familiar background, I still feel like for me, it was a very,

11:01was a very layered character to play through because she's extremely impulsive

11:06and she's very passion, she's very passion driven, she's a hustler basically, my character is largely a hustler.

11:13So, and, in her life, her best friend actually is like the balancing factor in her life.

11:22She's the more sort of, you know, voice of reason and she creates that sense of balance in her madness.

11:31And vice versa, like she gives her the fire that, you know, that her character sometimes needs,

11:37you know, to be pushed in a certain or nudge in a certain direction. So, so, so, while I, and I feel,

11:45feel like, here, our work,

11:47is more nuanced than working on the work. And I was very, very conscious of the fact that,

11:53that when we are attempting an entrepreneurial remedy,

11:57the plot points are so outlandish,

12:01that we never wanted people to look at this as a frivolous show or a show that is just very,

12:09is very, it's just touching the top layer of how female friendships are.

12:13I, I myself have very strong female friendships and I felt like,

12:17that was not the representation of her representation.

12:19So, I think my major responsibility here was to bring a lot more nuance, which I personally found,

12:38found a lot more difficult to do. Sometimes when you're in a certain world and a construct,

12:42it's actually easier to operate out of that. This was a little open ended. So,

12:46we had to really tie up the loose ends.

12:49Perfect. And my last question is for both of you,

12:51working in a story which primarily focuses on the journey of two entrepreneurs,

12:56as actors, as artists, because it's a different world, corporate, we are more on the artistic side.

13:02While you're working on this story, did it in any way change something in you as an artist,

13:09perhaps lend a new dimension or a new perspective to your thought process or anything like that?

13:14It made Tammy an entrepreneur herself.

13:17It happens with me. Many, many years ago, I did a film which had the protagonist,

13:23a dog was a protagonist, so I got a puppy at home.

13:26And now I did a show which is, that was called entertainment.

13:30And now I did a show where, you know, it gave me a taste of entrepreneurship. So,

13:35when I bought Seriously Lelia.

13:37Perfect. So, with that, we have reached the end of this conversation. If there's anything that I may

13:41have missed asking or something that you would have loved to talk about, so please feel it.

13:45Yeah, no, I think it's a show of two people trying to set up a beer business and it's a fun mad ride.

13:55So, please do watch us from the 12th of September on Prime Video.

13:58Perfect. So, on that note, thank you so much and I wish you all the best for doing one apart.

14:03Peace, take care.

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