Bollywood hitmaker Sooraj Barjatya is making his entry into digital entertainment with the series “Bada Naam Karenge,” launching on streaming platform SonyLIV. The move was driven by the platform’s unique request for family-centered content, a genre traditionally seen as counter to contemporary online viewing trends.
The filmmaker’s illustrious career includes directing some of Indian cinema’s biggest hits like “Maine Pyar Kiya” (1989), “Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!” (1994), “Vivah” (2006) and “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” (2015) — all romances revolving around the family unit.
“We had visited lots of platforms, and they had all told us the family drama space doesn’t belong on OTT [streaming] because it belongs primarily to thrillers and action,” Barjatya tells Variety. “I was really taken aback when Sony was so forthcoming and asking us to make something from our sensibility. They wanted to bring in the ‘Hum Aapke Hain Koun’ and ‘Vivah’ audience to OTT, to expand their viewer base.”
“Bada Naam Karenge” follows Rishabh and Surbhi, whose arranged marriage takes an unexpected turn when past connections surface. The ensemble cast includes Ritik Ghanshani, Ayesha Kaduskar, Sadhika Sayal, Kanwaljeet Singh, Alka Amin, Rajesh Jais, Chitrali Lokesh, Rajesh Tailang, Anjana Sukhani and Jameel Khan.
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To ensure the show connects with younger audiences while maintaining 78-year-old company Rajshri Productions’ traditional values, Barjatya brought in Palash Vaswani, director of hit SonyLIV family drama series “Gullak.” “My first step was to ask a younger maker to come in … and create a contemporary world from his eyes, not mine,” he says. “As a showrunner, my responsibility is to deliver what SonyLIV wanted, and I’m very happy I’ve done that.”
The story, which moves between Mumbai and smaller towns like Ratlam and Ujjain, had been in development since 2013. “My father [Rajkumar Barjatya] was alive at that time, and we liked this concept where a boy and girl know each other in Mumbai and find they are being told to meet for the first time,” he says. “We could not crack the climax then. Sometimes it takes a while.”
Barjatya, whose latest directorial effort “Uunchai” (2022) marked his first departure from the romance genre, found the streaming format offered new creative possibilities. “It gives us much more tools to layer our characters. In two and a half hours [of a film], we really struggle to convey,” he says. “Here, we have time to get into much more layers. We have a much more glued audience and an intelligent audience here, so it’s a lovely place to be in where you can tell a story subtly without too much underlining.”
The filmmaker hopes younger viewers will connect with the show’s core message. “I would love them to realize that it’s cool to be in love with your parents. It’s cool to be obedient to them. There’s a message for our elders also — if you have given them the correct roots, then don’t worry, allow them to fly.”
Looking ahead, Barjatya is developing a new family drama with frequent collaborator Salman Khan, though he acknowledges the project — previously announced as “Prem Ki Shadi” — needs careful consideration. “I have to accept that we are not the same age which we were. Salman can do anything with action, but in a family drama, you have to accept that age is there,” he says. “I’m trying to create a new Prem [the character played by Khan in several Barjatya films] for him — the same masti [fun] will be there, the same colors will be there, but at an age which is suitable to his age today.”
Before the Khan project, Barjatya plans to announce another “small film in the family zone” next month. He’s also open to a second season of “Bada Naam Karenge,” saying, “we have a couple of ideas how to how to take a boy and a girl who are to get married and they come to the city, and how the city again challenges them.”
For the current season, Barjatya says his greatest satisfaction would come from cross-generational appeal: “My biggest happiness would be if I can see that a young boy would have taken a SonyLIV subscription to show something to his grandfather or grandmother.”
“Bada Naam Karenge” streams from Feb. 7.