A string of coincidences surround Raveena Tandon’s recent streaming debut. Her first film, Patthar Ke Phool, with Salman Khan, released exactly 30 years ago. It was produced by Sippy Films, who, in a marked shift for both actor and banner, have also backed Aranyak. The stars have aligned so well one wonders if Raveena was holding out for this moment.
“Most definitely, there was a holdout,” she tells us in an interview. Raveena says she was holding out for someone like Kasturi Dogra, a role that resonated with her emotionally. “If you see my film career too, I’ve chosen scripts that are female-driven.” Hence Aranyak. Streaming on Netflix, the eight-episode series begins with Kasturi, a small-town cop, taking a sabbatical. Her daughter, Nutan, is preparing for IITs. The girl’s father, Hari, is mostly at work; the flame has cooled between him and Kasturi.
“I may not have identified with my character because I am among those few lucky ones who had the privilege of emotional support,” Raveena says. “But there are so many Kasturi Dogras out there who don’t have that choice.”
In the show, Kasturi is handed a second chance when the body of a French teen turns up in the woods. Angad (Parambrata Chatterjee), Kasturi’s replacement, is initially scornful of her unrefined police work. Nevertheless, he keeps her around, and soon they start digging up secrets in the misty hill town. “It came pretty naturally,” Raveena jokes when asked about the camaraderie between her and Parambrata in the show. “He was in my territory.”
“Thrillers are interesting but they are also a tightrope walk,” explains director Vinay Waikul. The saturation of long-form thrillers has meant that viewers are already familiar with the ins and outs of the genre. When Netflix produced Sacred Games, the market was just opening up. Today, there’s a cop-and-killer drama on almost every platform. “You’re right, there are plenty of thrillers,” says Tanya Bami, Series Head, Netflix India. “But it’s that cycle of when people like something, we make more of it.” As a buffer, she points to the diverse slate of titles coming up on Netflix. “Our focus in the next year is to have a mix of genres and voices.”