Exclusive || Gullak’s story is as honest as our struggle and success: Durgesh Singh, writer

कभी अक्कड़ थी, कभी बक्कड़ थी.

कभी टेढ़ी थी, कभी मेढ़ी थी

थोड़ी अकड़ी थी, थोड़ी जकड़ी थी

पर लपक के हमने पकड़ी थी

The abovementioned para engulfed the nerve of the nation, and ruled the hearts of million. The story attached to the lines took everyone on the most beautiful cinematic rides which gave us a glimpse of our own life. Gullak streaming on Sony Liv is not just a web-series but it’s like a photo album which always gives us a glimpse of our own good old days.

A family of fab four wrapped in the most soothing and sublime manner. Gullak, provides the much-needed essence of our childhood where we were lucky enough to have our parents and their constant monitoring around us. While the exceptional actors/actresses did justice to the characters, Durgesh Singh, the writer of the series and its title track has explored little nuisance of a middle class family.

The Quotes reached out to Durgesh Singh to understand the inspiration behind penning down such a beautiful portrayal of a middle-class family, and his own life before and afterwards Gullak. Excerpts of the conversation-:

Q] Gullak has received so much love and recognition from all quarters. How does it feel after your work gets so much respect and people love the story and little nuisances in the series?

Answer: It’s a surreal feeling. I am honoured that so many liked my work, and the number is growing every day. I have worked really hard and have been through a lot of ups and downs in my life, but now I feel that it was all worth it. I would like to thank Mr. Amrit, the director of Gullak for trusting me and bestowing so much faith in me.

Q] When Amrit approached you for writing the second season of Gullak?

Answer: I have been in Mumbai since 2012 and knew Amrit from mutual friends. I worked as a trainee with Neelesh Mishra in one of his popular shows Yaadon Ke Idiot Box and wrote several tales. I met Amrit in one of the events, and he shared the idea of Gullak with me and told me that he was looking for a title track.

One night I was attending a party where I texted him the first few lines of the title track. I kept on texting him the paras and luckily, he was pleased. When we later met after a few days, he asked me to write the second season of Gullak.

Q] What was the brief from Amrit and others before you started working on Gullak? And if you could mention the challenges you had while completing the story?

Answers: The sole idea was to portray a middle-class family and incidents must be close to reality. I have lived half-of-life in such an environment. I have been living in Mumbai for the last ten years but I haven’t forgotten the essence of my village and what kind of things happen everyday in a middle-class family.

Most of the scenes are taken from real life and we have tried to keep it as simple as possible, We never tried to fancy any scene, character and tale.

Q] How was life before Gullak?

Answer: It was quite challenging. I had a topsy turvy ride throughout and always had this zeal to convey my sufferings and struggle in a way that the world learns from it. My native house is a few kilometres away from Prayagraj. I have faced everything one never wishes even for an enemy, but we were taught to take everything on the chin.

However, writing was always my passion and I wanted to convey stories with my own ways & words. With Gullak, I have found the perfect momentum in my life and now I am trying to read, observe and think of better stories to write. I am working on a couple of really credible projects and the team is confident that it will not only impress the audience but also inspire them to take away something from the stories.

Q] What has changed since Gullak?

Answer: Lots of things. Now I travel more and spend a lot of time in different cities. I like to travel around and understand the different lifestyles in which people are living. I have also earned a fair amount of money which helps to take care of my family. My mother does not like Mumbai so I often visit her and take a lot of gifts for her. I am pretty secure as of now.