'Kohrra' a more personal show than 'Paatal Lok': creator Sudip Sharma

Kohrra, set in the wintry landscape of Punjab, is a more personal story, exploring the complex lives of two cops and their dynamics, says creator Sudip Sharma as he explains why the series is different from his equally-lauded other show Paatal Lok.

''Kohrra'', set in the wintry landscape of Punjab, is a more personal story, exploring the complex lives of two cops and their dynamics, says creator Sudip Sharma as he explains why the series is different from his equally-lauded other show ''Paatal Lok''. Set to return on Netflix on February 11 with its second season, ''Kohrra'' features a new murder investigation with Mona Singh in the role of a cop. She stars alongside actor Barun Sobti, who reprises his season one character of Amarpal Jasjit Garundi. ''It's a more personal show... I deliberately wanted to do that,'' Sharma, who has co-created and co-written the series with Gunjit Chopra and Diggi Sisodia, told PTI in a video interview. He said ''Paatal Lok'', his Prime Video series that brought immense acclaim to actor Jaideep Ahlawat for his turn as dedicated yet flawed cop Hathiram Chaudhary, looked at the ''macro'' while ''Kohrra'' is about ''micro'' with family, not society, the primary unit of the story. ''It's really about relationships and about people rather than about the society at large, which is probably what 'Paatal Lok' is... With the first season itself ('Kohrra'), all three of us wanted to tell a story about these two-three people in the police force and what is happening in their personal lives,'' he added. For the sophomore chapter, Sharma has taken on the added responsibility of directing the episodes alongside Faisal Rahman. The new season revolves around the murder of a woman found dead in her brother's barn. Singh's senior cop Dhanwant Kaur and Garundi try to chase the truth as the list of suspects grows and includes the woman's own NRI husband, played by Rannvijay Singha. The creator said the story goes deeper into the theme of family this time around. ''As you would finish, you would realize it starts with a dead body, but doesn't end with a dead body. And by that I mean, it doesn't end with just finding who the killer was,'' he said. Sharma, who was born in Guwahati and has an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, worked in advertising before making a switch to the world of showbiz. Asked about the source of his gritty stories, Sharma said they all emerge from the things he is curious about the country. ''They also come from the heart because there's a lot of love for the land. That's why the heartland,'' he said. There is a lot of curiosity about the next seasons of both ''Kohrra'' and ''Paatal Lok'', but Sharma said they may or may not happen. ''Honestly, I don't know. I like writing every season for itself. I'm happy that we made season two (of 'Kohrra'). I'm very happy with the way it has shaped up. If there isn't another season, I will not be disappointed. Let's just say. ''If we have to do another season, then that's a larger call. Then you have to ask yourself the question at that point of time -- 'Do I have more of these characters and more of this story still left in me?' And only if the answer is yes would I want to do another season because otherwise there's no point doing something just because it worked or because there's a lot of love for it.'' Sharma said the love for a show comes from how satisfyingly a story has been told and it can be ruined if one starts another chapter without ''enough ammunition''. ''I would rather not spoil this. We'll see if we get a story,'' he added. Sharma, also known for penning acclaimed movies such as ''NH10'', ''Sonchiriya'', ''Udta Punjab'' and ''Pari'', believes a creative person's struggle is to keep finding the motivation despite the many challenges from the outside world. ''To continue to work as hard as you were and never to rest on previous work, for all of us filmmakers, it is the biggest challenge. Fighting the forces outside, it's difficult but that's the good fight. That's the fight that you have to do. ''The internal fight is always the more difficult one. It's easy to go into the trap of -- 'Now I should be doing something bigger' -- which necessarily, in India, means with stars... These are choices. There are no right or wrong choices. You just have to know what is right for you. So far, I've just kind of stuck to what I know,'' he said. Sharma stayed in Punjab for months to write ''Udta Punjab'', a film that dealt with the drug menace in the state, and that familiarity led him to set up the story of ''Kohrra'' there. Other than the central story of a murder investigation, the series also touches upon the intersecting lives of different characters while exploring how popular culture, NRI aspirations interact with age-old traditions. ''We are at the confluence of these different civilisations at this point of time. There is a part of India which is still backward but it is also now been exposed to this technology which is bringing the world to them. It's an important thing to explore and it always throws up things for the characters while you are writing... ''Punjab has had a very migratory culture and Punjabis have settled all over the world in all kinds of places. If you are trying to tell an authentic Punjab story, it's almost impossible that the NRI fascination or the NRI characters will not be a part of it.'' ''Kohrra'' season two will also feature Anuraag Arora, Pooja Bhamrrah and Prayrak Menta in pivotal roles. It is produced by Sharma alongside Saurabh Malhotra,Manuj Mittra and Tina Tharwani.

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