Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has ventured into the world of audio books with his show Thriller Factory on Audible Suno. The show is based on Hindi pulp fiction based on some of the best crime stories written by people like Ved Prakash Sharma. There are actors like Tabu and Nawazuddin Siddiqui narrating these stories among others, and Anurag is the presenter. The three of them spoke to The Quint about working on an audio series, the challenges that come with it and more.
Since this is an audiobook on Audible and podcasts are a new medium and we’re all listening to it, I just want to start by asking you that how much do you listen to audiobooks and podcasts and audio shows?
Anurag Kashyap: I have the Audible app. I heard The Goldfinch and did not read it. My audible is my go-to thing, especially short stories, especially when I’m travelling long distance or in a vehicle. Podcasts I’ve only heard a few.
Tabu: Actually, it’s funny, I was just reminded that the first audiobook I ever got as a gift almost 20 years back was A Suitable Boy. It’s so strange. And I was just thinking how I started. And then the first audiobook I heard which I was addicted to listening to was Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.
Nawazuddin: Even Ved Prakash used to have quite a few audiobooks at that time, so I used to listen to that. My grandmother used to narrate stories to me, and she used to create an atmosphere for me. When we were doing this story, I remembered how she used to narrate stories to me, how she used drama to explain things to me.
So my question to you, Tabu, actually is that you know people have this complain that they don’t get to see you enough on screen. But the amount of movies have increased and it’s also now surprising for people and also a happy thing that you’re doing a new medium also now. So, conscious effort?
Tabu: Oh no, it just came to me and I happily agreed because like Nawaz and Anurag said, stories are something that we’ve grown up with, grown up on. And my mother was an avid radio listener. So we got into the habit of listening to radio so all my associations of stories and songs are with my childhood.’Hawa Mahal’ and ‘Jai Mala’ and you know, ‘Man Chahe Geet’ and then ‘Chitrahaar’ and all of that. So for me, it was very exciting also to use your voice to, you know, convey something. It was new for me. And was it hard? It had to be focused, because my voice was my only tool. But I actually must admit that I’m a sucker for voiceovers. I love doing voiceovers,
I keep asking my friends “If you ever need someone to do a voice over, please ask me.”
Anurag, you just work so much because there is either a film or a show or another film or another show and now this.
Anurag Kashyap: I don’t know what to do when I’m not working. I work in this contained kind of a budget. So to sustain my people I need to work more. I’ve been working non-stop for 27 years now. I’ve not stopped. I have 200 movies on my IMDb page. I’m game for anything new. Before they came to me I had discovered Audible on my own. Because I think Meryl Streep had done something. And I was very curious and it took me there. And I found The Goldfinch and it started from that. And much before this, there was another show and that was too tied up. I couldn’t do it. But this was very exciting because this literally fell in my lap like a dream come true. It’s pulp, Hindi pulp, in the ‘Manohar Kahaniya’ zone. It’s Ved Prakash Sharma. It is uncensored, it is just totally out there. So you go and freely be yourself.
Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Assistant Camera: Gautam Sharma
Video Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan
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