If there was today a contest for which OTT filmmakers were the most prolific and sought-after, Raj Nidimoru & Krishna D.K. (Raj & DK) are sure to win convincingly. The duo’s upcoming slate, under their D2R Films banner, speaks for itself. First, there’s the highly-anticipated second season of The Family Man (2019-), which will stream on Amazon Prime Video from June 4. This will then be followed by another Amazon Prime series which marks the OTT debut of Shahid Kapoor, and also stars Vijay Sethupathi. Raj & DK have also produced and helped write Gulkanda, a web series being directed by Rahi Anil Barve of Tumbbad (2018) fame. And then there’s the biggest one of them all—the Indian instalment of Russo brothers’ epic Amazon show, Citadel. In between their busy schedule, Raj & DK have somehow even found the time to start D2R Indie, a boutique studio which seeks to support filmmakers with ingenious ideas but limited financial resources. Its first title, Telugu film Cinema Bandi, recently released on Netflix. They also have three film scripts ready to roll. The question asks itself: do the software engineers-turned-self-taught filmmakers ever take a break?
“We are writing all the time,” says DK, the quieter of the two filmmakers. “In fact, if in any week, it doesn’t look like there are two or three scripts in progress, I wonder where we are going wrong.” The understanding they share and their regular flow of ideas can be attributed to the fact that the two have been working together for two decades now, going back to the US where they made their first two English features—Shaadi.com (2002) and Flavours (2003). Speaking of what it takes to sustain a working partnership, Raj says, “You need a tremendous amount of patience and a pretence of respect for each other [laughs]. Otherwise, it won’t last.” While Raj loves to make a list of all their stories and is known to change the order, it falls on DK to keep tabs as they shuttle between projects. “There comes a point where people hate writing, but for us, it is fun. We have made a habit of it,” adds Raj.
Raj & DK are also seeing their creativity surge because they are now collaborating with more writers—Mitesh Shah (Gulkanda), Suman Kumar (The Family Man), Hussain Dalal (untitled Amazon-Shahid Kapoor series) and Sita R. Menon, who has worked with them on all their directorial ventures—from their Hindi debut 99 (2009) to their feature A Gentleman (2017) and now Citadel. Currently, the biggest benefactor of Raj & DK’s output is Amazon Prime Video, which has, in turn, contributed to their success. “They put a lot of faith in us and gave us full creative freedom,” they say. “Whenever we had an idea for another series, they [Amazon] just became the go-to people.”
Given the current D2R films roster, however, it seems features aren’t a priority for the writer-director team whose initial fame had resulted from the gritty Shor in the City (2010) and the zombie comedy Go Goa Gone (2013). For their part, Raj & DK disagree. The pandemic, they say, led to a change in plans. “The [theatrical] film format took a beating last year,” says DK. “Any film plans we had we have put on a backburner until things get better.”
The show goes on, regardless of format. With their stockpile of ready scripts, Raj & DK are now willing to let others direct their creations. “We don’t want to be sitting on our scripts,” they say. “It also gives us the opportunity to make more films than what we do, which is one film in two years.” This endeavour to share started with Stree (2018), which saw their former assistant Amar Kaushik make his directorial debut. The horror comedy would go on to be their most successful film, earning over Rs 120 crore.
It was with Family Man, though, that Raj & DK earned the critical acclaim, audience adulation and studio success that most filmmakers can only dream of. Congratulatory calls poured in, some of them from actors expressing a desire to do a series. One of those interested was Shahid Kapoor. This is why Raj goes on to assert that there isn’t a single actor “out there who doesn’t want to do a series”. “Every actor relishes the fact that a series affords you an extended period of time to pin down your character and see a 360 [degree view] of it,” adds DK. “As writers, we love that too.”
In the midst of what can be seen as their most successful cinematic spell, Raj & DK are keen not to lose the independent spirit. It has, after all, brought them this far. As techies who quit their lucrative jobs in the US and poured their savings into relocating to Mumbai to make films, they are familiar with the struggle, and D2R Indie is their way of making the journey for passionate outsiders like them less fraught. What a traditional studio may shy away from, D2R Indie will be game for. “With an indie, you are down to your wits and a story which doesn’t have a commercial mould to it,” says Raj. “You are enthused to have a fresh take on a genre.” And it’s that enthusiasm which pushes them daily. Only now they don’t have to borrow money from friends. For now, the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, [Amazon CEO], has their back.
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