The next time you see a Yash Raj film on the Internet, it might be one in a Web series titled Bang Baaja Baaraat. Right up Yash Raj's street, did you say? Except that pride of place in the series goes dildos and related parts of the body. It's the making of the "most f#@ked up shaadi of the season".
What's Yash Raj up to? After all, it's the biggest entertainment house in the country, ticketing a form of escapist romance and adventure that has only a fleeting relationship with reality.
Well, what the company is doing is to target the young who get their fix from the Web. So, before BBB, there was a four-part web series called Man’s World, also produced by Y-Films, the youth films division of Yash Raj Films.
It's a genuinely funny series, presenting feminism with just the right dose of humour to make viewers take to it and absorb the message in the process.
Using the "what if" plot device, a man named Kiran, played by Gaurav Pandey, wakes up one fine morning to find himself objectified the way men treat women. In this new environment women have taken on all the roles that men once did – from colleagues who find him undeserving of promotion to a sister and mother who boss over him to cook, clean and serve.
Kiran goes through all the humiliation and sexist treatment that women face, but the treatment isn’t heavy-handed or preachy. The Web episodes feature witty and incisive cameos by stalwarts like Soni Razdan, Richa Chadha and Kalki Koechlin, who flesh out the stereotypes women face at work, society and home.
Director Vikram Gupta plays with every practice in the real world – whether its tokenism like allowing women to board a bus first or shaming for choosing to dress as they like. Man’s World premiered at the 6th Jagran Film Festival earlier this year before it arrived online.
The series involves a tie-up with the Global Goals Campaign to promote gender equality. It's a collaboration with Project Everyone, founded by British filmmaker Richard Curtis, whose films include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually.
Curtis chose Y-Films because of their widespread popularity across the country. He says, “The Global Goals, if met, ensure the health, safety and future of the planet for everyone on it. In particular, young people all over the world have the most crucial role to play in making sure their leaders deliver on their promises over the next 15 years. And that’s why we’re so delighted to partner with one of India’s leading film companies, Yash Raj Films, who not only understand but help beat the pulse of India’s young digital consumers.”