Why Pushkar Mahabal's ‘Black, White & Gray' is a killer crime-thriller
Writer-director Pushkar Mahabal is on cloud nine these days, basking in the adulation for his debut series Black, White & Gray: Love Kills on SonyLIV. Taking an ingenious approach to a crime thriller—part documentary with talking heads, part fictional re-enactments with clever use of found footage—the series has gained currency through word-of-mouth publicity.'It's overwhelming,' says Mahabal. 'I was sure we won't get negative reviews because we knew it wasn't a bad show. What surprised me was how people have picked every single beat and minute detail.'advertisementTracing the bloody footprint of a serial killer, the show, through the course of six episodes, leaves viewers with multiple perspectives of the crimes. It does so by featuring voices of multiple individuals—the accused and his parents, the victims' friend and family, police officers, an assassin, to name a few. By the end of it, viewers are left to wonder who's telling the truth and what truly transpired.With saas-bahu TV shows and a little-seen film to his credit, Mahabal had his share of struggles to find a taker for his series. SonyLIV came to his rescue. 'From the first meeting with SonyLIV we knew we were at the right place,' says Mahabal. 'Saugata Mukherjee, [head of content, SonyLIV,] felt it was well thought out. Rarely does it happen that a platform says we will give you feedback but you make the show you want to make.'advertisement
It helped that Mahabal had gone with bound scripts for all six episodes rather than a traditional bible that outlines the story. It's a unique approach and a risky one too, but was worth it. 'Entering this field is gamble enough,' adds Mahabal. 'Why not go one step further and follow one's gut?'The opportunity also came at a time the streaming industry is going through a creative churn, with writers and creators finding it tough to get projects going with streaming platforms. 'It's a systemic problem, not one to pin on an individual. Everyone will have creative interpretations and clashes, back and forth will happen, and feedback will be taken negatively,' says Mahabal. 'I want to invest my time in writing a show that I believe in. I don't want to get into development phase with a network because that doesn't work.'Mahabal came to Mumbai from Nagpur, harbouring a passion for music. He started by composing for Marathi films. Six years on, he pivoted to direction, scoring his big break with the TV show Manmarziyaan. 'After that, I did a lot of regressive work; the more regressive it was the more money I made. I have done even close-ups of sindoor,' he says candidly.advertisementMahabal's stint in TV helped forge many friendships and taught him many lessons. 'TV gave me an idea that I should only write things that I can produce should I not find a producer,' he says.It wasn't long before Mahabal and his two friends, writer-producer Ankita Narang and cinematographer Saee Bhope, banded together and decided to get out of their comfort zone to make a film, investing their own savings and taking loans. The result was Welcome Home, which found home on SonyLIV. 'We launched ourselves because nobody else would give us the opportunity,' he says.A fan of true-crime documentaries and an ardent watcher of shows such as Forensic Files, Mahabal describes Black, White & Gray as a true-crime doc that he wanted to see. Having heard interviews of American serial killers such as Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer and seen Netflix docs Night Stalker and Don't F*** With Cats triggered the idea. 'I was envious because I felt I didn't have the patience or the resources or the skills to make a true-crime doc. I thought if I can't make a real one, let me just fake one,' he says.Mahabal also felt the saturated market of OTT crime thrillers needed a fresh outlook. 'I was bored of watching the same things, sometimes shot badly or sometimes in a brilliant manner. No one was playing with non-linear screenplay. There was no experimentation in the genre,' he notes.advertisementMahabal recalled a friend's brief misadventure in Goa where his girlfriend lost consciousness, briefly leaving him panicked if she was dead and how to contend with the situation. 'I thought it would be a funny dark comedy and did write it, but then left it midway,' he recounts. By 2022, he was revisiting the anecdote and giving it a new spin.Part of Black, White & Gray's appeal is how Mahabal uses the talking heads to infuse his socio-cultural worldview on issues such as misogyny, class disparity, state of TV news, taboos around love, and so on. Even as viewers become aware of his narrative ploy, the Rashomon way of storytelling ensures one's following the story. That's largely due to the compelling faces casting directors Trishaan and Shubham find for the interviews and the way Mahabal directs them.Mayur More (of Kota Factory fame) is the most familiar face in the cast, but the scene-stealer here is Sanjay Kumar Sahu, who plays the accused. The FTII-trained actor and acting coach commands every scene, playing an ordinary man caught in the most extraordinary of circumstances and one whose moral compass is hard to read.advertisementWhile the show is a breakthrough moment in his career, the filmmaker is not letting the attention get to him even as he contends with the expectation that comes his way. 'I have to be careful. I have been getting messages 'Tum uss jaise (filmmaker) mat ho jaana'. So, I am a bit scared also. I am doing a very small Hindi film right now. I just want to focus on it. I don't want to fall into a trap where everyone is like—do something big,' he says.Subscribe to India Today Magazine
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