Writer and creator Harman Wadala’s Sony LIV’s family thriller Tabbar which released on 15th October, is currently garnering accolades from all over. It stars Pawan Malhotra, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Ranvir Shorey. He shares about his journey of writing Tabbar and his wish to create something personal rather than punjabi’s doing caricaturist roles.
Harman feels extremely humbled and satisfied on receiving rave responses and says,”I am overwhelmed to see the response the show is getting. Honestly, I knew that we are creating something different but the way the show is being perceived by the viewers, it’s nothing less than a blessing. The way I am getting messages on Instagram and Twitter, the reviews we are getting from the critics and IMDB users, it seems like a dream come true for a small-town boy in the city of dreams.”
Sharing about the journey behind Tabbar he says,”I know Punjabi stories and characters are not new but the way they have been perceived till now really bugged me. I wanted to create something personal, a world that I had seen and lived. So I started writing Tabbar in November 2018 thinking that maybe people would like to know what the real Punjab looks like. All the characters in the show are very close to me. Especially the Singh family, it’s based on my own family members. Except for my sister, she couldn’t make it to the final page because of some minor plot changes. I met various producers and creators who liked the idea but still wanted me to convert it into a dark comedy film. Some even said that no one wants to see Punjabi’s doing realistic and dramatic roles. They are happy to see them doing caricaturist roles. My father said that It’s essential to hold on to a dream if you genuinely believe in it because who knows, it can change your life forever. Those words really worked. Inside, I knew that this story will be immersive and the viewers who’ll watch it will start questioning themselves. I really wanted to create Tabbar at any cost. I knew that just like me, other people are also craving for good content, no matter what region or language it belongs to. This belief kept me going. Soon that idea turned into a paragraph and then into a page. Today when the show is out, I am more than delighted to see the response it’s getting from viewers across the world.”
On sharing about his writing process for Tabbar he says,”It depends upon the genre. For example, in the case of Tabbar, my writing process was very intense. I took an enormous amount of alone time to write unlike my fellow writers Sandeep Jain and Mr Roy who (in my mind are trained to write in any situation). Coming to the screenplay tweaks, it’s actually really helpful to see what actor is adding up to the character. Also when the actor reads the lines, you get to know what’s working and what’s not. So mostly it’s not a hassle. I am blessed that the actors on Tabbar’s set had an enormous amount of trust in the script and everyone on the set was giving their 100% in each and every department.”
