Exclusive | Essential to understand the essence of comedy: Producer Dharmesh Mehta

Television production house, Creative Art, which was recently re-christened as Namanraj Productions in 2011 hits the Indian television space with Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala airing soon on SAB TV. The independent production house produces TV shows, Plays, Corporate videos, Documentaries and movies. Established by Dharmesh Mehta, the production house promises to present quality software on Indian TV screen and stage with message while entertaining viewers.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Dharmesh Mehta briefed us about his career, new show and more…

Mehta’s journey in the television space seems to be an exciting one. He began his career as an actor in Gujarati plays and went on to direct and produce Gujarati plays. “The journey from being a director to producer has been wonderful. I became popular because of my shows on SAB TV. When I sit and calculate my work with the channel so far, I got to know that I’ve directed 1000 episodes on SAB TV itself!”

In the past, Mehta has worked on known shows like Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, R K Laxman Ki Duniya, Paapad Pol and is now launching Chandrakant Chiplunkar Seedi Bambawala soon.

Speaking about his career he said, “I started my television career as a child actor in 1979 when I was 9 year old. I did around 20 children plays as an actor. In 1984, I got into commercials where I was a backstage artist; then I assisted well known artist of Gujarati theatre and actors like Sarita Joshi. My connection with theatre is of about 35 years. However, I am not associated with theatre any more’. He states that one of his best works in theatre is the play titled ‘All the Best’ which also had Sharman Joshi in it.

Since Mehta began his career with theatre, speaking about the importance of theatre in the life on an actor, he said, “Theatre is a basic foundation for being an actor; it helps in understanding the technicality of acting. Young talent of today who haven’t done theatre do face certain issues in the industry as they need to understand discipline, intensity and mannerism of acting. For me acting is – ‘reaction of an action’. Acting is something which is an inbuilt talent and theatre provides a platform to carve your talent”.

Along with his full-time duty as a producer-director, Mehta also started his acting school last year but, had to terminate its services because of lack of time.

While he has worked with other GEC’s as well, most of Mehta’s television works have been with SAB TV. “I am blessed that I have had the chance to work on different concepts on TV and with especially with SAB TV. As far as comedy is concerned, I feel as the genre is sensitive and needs utmost care while conceptualising and delivering, a channel like SAB TV is one of those rare places where they not only are cooperative with their creative artists, but the most importantly, they understand the real essence of comedy really well.

With his latest show, Mehta is looking at producing a unique story line around the fire-fighters’ community and their families which explores the humorous life of the Chiplunkar family and its interesting mix of neighbours who always come together to help each other.

“The show has story of a fireman which is never been done on television, which we are bringing through SAB TV. Prashant Damle is back on television almost after a decade. We have shared our new venture on social media and have received great response. We aim to offer the viewers a look into the life of an ever-so-selfless fire-fighter and the funny situations he gets into”, concluded Mehta. [By Ranjana Gupta| Twitter: @RGrightsreserve]