In the column Let's Talk About Women, Sneha Bengani looks at films, the world of entertainment, and popular media through the feminist lens. Because it's important. Because it's needed. And because we're not doing it enough.
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I first met Sumukhi Suresh in Mumbai at an awards night organised by the media house I was then working with. It was 6 September, 2018. Web shows had started to gain ground, and it was among the first award shows to facilitate pathbreaking content on streaming platforms.
Suresh took home two major awards that night for the first season of her landmark show Pushpavalli, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video India in December 2017: Best Actress [Comedy] and Best Comedy. When I spoke to her, fresh off the stage after having given her acceptance speech, which she, much like millions of girls around the world, must have rehearsed a million times growing up, Suresh was a joyous bundle of excitement and big dreams.
Among other things, I had asked her what she would like to say to young, underrepresented women watching her on screen. She said, “There are a thousand men for one woman who make horrible things, and are still walking around with a lot of confidence. So just go to the nearest open-mic. Write a show. Make a video. All of us are going to make mistakes but it’s okay. Let us at least come ahead and start doing things. How many of us are taking the initiative? We are waiting for someone to write for us. Let’s learn and write. I used to be a food inspector, and now I am a comedian. If I can do it, lots of other girls can also do it.”
Today, over three years later, Suresh has taken another plunge. She has done what she was talking about that glitzy evening. She has launched her own content-creation company Motormouth Writers, through which she plans to write and create women’s stories with other women.
I talked to her again. Though we essentially discussed the same things — women in comedy, the rampant misogyny, how to get more women heard — I noticed an elemental shift. Suresh is still making things happen but not just for herself. Now that she has secured her spot, she wants company. Motormouth Writers is the first step in that direction. Excerpts from the exclusive conversation below:
Why Motormouth Writers?
Writing doesn’t get as much glamour. It’s writers who start the process. I really wish to make writing cool. If your writing is bad, how much can a camera angle save it? The audience will know that you forgot to close loopholes on a story level. I want to bring in the perspective of a woman, and whenever I have the skills and the team, of other genders too. We want to look at it differently, in a way that hasn’t been done enough.
I was doing all of it already but in different pockets as Sumukhi. I was trying to write a show, be my own lead, hold the power that I had picked up from whatever I’d been doing. I think everything came together. After Pushpavalli Season 2, a lot of inquiries started coming in for us to create and write shows and movies. I thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is, and have a bigger dream.
At Motormouth, we wish to write and create shows, movies, and stories with fundamentally funny, flawed females. Hopefully, it will be the legacy I leave behind where we change something about show viewing — we make watching female leads more entertaining, we make us more accountable, we make us people you can put your money on, we change the lens of gender and storytelling using our writing skills.
Is it a production house or an elaborate version of a writers room?
Right now, I don’t wish to be in production even though that’s exactly where I’m headed. Right now, Motormouth is a content-creation company that writes for you if you approach us, and also creates content of its own. For example, we just finished selling a young adult comedy thriller created by Sumaira [Shaikh] and me. It’s gone to a prestigious OTT. We are very excited about it. I’m going with the business model where we do it all from the beginning of the idea till writing the whole show with one of us as the showrunner. We want to create future EPs [executive producers], showrunners, writers.
In the last few years, there has been a shift in the way women are being represented and their stories told on screen. Do you think it is not enough?
It’s never not enough. There are so many content spaces for people who are writing for men. Women need as many spaces too. Hopefully, in the next five years, it becomes so common that if someone tells you ‘Hey, I’m writing exclusively for women’, you’re like ‘Ab toh ho raha hai wo' [that is already happening]. But we haven’t arrived there yet.
Of course, there are people who are writing good stories, and who are way more influential and bigger than me, but I hope to help that move forward. I like writing female characters. It’s my strength. And I wish to monetise that strength into giving different kinds of stories. Not only comedy. It can be a comedy thriller, comedy-drama, or even sci-fi, or fantasy. There are so many things we haven’t delved into. My plan is to be part of that movement. There are never enough writers writing for women.
You are also inviting women writers to apply and be a part of Motormouth. How can they do it?
You just have to write to us at cliffhanger@sumukhisuresh.com. Women thrive in spaces where there are other women. It’s a safe space for them. I naturally work very well with women but men can also, of course, apply.
So you are welcoming scripts for them all — shows, movies, and shorter video formats?
Absolutely. If it’s a registered script, 100 percent. Why not?
More women are getting into stand-up comedy in India but the gender balance is still quite skewed. Why do you think that is, and what can we do to change it?
A bunch of factors is responsible. It’s not only about the space. It’s also about the audience. We need more people to watch women. Look at the amount of trolling women get. One of the parameters of success for a female comic is the number of hate comments we get. If you get a lot of hate comments, then you’re popular, which is sad.
It’s also the inherent bias of ‘I don’t want to hear a woman be funny. Mujhe aawaaz hi nahi sunni uski’ [I do not even want to hear her voice]. It’s not just in India. Globally also, they just don’t want to hear us. Even in open-mics in Los Angeles, which is as cosmopolitan as it gets, they just don’t want to hear us. Then you have to say boobs to get their attention. You have to crack a sex joke so they look at you, and then you talk about something. This needs to go. We have a voice. You have to hear it. It needs to change at the audience level.
There are lots of logistical issues too. For instance, open nights happen at 8 PM in Delhi. How are girls supposed to go? But then who will come for a 6 PM show? It’s a big problem. Of course, there are more women than before, but only in metros. If you would have told me to do open-mics in Nagpur, it would have been tough. I moved to Bengaluru, then to Mumbai to make it possible. But boys are killing it in open-mics in cities like Nagpur.
So the question is how can we make it safer? But then that’s a bigger conversation. Why does art have to be so restrictive for girls, I just don’t understand. The smallest way it can be fixed immediately is that if you are a woman who loves stand-up comedy, I appeal to you to watch us. Like us, hate us, but watch us. Come for our shows so that hum bhi 3,000 ki auditorium bhar le jaldi [we also fill up auditoriums of 3,000].
The other side of it is — we need to be funnier, which we will. We will work on it. But the more of us speak, the more we will be heard. I don’t want to depend on men watching me. I’d rather depend on women watching me. It’s not like they will all love me. They’ll hate me also. But at least they will hate me with full ferocity, and there will be some layers to it. When women hate you, it’s not tacky. Women really attack you. There is art in that.
Pushpavalli has had a successful run for two seasons. Are you working on the third?
No, I don’t have a Pushpavalli Season 3. It’s not been commissioned, and I don’t see it happening. I have moved on. I’m writing a show now, which I’ll be acting in. I’m also writing two movies. I am creating another show, which, hopefully, will get rolled by the end of the year. So I’ve dived in headfirst.
I would have loved for Pushpavalli season 3 to happen but I guess it was meant to be like Fleabag. Two seasons, everyone talks about it, and hopes for the next.
In an earlier interview, you said you gave yourself the goal of becoming the best comic rather than "the best ovary-producing laughter generator." Even after all these years and success, do you still feel limited because of your gender?
No. I have understood the positive of being called a female comic. Of course, the aim of every comic is to be known as the funniest person but if by calling me a female comic, more girls come and do open mics and write shows, I’ll take it.
I understand why people do it but fundamentally, they are telling you ‘Tum auraton me funny ho' [you are funny among women]. Why are you making us fight against each other? I don’t want to fight with another woman for space. There need not be only one top position for a woman. There are 10 top positions for 10 men. I want 10 top positions for 10 women. That can only be possible if you make it not gender-based. I want to be a top comic. But I want Sumaira Shaikh to also be a top comic. In fact, I want her to be better than me because she is a fabulous stand-up comedian.
One big learning you would like to share with young women wanting to do comedy now?
Just do it. Right now, Zoom shows are happening. It’s the best thing to have happened for girls. If you have a Zoom show or if you want access, let us know. Do it. See if you are funny. If you aren’t, you aren’t. But don’t sit and overthink it. I have learned from men that they just do it thinking jo bhi hoga dekh lenge [we will see whatever happens]. It’s because they are raised fearless. If you get a window, just do it. If you fail, it’s fine. Boys fail all the time.
When not reading books or watching films, Sneha Bengani writes about them. She tweets at @benganiwrites.
source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/sumukhi-suresh-on-building-an-ecosystem-through-motormouth-writers-there-are-never-enough-writers-writing-for-women-10341291.html
