The hilarious web-series Metro Park, directed by Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan, opened with rave reviews as people were introduced to the crazy Patel family in New Jersey who navigated life as first-generation immigrants in America. The show even shot a ‘quarantine edition’ where the cast shot a few episodes from home.
Now, Metro Park is back with its sophomore season, which dives deeper into this well-knit extended family. Ranveer Shorey, Purbi Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Vega Tamotia and Pitobash reprise their roles from season 1, along with latest additions including Sarita Joshi, Milind Soman, and Gopal Dutt.
In a freewheeling chat, Purbi Joshi talked about show’s highly anticipated second season, her character’s journey and filming during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. “When I first read the script of season 2, I really said, ‘wow, they have really taken it to the next level,” she said.
Gushing about the show, Purbi said, “In a world of OTT streaming, you have so much content that you are spoilt for choice. But there is a lot of heaviness, there is drama, there is violence and amongst all that is Metro Park. You don’t see shows like Metro Park which is slice-of-life, sit-com comedy. We had those in Dekh Bhai Dekh and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. So Metro Park is in that zone. In the world of OTT, there is this sweet, nice and light situational comedy which is about an NRI family. It is so different, it is not just about Gujaratis but Indians and immigrants living in America. But most importantly it is family-friendly viewing, which is not the case in a lot of shows these days.”
“One of the reasons why people should really watch Metro Park is the performances. We have Ranvir Shorey, this time we have Padma Shri Sarita Joshi join us, we have Milind Soman, Omi and Vega. These are enough reasons to give. If you haven’t seen season 1 then you should binge-watch it and then watch season 2. This is what I genuinely feel and I hope people feel the same when they watch it,” she further added.
Purbi plays Payal Patel, a first-gen Indian immigrant in New Jersey who runs her own beauty parlour with her business partner. In season 2, we see Payal trying to achieve her dream of becoming a social media influencer.
Purbi said, “When I first read the script of Metro Park season 1, I realised I had never played the character of a Gujarati NRI like Payal before. It was a lot of fun working on the Gujarati and American accent that she talks with. As an actor I really enjoyed working on that process, portraying somebody I had never played before. Working with Ranvir Shorey is such a joy and my writer and director Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan, we sat and discussed what we are looking for. It is a very understated performance by everyone and full marks for both Abi and Ajayan for telling us what they were looking for.”
The show was shot from September to December 2020 in New Jersey. Purbi revealed that she was initially anxious to go back to work.
“Going into the shooting schedule was definitely scary. With the pandemic I had my apprehensions, I was very afraid and skeptical. But my producers and Eros made sure that we are taken care of. We had a Covid compliance officer on set. We had a doctor coming and visiting us on set, helping us with the questions we had and testing us whenever we wanted. Our producer Jiju John made sure that everyone was just going to the sets and the accommodation that was being provided. Nobody was meeting outsiders or family and friends. So it was just us, a harmony of people that we were. They took all the precautions,” she signed off.
Metro Park Season 2 is streaming on Eros Now.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment