Chumbak Makers JD Majethia and Aatish Kapadia on Family Entertainers, Hanuman Ansh, and Ramayana

Netflix has released its latest show Chumbak. A family entertainer that follows neighbours who come together to solve each other’s problems. Have some fun along the way and, most importantly, make audiences laugh with their antics.

Shows Producerdirector Duo Majethia Aatish

The show's producer-director duo, JD Majethia and Aatish Kapadia, spoke exclusively with Hindustan Times about how the idea for Chumbak came about. They also opened up about the controversies surrounding Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent and why family entertainers are back in demand.

Aatish: There was a time when whenever we had an emergency and had to rush. We would leave our grandparents and kids at our neighbour's house. We would happily take the children in.

And we would also know what the children's allergies were and what they could or couldn't eat.

Could Even Scold Neighbours Children

We could even scold the neighbour's children, treating them as our own. Today, such a situation has arisen that we have become a polite, hypocritical society. So we thought, why don't we bring back that old-world charm again.

There, people have modern mindsets and modern houses, but bring back that lost value system where your neighbour is your first family.

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That's where it was born. So, five families living in a colony in an upmarket, upscale neighbourhood, all educated people. However, having an old-world value system where anybody goes into anybody's house without knocking whenever there is an emergency.

JD: It was also somewhat personal because we have a group of five friends. Moreover, Aatish and I lived in the same building for many years. We shared life in such a way-for example.

Alcohol wasn't consumed at my house for many years. So whenever there was a dinner party, guests would have drinks at Aatish's house first before coming over to mine.

We experienced that neighborhood closeness and friendship together. So we felt that we could bring everything together and create a show called Chumbak.

Aatish: One must view life differently to be able to write comedy for decades. How do you do it?

LIFE IS MISERABLE FOR EVERYBODY —whether the maid doesn't show up. The driver bumps the car, or a child is late for school. But you don't have to become miserable yourself; you just change the lens.

Aatish: The common thread among all three is discipline and total commitment to their characters. For instance, Neena ji shared that she didn't bring her expertise to this show as she wanted to completely immersed herself into this world. She never forgot anything.

Ratna Pathak Shah read the script of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and said, “Oh my god, this is middle-class bashing.” But she believed it. I told her she has to be a little bit hoity-toity, and not in a superficial way. you have to mean it, and she got it.

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Aatish: We don't comment on others, as everyone has their own way of thinking and creating content. We practice self-censorship to ensure our content can be watched together If our families can watch it together, we are fine.

Aatish: Personally, I doesn't watch comedy shows — I prefers dark thrillers and supernatural genres. My comedic writing is a natural.

JD: I have seen the film, and I also researched it. Like in Gujarati, Laalo was a hit. People are facing tragedies and calamities, so they see hope, faith, and simple, realistic storytelling that touches the heart.

Aatish: There is also a cultural resurgence where audiences want to reconnect with their roots and heritage. We have not exploited the kind of people India has produced, the stories we have had. Now, Ranbir Kapoor's Ramayana will come.

Aatish: When Ranbir said, "I will bring Sita back," I was like I am going to watch this film. So, there is a cultural resurgence of sorts.