Web-series based on Romeo and Juliet explores same-sex love

The show is a 10-part series for new app Alt Balaji. “Being a student of literature, it was a very challenging opportunity and a bit scary as well to take Shakespeare’s timeless romantic tragedy and turn it into a same-sex love story. It was also scary because I’m straight and I didn’t want to get brickbats from the LGBT community if I got it wrong,” said Asthana. 

Having worked on TV series like Hip Hip Hurray and Time Bomb 9/11 and films like Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge and Bewakoofiyan, Asthana says she owes it to her collaboration with gifted writers for giving Romil and Jugal the right elements. 

“Ultimately, if while watching Romil and Jugal people forget that they are watching two guys in love, and see them purely as two human beings in love, I think I would have achieved a large part of what I set out to do,” she added. 

The warring households of the Montagues and the Capulets here have been transformed into the Subramaniums and the Kohlis, who clash over different cultures and the fact that their sons fall in love with each other creates a cauldron of emotions that bubbles over. The series is now available on the app.