Vipul Shah's new web series Human delves deep into the drug testing practices

Mona

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The digital platform has brought some riveting subjects to the fore. Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s upcoming show Human explores the world of pharmaceuticals and human drug testing, a topic that gains significance in the current scenario.

“The world of human drug testing is such a vast subject that it wouldn’t fit into the frame of a film. That’s why I decided to try it out as a digital show. I approached Mozez (Singh) and he liked the idea. We had a great team of writers headed by him. They took a different route than film, and opted for two female principal characters. I feel it is a wonderful change,” says director Vipul Shah, who debuts in OTT space with Human.

Thus was born a web series that explores the journey of three major characters driven by grief, shame and guilt, played by Shefali Shah, Kirti Kulhari, and Vishal Jethwa. How much can an injection do – is the question that this 10-episode series on Disney+Hotstar explores. Doctors’ perception as the ‘savers’ is in for a twist as they use humans as guinea pigs. While Shefali and Kirti don the white coats, Vishal plays the ‘victim’, a character not so white.

On getting his wife and Delhi Crime actor Shefali Shah on board, he says, “We wrote the character keeping her in mind, but she picks something only if it interests her. The character of Dr Gauri Nath was something that she’s never tried before, so we were worried. But then, we were hopeful that she would want to take up this new challenge,” says Shah.

If Kirti was the first choice for the role of Dr Saira Sabarwal, it is Vishal Jethwa that Shah says no one would be able to recognise as the same person from Mardaani 2. Mozez Singh joins Shah in directing the series that Jethwa calls a winning combination – “”Vipul sir is sorted, practical and easy to work with director and Mozez sir brings loads of emotion and together they steer the ship skilfully. The greatest challenge, however, that they faced was to present this complex narrative to the viewers in the layman’s language. “We didn’t want it to be all too dark and depressing but keep things bright and something that the audience could understand.” That for a paltry sum of money, many ignorant people would risk their lives was something that team Human found most shocking. “Equally shocking is the extent humans can go to feed their greed,” says Kirti.

Streams on Disney+Hotstar from January 14!