(From left) Jaydutt Vyas, Prabal Baruah, K.K. Goswami, Kunal Kumar, Sheetal Maulik and Bhavana Balsaver

Calcutta, Jan. 27: He has been around making a difference in the Indian television industry since the days of Surabhi on Doordarshan and has achieved with élan a feat that was considered close to impossible by many, including himself.

Prabal Baruah, a writer- director from Guwahati, is adding another feather to his cap — his baby, the silent sitcom on SAB TV, Guturgu, is completing 100 episodes tomorrow.

“Nobody, including the channel, the producers, Fireworks Productions, and I, ever expected such an off-beat series to go beyond the initial 13 episodes. But when the TRP started rising from the very first month, we were all amazed. Since then, it has been an amazing journey,” Baruah told The Telegraph.

It has truly been an amazing journey for Baruah, who completed his masters diploma in journalism and communication from Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune, in 1994 after graduating with honours in English Literature from B. Barooah College, Guwahati, in 1993.

He started his television career working as a team director in Cinema Vision India’s Surabhi, following which he has added a lot of feathers to his directorial cap, including popular shows like Pehli Kiran, Sunehre Pal, Pasand Apni Apni, Showtheme (on Doordharshan), CID and CID Special Bureau, Akela, Aahat (on Sony), Mano Ya Na Mano (Star One), Cambala Investigation Agency, Galli Galli Sim Sim, (Pogo), besides a number of short films and other productions.

But perhaps the biggest challenge ever for Baruah was doing justice to his pet concept, Guturgu. “I had been toying with the idea for nearly 10 years, but never found any takers. Finally, by sheer coincidence, I mentioned the idea to a friend who works in SAB around two-and-a-half years back. He found it very appealing and set up an appointment with the channel head. After that, there has been no looking back, thanks to the fact that the production house, Fireworks, with which I had worked earlier, liked the concept equally and decided to produce the series.”

The interesting aspect of Guturgu is its universal appeal. The lack of dialogues and the use of loud expressions and accentuated body language are making the series popular all over the country, not only among children but also among adults and speech and hearing impaired persons.

Kunal Kumar, who plays the lead in the series, said, “During an outdoor shoot, a boy was smiling at us from among the crowd and gesturing that he really liked the series. I thanked him with gestures. Then he came forward and gestured at me to sign an autograph, which I did. But in the course of the interaction, I realised that he was deaf and mute. That’s when the universal appeal of Prabal sir’s concept struck me. This is one concept that can be enjoyed by everyone, irrespective of language, handicaps or nationality.”

Popular actress Bhavana Balsaver, who plays the protagonist’s doting mother and has a plethora of sitcoms, including the immensely popular Dekh Bhai Dekh and Zabaan Sambhaal Ke, under her belt, said, “I still remember the day when an old Tamil lady, who couldn’t speak a word of Hindi or English, came up to me during a mall shoot and blessed me again and again. It turned out that she was regular viewer of Guturgu. The universality of the concept is perhaps the secret behind the success of the series.”

When asked about his experience with Guturgu and its team, Baruah said, “It has been a huge learning experience for me. As it’s not a mime show, the scenes are just naturally silent, making it a very daunting task for the writers, as they have to conceive situations that do not demand dialogues. That’s not a very easy task when we compare it to day-to-day life. The actors, too, have to be thoroughly briefed about the loud expressions and body language, as these are the only means through which they communicate to the audience. Every shoot is a challenge and teaches us new things.”

“Prabal sir is the main driving force behind the series. We were clueless to start with, when the series began. But he has always known what he wants, and is forever improvising on the set. The scenes are not directed, they are choreographed, and it is his clarity of approach that makes the whole process much easier than it actually is,” Balsaver said.

Baruah’s acumen as a writer-director can be gauged from what Kumar had to say: “Hats off to him. He’s one of those directors who looks at his work from all perspectives — as a writer, director, viewer and even the producer. Working with him is a continuous learning experience.”