After Sarabhai vs Sarabhai and Khichdi, popular Doordarshan show Zabaan Sambhalke (1993) is set to make a comeback as a web series, DNAreported. The 10-episode reboot will be launched on Ekta Kapoor's digital platform, AltBalaji.
Directed by Rajiv Mehra, the show starring Pankaj Kapur, Tom Alter, Viju Khote and Shubha Khote was an Indian adaptation of hit British sitcom Mind Your Language (1977). The comedy chronicled the travails of Mohan Bharti (Pankaj Kapur), an engineer who is forced to teach Hindi to a group of misfits at a language school. Mehra will return to direct the web series, which will star Sumeet Raghavan as the frenzied teacher and Shoma Anand as the institute's overbearing head. The rest of the cast is undecided.
"Web series is the flavour right now," Mehra told DNA. "Also, it allows us slightly more freedom to do things, which can be a little more naughty, fresh, and without stereotypes." He said the show's characters will be aligned to the times. "It will be fresh for the new generation who might have heard about it but not seen it."
Zabaan Sambhalke incorporated several non-Hindi speaking cultures through characters that included a British writer, a Russian diplomat, an Anglo Indian air hostess and a South Indian actress. "This time we will be adding a few more characters, like a Haryanvi guy, a North-East Indian girl, a Maharashtrian from Koli background, a Bhojpuri starlet and an NRI girl from the US," Mehra told DNA.