Gulshan Devaiah: It’s Possible For A Married Man And A Married Woman To Be Just Friends, But The Only Thing That Stops This Is Social Stigma

Gulshan Devaiah and Saiyami Kher starrer ‘8AM Metro’ recently released on Zee5. The film had garnered a lot of praise when it had a limited theatrical release last year. What the film did manage to get was immense appreciation for the finesse and the nuances with which director Raj Rachakonda had made the film. Now, that people are appreciating the film after his release on OTT, the praises have suddenly trebled.

Talking about working with Raj Rachakonda, Gulshan Devaiah says, “Experience with Raj, I am not going to lie, I feel that he is perhaps more passionate than any other experienced director and that kind of makes up for a few inadequacies that he may have like budgetary restraints for the movie etc. I would say that Raj had so much passion and sentiment for this story, he wrote a great story, and made it with his whole heart, that’s all. That’s been my experience and I really salute and have all the respect for the amount of fervour that he had.”

For the unversed, the film depicts Iravati, a 29-year-old housewife (Saiyami Kher) whose ordinary life in Nanded is thrown upside down when she is forced to hurry to Hyderabad to care for her pregnant sister, who is confined to a bed. Fighting off frequent panic attacks, she turns to Preetam (Gulshan Devaiah), a banker who has more to him than meets the eye, and the two embark on numerous travels together, seeking consolation in each other’s presence.

The movie revolves around two married middle-class strangers who develop an unlikely friendship after bumping into each other in a metro. But is such a scenario possible or rather acceptable in real life? Can society normalise in real life where 2 married people, despite having kids and spouses, become friends?

“I do think it’s pretty normal, particularly between a man and a woman, it tends to get a little complicated. In the film also, it’s a bit complicated, it’s not straightforward. But yes, it’s possible for a married man and a married woman to be just friends, platonic friends and have a great friendship. And I think the only thing that stops such relationships is perhaps the social stigma and the fact that there could be some kind of sexual tension between a male and a female, but I think it’s pretty normal. There are lots of people like that in all walks of life and in all kinds of socioeconomic status. People do have friendships like this, and they should,” concludes Gulshan Devaiah.