Women and crows: Tabbar director Ajitpal Singh reveals mistakes he committed in the show

Tabbar director Ajitpal Singh, who made his web series debut with the show, has opened up about the few mistakes he made with the show. Starring Pavan Malhotra, Supriya Pathak, and Ranvir Shorey in pivotal roles, Tabbar is being praised by audiences and critics.

One of the recurrent imageries used in the show is that of a crow visiting the house of the protagonists. A crow’s visit is considered bad omen but only in the western culture. Talking about it, Ajitpal Singh told Hindustan Times in an interview, “I always had a problem with that crow. Even in Punjab, the crow is not a bad omen. Crow is not considered a bad omen in our culture. But it was written in the script. I also had issues with it, but I just shot it because it was written in the script.”

He added, “Even in Punjab, we say you will have guests when a crow comes to your house. It is only in foreign countries that they consider the crow a bad omen. This was one of the writing problems that we wanted to resolve but we could not.”

SPOILERS AHEAD

Asked about the mistakes he would have rectified if given a chance, the director said, “I would not have killed Ajit Sodhi, Ranvir Shorey’s character. It would have been ironic if they survived by convincing Ajit Sodhi that they did not kill his brother and then we would also have Ranvir Shorey in the second season. That is something I really regret. Apart from that, I wish I had one more week of shooting.”

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Ajitpal also shared that he wanted his women characters to have a better arc in the story. “I wish we had given more screen space to Palak’s (played by Nupur Nagpal) and Sargun’s (played by Supriya Pathak) characters. That is the typical problem. All male writers getting together, trying to write women characters (have similar problems). I see that often. Many of them, at the beginning of their journey, do not even know how to write a woman character.”

He added, “Women are like tools to them, tools that can be picked up and placed at various spots in the story, as per the convenience of the male characters. Women are used to simply resolve plot points for the men’s arcs. And, that happens even in art-house cinema.”

Ajitpal was diagnosed with throat cancer just before he started shooting Tabbar. He went for surgery last year and returned to work soon after a few days of rest. He even started shooting for the show just 28 days after his surgery.