In 2010, Gideon Raff’s Hatufim ( Prisoners of War ) went on air in Israel. After enjoying immense popularity in its home country, the show was later adapted as the U.S. cult hit, Homeland . Raff, who found a foothold in Hollywood after the success of both the original as well as its U.S. remake, was recently in Mumbai to promote P.O.W. - Bandi Yuddh Ke , an Indian adaptation of Hatufim directed by Nikkhil Advani ( Kal Ho Na Ho, D-Day ). Edited excerpts from an interview:
You wrote and directed all of Hatufim (24 episodes, over two seasons). It takes an entire writing team to come up with a show of such scale and complex themes. What compelled you to take on such a task?
I wrote all of the first 10 episodes [Season 1] alone and my only kind of reasoning board were some friends and [partner] Udi. It was a very personal process and took me about six months. I went back to Israel and we went into pre-production quickly and shot it. I directed it as one big feature. Everything was block-shot; we didn’t go by episodes but by locations. After that, I edited the whole thing and only then did it air.
The second season was harder for me to write, because even though I tried to shut out the expectations, Hatufim became a very big show in Israel. It’s not just the audience’s expectations, but also my closeness with the characters and the actors. So I was trying to hush those voices (laughs), and just concentrate on the second season. It took me a while to wrap my head around it. Season 2 aired a whole year-and-a-half after the first season as a result, and that gap kind of allowed the audience to be hungry for it.
You’re also, in a way, a product of the Hollywood system, given that you went to film school there (the American Film Institute in Los Angeles), and later created two American shows (Tyrant,Dig), where you worked with other writers. Did writing Hatufim by yourself ever get overwhelming?
Well, when I started first, I was naïve about it. I got stuck at certain points, and thought, ‘How the hell am I doing this alone? I’m at the edge of a cliff’. But then I would solve the problem, and it gave me a very big high. It was actually after we sold Homeland , and when I started doingTyrantandDig, that I had to get used to a different muscle, which is to write with other people. But the reason I wrote Hatufim was because I knew I wanted to direct, and nobody was offering me that.
You obviously created these characters with a lot of affection. And then Homeland happened, where there was a shift in storytelling. It became less of a family drama, and more of a psychological thriller. Carrie Mathison, who investigates Brody, the sole prisoner of war [P.O.W.] — instead of the two POWs who return home in the original — became an important character in the U.S. version. Was that something you were okay with from the get-go?
I was okay right from the start. Just like in the Indian version, I don’t have a problem with one family being Muslim and the other Sikh [which is a departure from the original], I realised that when you remake a story for a different market, it has to work with the sensibilities of that market. The issue of prisoners of war is probably not as sensitive in India as it is in Israel; it’s not national news. And while there were American prisoners of war in captivity, it wasn’t national news there either, because enlisting in the army isn't mandatory like it is in Israel. It’s not a raw, taboo subject like it is where I come from.
My American counterparts thought we should explore one family instead of two, and then expand the interrogation. And that worked,
How is life as a writer-director in the U.S. now, as compared to before you made Hatufim .
Well, I have gotten many opportunities because of the success of Homeland and Hatufim , and many doors have opened. I am developing projects that I want to. Writing season one of Hatufim was easier because I didn’t fully grasp the weight of the industry [Hollywood] and the responsibility and all of that. I was just unemployed and I wanted to do something. There was freedom in that.
The remake rights of Hatufim continue to be sold in different countries, while the original keeps finding a new audience. How is the feeling of creating something that continues to be relevant even six years later?
Hatufim itself is in 40 countries now. The success of Homeland exposed more people to the original. But even without all those remakes and without all that success, telling a story that touched me so deeply is what made it unique, and that’s what I look for in every project I take up now.
Coming to your career in the U.S., you’re creating stuff like Tyrant , which other people are directing, but you’re also a director in your own right. You’ve directed episodes of Heroes Reborn and Quantico , for example, which were created by other people. Do those roles sometimes take getting used to?
Heroes Reborn was the first time that I directed something that I didn’t write. Tim Kring [creator of Heroes Reborn ] graciously offered two episodes of Heroes Reborn [to direct]. What I was glad to find out about myself is that I am as passionate about something that I didn’t write, which was wonderful.
When there are millions of dollars at stake and when people’s careers are involved, there’s a responsibility on your shoulders. I want to direct stuff that I don’t write and I want to continue creating worlds that either I direct or other people do. I just want to tell stories.
Freelance film critic Aniruddha Guha has co-writtenP.O.W. - Bandi Yuddh Kewith Aseem Arora. It will air on Star Plus from Monday to Saturday at 10.30 p.m.
