About Gapistaan and Gen Gap

One acting institute. Chacha on one side, Gen Z on the other. Hindi comedy-satire with no script, completely improvised.

What the story is

In an acting institute in Lucknow, Chacha from the older generation and today's Gen Z boys face each other every day. Sometimes a court is set up in the hostel, sometimes an argument breaks out over whether YouTube is bigger than cinema.

There is no script here. Only the situation is fixed, the cameras keep rolling and the rest is the actors' magic.

On one side is Chacha, who starts every sentence with "in our time". On the other side are the Gen Z boys, for whom YouTube, Instagram and trends are everything. Both live in the same hostel, the same class and the same room, and that is where Gapistaan's comedy comes from.

How Gapistaan is made

Every Gapistaan story starts from a situation, not from a script. The actors only know what has happened today: someone's soap was stolen, a court has been set up in the hostel, or a new student has joined the academy. After that there are no fixed dialogues; the cameras keep rolling until the scene reaches its end.

For shooting, 4 to 5 phones and small cameras are placed inside the scene and record together. So the actors play for each other, not for the camera, and every reaction feels real.

Yogesh Chaitanya himself syncs all the footage in DaVinci Resolve as a multicam, edits it and does the DI colour grade.

All the actors are trained at Indian Films Academy in Lucknow. Most of the team comes from Uttar Pradesh and the Bhojpuri belt, so both the language and the humour stay close to the ground.

When and where to watch

A new episode every alternate day, between 6:30 and 7:30 PM IST. Every episode comes out on the YouTube channel @gapistaan and on this website about an hour later. Short clips and behind-the-scenes glimpses are on Instagram at @gapistaan.

All 7 episodes so far

The Gapistaan team

Presented by PICHCHRAPA

Gapistaan is part of the Lucknow production house PICHCHRAPA. Its actors are trained at Indian Films Academy. Concept and direction: Yogesh Chaitanya.