Meesho partners with The Timeliners from the TVF Network for a new show – ‘Sonu Beauty Parlour'

Internet commerce company Meesho has partnered with The Timeliners from the TVF Network for a new show – ‘Sonu Beauty Parlour’.

Most often than not, the entertainment industry thrives on gender stereotypes when it comes to telling a story. Male and female characters are often seen sticking to the sociocultural expectations that apply to individuals on the basis of their assignment to a particular gender category.

Rarely do we come across stories, that deliberately try to break these stereotypes and societal gender roles, and normalise being a dynamic human being. But when these stories do come about, they surely and refreshingly bring a cool breeze on a hot noon.

TVF Timeliners’ ‘Sonu Beauty Parlour’ is one such story, it is the tale of a reluctant hero.

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It’s about a young boy, Sonu, whose single mother runs a beauty parlour. Life puts him in a situation where he is required to run the parlour. And behold, he’s good at the job at hand, one that is predominantly a women-run industry.

Sonu finds himself conflicted between being “a man” as per societal norms and being good at what’s considered a woman’s job. How often does society endorse a man giving pedicures anyway?

Having said that, such rare and rather, bold stories also come about when a mature and culturally evolved brand extends its support and recognises the merits of breaking stereotypes. This is where Meesho comes in. 

Talking about the collaboration with TVF, Lucky Saini, VP and Head of Brands, Meesho, said, “Both TVF and Meesho are on a similar mission. At Meesho, we want to democratise e-commerce for a billion Indians and TVF is on a mission to democratise quality content. As a brand, we want to be a part of stories that come from the life of people we serve and TVF team understands the pulse of what stories to tell better than anyone else out there. Meesho's partnership with TVF was a match made in heaven, where our visions complemented each other and the output was 'Sonu Beauty Parlour'- the story of a small-town boy who, when put in a situation to work for his mother’s beauty parlour, faces dilemma, due to defined gender roles in our society.”

“Our experience with TVF has been exceptional. TVF team understands mass India better than anybody else, because they come from there and so the insights and colloquial method of storytelling is organic and authentic. We look forward to working with TVF in the long run, to tell stories that represent and inspire the common men and women of India,” Saini added.

Speaking about associating with Meesho, Vijay Koshy, President, TVF, said, “Meesho is a brand on a mission to make quality products accessible to Indians in best value for money. It speaks to a growing India with plenty of aspirations and unlimited ambition. At TVF, we love telling stories of everyday Indians like us pulling off small wins. We've dwelled in this space with ‘Gullak’ and ‘Panchayat’ and received immense audience love. This partnership with Meesho allowed us to bring alive Sonu Beauty Parlour - another story about the growing India to YouTube where it can reach an even bigger audience base”.  

“Sonu Beauty Parlour is an entertaining and progressive story from the Hindi heartland of India, a new world we're creating and we hope audiences like it,” added Koshy.

Anandeshwar Dwivedi, the concept creator and director of the show, said, “Meesho caters primarily to tier two, tier three cities and ‘Sonu Beauty Parlour’ is also a story of a family set in a tier-two city. It’s the story of simple, middle-class people, figuring life and doing something extraordinary. Hence, Meesho is a perfect fit for our story and flows well with it. Sonu’s family is a Meesho family”.