12 Fascinating Facts About Popular Series, Films Of 2021 That¡¯ll Make You Want To Rewatch Them

2021 was a year when we binge-watched shows and movies in the comfort of our homes. From enjoying Kate Winslet's riveting performance in Mare of Easttown to getting engrossed in a show as thrilling as Squid Game, the year mixed back with shows from different genres.

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A lot of drama and action went down in making these shows and movies. Actors and the crew went outside their comfort zone to pull off their part authentically.

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If you're wondering how the makers and the cast prepared for their roles, here are interesting facts behind making some of the most popular shows and movies of 2021. Read on.

1. The doll in Squid Game is actual creation.

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The eerie doll from the first episode of the show is real and can be visited in Jincheon County, a rural area near the north of Seoul. Reports claim that the doll has been placed at the entrance of a horse-carriage museum to guard.

2. Sidharth Malhotra and the team of Shershaah shot the movie in Leh in extreme climatic conditions.

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In an interview with TOI, Sidharth had revealed, ¡°We are the first Indian film to shoot at Kargil and that too, at a place which is just a few kilometres away from where the actual war was fought. We were shooting at about 14,000 feet above sea level, where the oxygen levels are low, and the winds are mighty. The mountains are devoid of any greenery. It was challenging to get the equipment on top as a film crew. It was physically strenuous for the crew. We were even wearing the kind of snow boots that the Indian Army uses to make it look authentic.¡±

3. Vidya Balan met real forest officers to prepare for her role in Sherni

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Talking about her preparation, Vidya said, "I met with a couple of forest officers to understand what exactly their job entails...the study involved in training to be a forest officer, the various postings and the challenges they posed. The nature of the job is that it can be physically arduous and even dangerous at times, therefore traditionally male-dominated. Still, these female officers shared how they then negotiate their way around the patriarchal mindset ... all of which was very helpful."

4. Jacob, who plays Raj in Kriti Sanon¡¯s Mimi, was spotted on holiday with his parents in Goa.

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Jacob was three when he was spotted by a casting agency in Goa in 2019 while on holiday with his family. Despite having no previous acting experience, Jacob got noticed. Jacob¡¯s parents, Kris and Julie Smith, and older sister Erihn were in India as part of their globetrotting trip, which took them to Jordan, Albania, Serbia, and Hungary earlier. "We got talking to [the casting agency], and one thing led to another, and that's how Jacob ended up in the movie¡±, dad Kris told BBC Scotland.

5. The team of White Tiger shot Balram¡¯s meltdown scene in Chandni Chowk without letting the passersby know.

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In an interview with Anupama Chopra for Film Companion, Adarsh was quoted as saying, ¡°We were shooting in the busy Chandni Chowk area, so the cameras were hidden. The people didn¡¯t come to know that a shooting was ongoing. When I got pissed at her, I started involving the people walking along. The pedestrians thought that I was a mad guy. I could see the sympathy in their eyes. Policemen were also walking, so I involved them too in the scene and said, ¡®Aap khade hain, aap kuch nahi bol rahe hain inko.¡¯ Nobody knew that a shoot was going on. They just thought that I was a guy who was having a meltdown on the road.¡±

6. Director Hwang lost his teeth in the making of ¡®Squid Game¡¯

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When Hwang was writing the script, he was often stressed because of his financial situation. He reportedly lost six of his teeth due to the pressure. The director wrote the whole series by himself, and the first two episodes of Squid Him took him six months.

7. Shoojit Sircar took 21 years to make ¡®Sardar Udham Singh¡¯

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Sircar was also deeply affected by his visit to Jallianwala Bagh over 20 years ago and started reading about what happened. He went to libraries, collated documents, and sourced information from survivors of the massacre. When he began this journey, he wasn¡¯t sure if he would make this film. He says, ¡°There was a passion with which I came to Mumbai to make this film. So just like Sardar Udham Singh, I have waited 21 years to make this film. Whatever my expression is, I have poured it completely into this film¡±.

8. Jitendra Kumar, who plays Jeetu Bhaiya in Kota Factory, is an IIT alumnus.

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He also used to teach students Physics to pay for his expenses during his struggle period as an actor.

9. Mare of Easttown hairstylist Lawrence Davis was given special instructions to make the cast look realistically messy and unpolished.

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Davis told Insider, "When I came on board, I was told bed hair for everyone. ... Everybody was basically, you know, get up and go, and that was the whole feel of it. But I was basically told from day one: 'Bed hair,' and I had to ride with that."

10. Maid's Margaret Qualley shared some ¡®real¡¯ details behind the disgusting cleaning scenes in Maid.

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Sharing details behind the horrendous dirty scenes, Qualley told E! "It's incredible. They would use the concoctions to make because, like, it's all fake. I'm doing the princess version of all this. It's like ketchup and hot sauce and A-1 or whatever that's like, plastered onto an oven to make it look like [dirt]. Everything is like clean dirt."

11. The idea for Minari was born because of an afternoon where director Lee Isaac Chung sat down in a library, writing down a list of 80 memories from his childhood.

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Chung told NPR, "Once I had this set of memories, I realized that there was an arc of a story there. This family showed up in the middle of nowhere, really, with the dad not having told anyone in the family that he was going to buy this farmland."

12. Dylan Arnold, who plays Theo in season 3 of You, auditioned for Joe in season 1 and then Forty in season 2.

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"My relationship with the show goes way back," Dylan explained. He added, "I actually went to college with Elizabeth Lail, who played Guinevere Beck in the first season. So I¡¯d seen the first few episodes, but it wasn¡¯t until I got the audition for the third season that I went back and was like, okay, let me watch the second season and get the tone of the show."

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