Indian actors Akshay Ajit Singh and Shahana Goswami will star opposite each other in SBS romantic drama Four Years Later, formerly Four Years, which has begun filming in Mumbai and Jaipur ahead of a Sydney shoot in late February.
Announced as part of the broadcaster’s 2024 slate, the eight-part series explores the love story of Sridevi (Goswami) and Yash (Singh), who have to endure four years apart right after their wedding when Yash lands a medical traineeship in Australia.
Their time apart and reconnection is told through dual perspectives that feature both Hindi and English languages, exploring themes of the changing nature of love, intimacy, and belonging as you change within yourself while asking what it takes to find your way back to someone you have deeply loved after so long apart.
Mithila Gupta created the concept and leads a writing team comprising Nicole Reddy and S. Shakthidharan, both of whom are also of South Asian heritage, while Mohini Herse and Fadia Abboud are on board to direct.
Easy Tiger’s Ian Collie and Rob Gibson are producing alongside Stephen Corvini with support from Indian production company Suitable Pictures. The series has major production investment from Screen Australia, in association with SBS, and is financed with support from Screen NSW through the Made in NSW Fund. International Sales are being handled by ITV Studios.
Gupta, who also serves as executive producer, said she hoped viewers saw reflections of themselves in Sridevi and Yash.
“It has been a dream come true to bring Australian and Indian crews together on this series and tell such a culturally specific story through the universal lens of love, familial expectations, and most of all: belonging,” she said.
SBS head of scripted Julie Eckersley described Four Years Later as a “true romance”.
“It explores modern intimacy and relationships in the context of two countries and two deeply flawed but lovable characters,” she said.
“It continues our strategy at SBS Scripted to make fresh Australian content with global audience appeal.”