There is something cosy and nostalgic about rows of shelves lined with books, especially the ones with that delightful old-book smell and leather dust jackets. It reminds you of the simpler joys of life.
Madan Kumar’s Flying Dose Films, which aims to serve gari gari kathegalu (crisp stories), has captured this whiff of nostalgia in his micro-series on Instagram titled, In Between the Lines, through which he says he wants to experiment with light-hearted, relatable content.
“This form is already prevalent in China and in the United States, and I wanted to try it here as well. There have been a few of them in Telugu and Hindi already.”
Micro-dramas or micro-series are short (no longer than two minutes), vertical video series. . “This format is caters to people who enjoy scrolling and watching reels,” Madan, who is also the show’s creator, adds.
‘In Between the Lines’ is a micro-series on Instagram.
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Madan admits it is a challenge to ensure the content does not get lost amid millions of reels on social media. “It is easier to push sloppy content, as opposed to saying something worthwhile in under two minutes.”
YouTube, Madan says is costly. “It is quite hard to gain visibility. Discoverability and growth is easier on Instagram because of the community.”
Abhiraj Dethe, who has directed this series, agrees. “It is tricky, but when the story is good, it holds. Even if someone starts watching from Episode 6 or 9, it should be enticing enough to take them back to Episode 1.”
The response to the series on social media has been quite good so far, Madan says. “The language alternates between English and Kannada. We initially received feedback about the language with some people saying it has too much English. But since it is set in a metropolis, I had to have a bit of English as well.”
Promote the art of reading
The irony is not lost on Madan when he says he wanted to promote books, through a micro series.
Madan explores reading through the character of Bookworm, a bookstore on Bengaluru’s Church Street. People walking into the bookstore, exchanging books and conversations, with old songs in the background, is what makes the series stand out.
‘In Between the Lines’ explores a light-hearted love story between Dhruva and Tara
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Madan, who has also worked as the creative director for a documentary on Bookworm and its proprietor, Krishna Gowda, says he wanted to promote the space. “For me, reading books is not limited to just buying them. Bookstores are a space to engage and build a community; I have tried to show that here.” .
Abhiraj agrees. “We wanted to bring back that feeling of finding connection between pages instead of profiles.”
In Between the Lines follows Dhruva (Aashith) and Tara (Teju Belawadi) after they cross paths in Bookworm. “We blended the ad structure and the emotions of a web series to concoct a breezy, light-hearted story,” Madan says.
The 25-year-old Dhruva represents the younger generation who has never read a book in his life. A slightly older Tara, who is an avid reader, acts as a catalyst between the old and the new.
Aashith, who is not new to Instagram reels, says it is interesting to see a character go through an entire arc in this format. “This content has a bigger reach.Amid so much content on Instagram, the fact that we are making our audience wait is exciting.”
Teju, who has been seen in feature films such as Gantumoote and Laughing Buddha and the epic play Parva (Prakash Belawadi’s adaptation of SL Bhyrappa’s Parva says shooting for this format was exciting and hectic. “I loved being needed for every second of the shoot. Any actor would want to be utilised to their fullest capacity.”
After the series started airing on Instagram, Krishna says he saw a new set of customers come in, some of them even asking about the plot.
Madan, who plans to bring in more stories and explore complex relationships, says this format is more like a trailer and not the end.. “If I have to, I would try to shoot a series on Poornachandra Tejaswi’s Parisarada Kathe or RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days. A book captures the original thought of an author, and a micro drama is an evolution of that project.”
The 22 episodes of In Between the Lines are available on Flying Dose’s Instagram page, and six more will be released over the next couple of weeks.
Watch In Between the Lineshere.
Published – October 17, 2025 11:47 am IST
