When ‘Three’ became more than just a show
In the beginning, ‘Three’ was just another show on the prime-time schedule. Eventually, however, it began to take off. No longer just another show, it became the centerpiece of Water-Cooler conversations. People began to anticipate the weekly episodes eagerly, and discussions about ‘Three’ began to seep into café conversations, casual office discussions, and WhatsApp groups. Suddenly, the scripts, the characters, fashion from the show, and the narratives became the focus of memes, sequential arguments around morality, and late-night discussions.
The most remarkable thing about ‘Three’ was the way it became a cultural reference. Lines from the show were quoted, and entire arguments were built around the characters, and each of the participants knew exactly what the other was talking about. ‘Three’ became water-cooler currency.
How fans made it theirs
Two college students were recently heard arguing over which ‘Three’ character they would marry. They had made and brought along mood boards, complete with posters of the characters. In the same vein, they had remixed a scene from Episode 5, an infamous meme had emerged, and became the most shared piece of content on Instagram and TikTok for weeks.
The impact on fashion was remarkable. One of the female characters on the show was seen wearing a muted pastel trench coat with a distinctive lapel brooch. That coat style sold out in the boutique stores in Delhi. After the show aired, some stylists tweeted that they had sourced similar lapels, while others posted #ThreeStyle under their client shoots. Even the men took the variations of that jacket style, loosening the belt to pay a tiny signature nod to the fans.
Baristas in some of the cafés in Connaught Place started writing the hashtag “#Three” on coffee sleeves with the lines “Edge like Tara” or “Choose Devin’s suit cuts.” While it was harmless fun, it was fun for a reason, showing how a fiction series had become a part of people’s lives.
At its heart, the story of Three is about siblings – complex, wounded and ambitious, and with the eldest sibling bearing the burdens, the middle one making decisions they will regret, and the youngest one learning. Internal conflict takes a toll on ambition, guilt, love, betrayal, and every clash reverberates in public life.
The first surprise turn involves the sibling that the audience perceives to be the central champion of the cause and the savior of the protagonist. They forfeit something vital in silence. The audience does not become aware of this betrayal until the middle of the season. This negative turn followed by the betrayal constitutes the first turning point of the season, after which the audience and characters must revisit all of the previously established facts to reconstruct their understanding of the newer stakes. The revelation incited many fan theories. Did the writers always know this and build to the revelation? Did they leave subtle breadcrumbs in earlier episodes? Viewers returned to earlier episodes and paused at critical moments to search for clues.
The negative surprise worked on changing the audience’s perception of the earlier episodes in a more constructive manner. Certain statements made previously began to take on a new meaning. The lines of dialogue that seemed like unimportant exposition grew in significance. This all fueled additional discussion.
Actors Beyond the Frame
In the case of Tara Shah (fictionitious for this example), the lead for Three, the role became a breakout opportunity. Prior to the show, she had been doing small supporting roles and guest stints, with little recognition and even less fan this. Post Three, she began to receive invitations to mental health panels, as her character’s arc dealt with trauma recovery. She was a front row guest at design festivities, and younger creators reinterpreted and modernized her character’s signature looks. Interviews began with, “How much of Tara is in her character?” and then moved to brand endorsements targeting the same audience as the series. But then, there were the stories with pressure. In one conversation, she said after a controversial episode where her character made a morally questionable choice, she received email hate. She described this as the hard truth: When art becomes a part of social discourse, the artist becomes part of the debate.
Devin Kapoor, her co-actor, noticed more subtle changes. Having played comedic supporting roles earlier, in Three, he was able to reinvent himself and prove that he could carry silence much better than lines. Subsequently, casting directors sought him out for roles that leaned darker and more conflicted and, in an interview, he revealed that he sometimes wonders if Three will follow him like a long shadow; will he always be “that brother who betrayed first” even in future dramas.
There were, even with shifts behind the camera. Ria Sen, the director, became something like a poster-girl for vibrant TV directors willing to court moral complexity. She began being sought out for streaming- platform projects that offered characters not the usual clear heroes and villains. In a way, Three became her signature as well. A mark that she can invoke loyalty and ambition in a single scene, and leave it unspoken.
Where politics, socio-cultural conversations, and fandom converged
The episodes of Three, especially the twists, did not remain contained within the entertainment columns of the print media. One controversial plot involving inheritance and sibling property rights sparked debates on social media about real sibling disputes. Some comment threads on Instagram read: “This is exactly like what happened in my family”. Some legal-aid NGOs even began promoting social media campaigns on knowing one’s rights under the inheritance law and its practical applications. An entertainer’s narrative became a trigger for discussing civil law and its implications on family relations in modern society.
In one of the episodes, a young woman defied parental authority, a trope that is not new, but was especially relatable to young viewers, particularly second-generation Indian professionals living abroad. Social media posts relayed real life scenarios that captured intra-generational friction: “My grandparents wanted me to stay,” “I moved to London anyway”. Three captured the tension of the narrative. The memes that began circulating compared the challenges that the heroine of the show had to face to real journeys, particularly to the new-age startups in Bangalore and tech-jobs in the UK.
This was also noted by journalists. One lifestyle columnist asked if Three had subtly transformed into a narrative on India’s next-gen diaspora negotiations – between ambition and belonging. This time, it was wrapped in a domestic drama. After a particularly incisive episode, it trended on Twitter, where some users remarked that young people in metro India feel, to some extent, emotionally imprisoned by family obligation, and that’s probably why Three resonated so strongly with so many viewers.
Attention from brands followed: home furnishing brands sold cushion covers with quotes from the series, and one cafe offered a “Three-themed brunch” where the mocktails were titled “Tara’s Tea,” “Dev-Risotto,” and “Sibling Samosa.” This was more than product placement – it was a fiction business crossover.
What gave it life: Behind the Scenes
Stories shared from the set fueled the passion for the show. Actors reportedly also lodged at the same house, and for several weeks, they built on their sibling dynamics off-camera during late-night rehearsals. One of the cast members (the actor for Devin) reminisced about the scene in Episode 7 where it starts to rain during the unscheduled downpour—it was not planned during the scene. The director’s attention was captivated by the rain, and he kept rolling as the water poured down the old terrace in sheets. That unscheduled moment, which was remarkably captivating, was kept in the final cut. Many fans later commented on that scene and referred to it as one of the most emotionally charged scenes in the series.
An interesting story floated around the wardrobe department as well: Tara’s character’s blouse in Episode 4 became a fashion sensation because the team sourced it from local markets in Delhi. Fans outside the shooting location merchandised it before there were official merch. That same blouse was later purchased as merch.
There were lengthier discussions focused on an issue during set for the scene involving suspicion around the proximity of certain siblings; this scene in particular went through multiple revisions. The writers originally proposed the idea of adding a line of dialogue meant to serve as a comic relief, to which the actors voiced their concern and requested that the scene retain its seriousness and that the pause in dialogue should be allowed to linger. This, in turn, made a notable impact in regard to the tone of the punch-line in Episode 8. The rest of the production team has said that, Three has earned the trust of his fellow actors and has allowed them some creative input, as opposed to them simply going along with the script.
This was, perhaps, a reference to the early social media buzz around the production. An unpolished mid-season promo clip missed was viral and buzzworthy, and in an economy of social media, the unedited and half shot clip went over a thousand shares, and in the economy of social media, the unedited and half shot clip went over a thousand shares. The creators added a light and subtle filter as well as a colour grade that was borrowed from the clip for the final episode, as was their way of acknowledging the enthusiastic audience, something that is not commonplace.
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