Veteran filmmakers all over the globe realise the importance of a good scriptwriter in the industry. They have come to accept the fact that a film without good content is sure to fall flat on its face.
Sangeeta Yadav speaks with scriptwriters who have churned up blockbusters like Mardaani, Rajneeti, Aarakshan, Satyagraha and others. They tell you that is high time that the writers got their due in Bollywood and although they are not happy with OTT dramatisation, they will never complain
What makes a movie in Bollywood a super hitIJ Is it the popular starcast and their flawless acting, beautiful location set in the backdrop of foreign destinations or foot tapping item numbersIJ For veterans, these things play a secondary role in filmmaking. The heart and soul lies in the script which is the foundation of the film.
“It is a known fact that scriptwriting is very creative yet challenging. To come up with original stories that will appeal to the audience is very tough. It’s this story that generates work for the actors, directors and producers,” scriptwriter-turned-actor Anjum Rajabali opines.
For a man who has been writing stories for the past 12 years, Gopi Puthran, the scriptwriter of Mardaani also feels that the writer in the industry is the actual hero. “There is stiff competition everywhere and a lot depends on the story. In earlier times, a flimsy theme could have done wonders if the stars were chosen carefully. Not today. What works is a good story,” he says, adding that movies like Queen and lunchbox were super hits because they were written well. “I’m not taking anything away from the actors or the director of the films who were the main pillars. But story writers have a role to play as well,” he says.
If a movie bombs at the Box Office, the blame naturally falls on the story. But the day when a scriptwriter hands over the script to the director, it’s the death of the script for him. From thereon, scriptwriters have no say in the filming of the script.
“There is a common joke in Bollywood — when the final script is handed over to the director, two minutes of silence is maintained because the script is dead for the writer,” Rajabali, who was the man behind the scripts of Satyagraha, Chakravyuh, Aarakshan, Raajneeti, Apaharan, Naina, The legend of Bhagat, Pukar and many others says.
Both Rajabali and Puthran agree that the film industry has been very cordial towards scriptwriters but sometimes they get frustrated when they see how their story has been represented in a big medium.
“It can be quite irritating to see your script being turning into something completely different. There is nothing you can do about it. When the movie comes out, no scriptwriter is ever happy and satisfied with the end product. But such is life,” Rajabali insists .
Story writers reveal that their job is the most challenging one in the film industry. A little problem and the film will fall flat. The trick, scriptwriters believe lies in how much to show and what to delete. “let the audience put two and two together. You can’t push a concept down their throat. In Mardaani that was a challenge. We had to be sure about how much to show and what to hide. The aim was to get a strong message across to the audience, not to petrify them,” Puthran tells you from Mumbai.
The other challenge, he insists is always to keep emotions out of the script. “As a storyteller one has to present both sides of the coin. We can’t present a biased view,” he tells you. This is where some stories are lagging behind and films that could have done well are falling flat. “I don’t understand the penchant of over-the-top dramatisation,” he adds.
When scripting a story, the most important aspect is working as a team with the director. “It’s important to have a wavelength between the director and scriptwriter. Otherwise the story would go haywire. It’s like a relay race where the director and the scriptwriter are at the two ends and you have to coordinate and understand right from the start,” Rajabali explains. “Prakash Jha and I share a very strong bond and have immense faith in each other. Aarakshan (2011), Chakravyuh (2012) and Satyagraha (2013) happened back-to-back but Raajneeti took two to four years of scripting. Prakash and I used to disagree a lot during the discussion but that never affected our relationship,” he says.
For Rajabali,The legend of Bhagat Singh was the most difficult and enjoyable film. “More than 17 months of research work went in its scripting. Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherji’s Gulaam which was an adaptation of Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954) was also a fun film. Whereas Chakravyuh was an easy task. I made the first draft of the script in 1995 and in every two years, I used to revise the script and the character. It was Prakash who showed interest in it and turned in to a film. Raajneeti was also an interesting story to do but Prakash and I had a lot of argument in every single dialogue,” he adds.
In 1992, when Rajabali decided to learn the craft of scriptwriting, he found himself alienated because there was not a single college which offered him a course. In 2004, Rajabali introduced scriptwriting course in FTII and its alumni went on to produce films like Shaitan, Rock On, De Dhakka and several other films and TV shows. His dream of launching a platform that can train the budding scriptwriters for Bollywood and TV is taking its shape in the form of Cinerise which will mentor and assist budding scriptwriters to learn this art and pitch their stories to the top-notch filmmakers. “Baba Azmi was struggling to complete his script when I agreed to help him out. That is how I landed up in this profession. The offers start pouring in and I got an opportunity to co-write with veteran director Govind Nihalini in Drohkaal (1998),” Rajabali, who learnt scriptwriting on his own, tells you.
Around 100 scriptwriters will be selected for the workshop where the story will be revised. Out of those 15 scriptwriters will be selected for the Script lab phase where they’ll be guided by 12 mentors— eight from India and others from abroad. After six months of training, these scriptwriters will be pitching their stories to the filmmakers, corporate and production houses. There are no commercial returns attached to Cinerise. “The programme is free of cost for the budding scriptwriters. Only they will have the copyright to their stories. There is no agreement or bond signed by them,” he says, adding that the whole purpose of Cinerise is to channelise the talent of potential and competent scriptwriters to develop good scripts.
The veteran writer feels that India being a nation of folklore and rich literature, the craft of scriptwriting and storytelling did not receive much attention and doesn’t have a well defined work structure. “During 1950s, there was no separate field of scriptwriters in Bollywood. Directors like Mehboob Khan, known for Mother India, used to script their own stories. Screen by screen dialogue was penned and a lot of importance was given on each dialogue. This is lacking in today’s time,” he tells you.
But slowly things started changing and scriptwriters started getting their due credit. “In the past few decades we have seen a lot of talent in Bollywood. From Mani Ratnam, Yash Raj, Karan Johar to Vikram Aditya Motwani, Anurag Kashyap and many more. The contract between the scriptwriters and production house became more transparent. Script became an important factor and writers started getting credit in the film. In 2012, Indian Copyright Act which got amended favoured the writers. The court became sensitive. This is the good time to join scriptwriting in India,” Rajabali points out.
(With inputs from Deebashree Mohanty)