Logbook of a Screenwriter
Allow me to start by telling sorry to my readers. It’s been quite some time since I did my last blog, with Sham Kaushal – although it seems you guys have kept reading my pieces, since the traffic to my blog has been remarkably steady. Thanks for the support. Life kept me busy with other things. I did a couple…
Personally, I am more of a Robin person than a Batman fan. First of all, Robin is middle class. He has learnt his tricks by default, not because he wanted to. He is a sidekick whose sole purpose in life is to fulfill the agenda of others. That’s my type. Also, might be since I spent a substantial share of…
In retrospect, I have done quite a lot of useful things with my rudderless self – most of which I don’t even care to remember now. Having said that, the couple of years I spent with stage lighting have remained firmly embedded in my head, as a sweet spot. I still love the lights, and not just the limelight. So…
Soumitra Chatterjee has been like that father figure whom you don’t miss till the time he is no more. He is much like that cornerstone of your being that you have taken for granted. So when I heard, sometime around Durga Pooja last year, that he was severely unwell and hospitalized, it came as a jolt. He was 85, true,…
Ever since I started watching cinema as an art form, with as much seriousness I could garner – I have always had a special place for the cinema of the South of India. Might be because I am ‘regional’ myself, and even after close to three decades of stay in the national capital, I have never grown out of that…
For the past few weeks I had been pushing people to write about Gautam Chatterjee – and now I don’t know what to write myself. It’s tough. He touched lives in multiple layers – and did so with such fondness and integrity, that you can’t pinpoint on a single thing, or even a couple of aspects, that would define the…
My introduction to Hemant Chaturvedi could be best described as accidental. By his own admission, accidents are somewhat frequent with him, and more often than not, they have happy endings. I should include the one with me in that list. It was during the initial days of the first phase of lock-down – don’t ask me the date, I have…
Take a wild guess – what could be the silliest question that one can ask ace cinematographer / director Santosh Sivan. Especially when, being one among the busiest Industry professionals, whose comeback film in Malayalam Jack and Jill is ready for release – he is not likely to give you much time. Top of that, in all likelihood, staying at…
No, I can’t wait any more. This self-imposed exile from blogging is gnawing at my ligaments like a regiment of termites; the wobble in all my joints are asking me, can you really do anything at all about the ‘situation’ out there? If you can’t, why don’t you do what you can? Just write, without spreading misinformation; let the experts…
Tapas Nayak has been working in the film-industry for close to two decades now, with a number of blockbusters and award winning films under his wings. Asking him to pick a few of them to discuss their soundscape is a real challenge, since every film in which he has worked is equally dear to him. Here, I asked him to…
I have never been a huge fan of classical horror flicks; they freak me out. Probably because, despite my earnest efforts, I have never been able to grow out of my childhood. Getting spooked by ghost stories were a large part of that experience. That apart, those highly synthetic B-Movie comic-capers that bootlegged as horror-films in my young adulthood never…
‘To Let’, I sincerely believe, is a textbook in cinematic realism. Every student of cinema should watch it carefully, again and again, to find those various ‘moments’ and study their ‘making’ that makes this film memorable. A film like this can’t be possible without a like-minded team coming together and working in unison – to attempt something that remains somewhat…
Asif Noor, the producer of Raakh, shared an interesting story with me, about a train journey, in 1990. It was during his stint with fashion, when, by his own admission, he did 1,80000 kms in Rajdhani Chair Cars in a single year; during one of these whirlwind tours, while travelling from somewhere to elsewhere, he met a Gujarati trader. Inevitably,…
I usually read and research a bit before I write about anyone – mostly just to find out what others think about them. I did the same with Sarnath Bannerjee, a friend from my Business India TV days. Have to admit, I was a bit surprised. Most interviewers have described him as a difficult subject, respectfully musing about his lack…
Can the principles of ‘Poetics’ apply to Indian Cinema? More specifically, commercial Hindi cinema? Is it possible to deconstruct a blockbuster hit Hindi ‘tragedy’ on the basis of Aristotle’s rules and principles of storytelling? Ever since I spent time with NSD Professor Santanu Bose, discussing the essence of ‘Poetics’, I had been thinking. Am I stretching things a bit too…
Editing is the process where the story takes it’s real shape – but that’s what we already know, don’t we? What we probably do not know is the role that the film-editor plays during the entire creative process of a film. Yes, he is there, all along, and not just as a spectator – as an active storyteller. That’s how…
There’s absolutely no reason why advertising legend Stanley Pinto should give me an interview. Yes, I had infrequently tried my hand at advertising copy writing, rather unsuccessfully. The fact that I did that to tide over my frequent bouts of depression as a natural fallout of being a documentary script writer, isn’t a strong enough reason to impress him –…
There’s something disconcerting about Vincent Van Gogh that has always attracted me, even while I was in no position to understand the depth or the significance of his work. I might still be not qualified enough to even appreciate him, but what to do; that enigmatic pull has only increased with time…!!! Is it about his seemingly abandoned brush strokes?…
It’s not every day that you get to interview someone like Farrukh Dhondy. All I can say, films he has worked in have been films that inspired my very early thoughts about choosing a career in screenwriting. I remember breaking down the ravine sequences of ‘Bandit Queen’ when I was barely 20 something old – to learn editing and sequence…
Aviva Field is true to her words. She took my question rather seriously, and has shared a response, which could probably be called the first step to a long journey. Now, by storytelling, one is normally inclined to think fiction; more specifically, feature films. Syd’s books, whatever I have read, are replete with a strong focus on cinematic storytelling of…
I wanted to ask screenwriting guru Syd Field a question when I first read his book, two decades back. It remained unanswered, mainly because I never asked it. After starting this blog, and browsing through his books again, the question returned. Since Syd wasn’t there any more, I thought of approaching the one person that might consider responding to my…
CREATING SATIRE FOR IMPATIENT TIMES “But it’s a clear case…he was waiting with a knife…” “That’s not the question; the issue is – did he stab to kill…” “Come on…of course he did…!! there are eye-witnesses…” “They might have eyes and be a witness, but not everyone can see beyond the obvious, my dear. Look at the incline of the…
Last week was the birthday week for K Hari Kumar, and I did plan to do this post celebrating that occasion, but alas! Like much else that I have not been able to do on-time recently, this too stayed a pipe dream. Can’t blame anything or anyone else; it’s just too much on my platter and a severely lost appetite;…
Interacting with Abhishek was heart-warming – since he is someone who has just begun his journey in the industry with which I have grown old ( and senile). He is young, comes across as rather energetic – and has that fizzy and adorable quality of someone who doesn’t claim to know everything as yet. That reflects in his honest and…
When I think of the way I have treated my career in writing it often ends up giving me a shudder. It wasn’t really a choice for me – I started writing since I had no other skills to sell. It became a question of survival, so I wrote whatever I got to write for whoever would pay. I was…
The premise (and the practice) of film criticism has always fascinated me. Although I have never felt confident to venture into that field myself, since I fancy myself of being from the industry – and I also believe it requires a lot of hard work to be able to aptly evaluate the work of other people. But now that I…
Sometimes, an idea gets stuck in your head. It’s like that fragment of a tune or those staggered images that continues to play in a loop – and refuses to budge unless you do something with it. A musician will probably create a symphony out of it; an artist will paint his heart out; a performer will throw it at…
