Logbook of a Screenwriter
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…
4 CommentsMy relationship with Sanjay Singh used to be bitter-sweet; 80% bitter, I should say. That’s when he was in ‘assignment’ and me in ‘production’, at Headlines Today. That’s the norm. The assignment (input) brings in the news and thinks we are doing ‘nothing’ with it; and the production (output) believes that the assignment is doing ‘nothing’ – by not getting…
9 CommentsCan 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…
2 CommentsI don’t remember when and why I read Aristotle’s Poetics. Might be one of those lazy afternoons in Kolkata’s Nandan complex library, where, after college, and after a couple shots (of tea!) down – I thought maybe Aristotle would give me a dummies guide to dramatic storytelling. If I could use it, even in bits and parts, perhaps that could…
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