Script progress

Its said that writing is rewriting. In that case I havent even started writing. I am working at an average of 45- 60 minutes per day on this script tentatively titled 'three' for the last 1 year. I did outlining for about 4 months. When I had an rough order of events from beginning to end I started writing the scenes. I would rough write (in my dictionary, a more thorough kind of outlining of scenes including dialogue) on some days and write the scenes on some other days. Now 60% of scenes are also over. I am not having much of the dreaded '2nd act jitteriness' may be because I have outlined well.
Hoping to finish the first draft by end of january 2009. I am not comfortable with brainstorming a first draft and then doing 10 rewrites. I plan a lot before putting anything on paper and consolidate as I move on. So I don’t think I will have to sweat much in terms of rewrites. May be one or two drafts that’s all. That too the main objective will be to cut down the length and compress it.

My writing routine

If you really want to have a body of work to show, you need to really write. Its obvious. Every one likes to talk. Browse. Take part in discussions. Comment. Get worked about the lack of quality in our scripts. The real tough thing is to sit and write. There will be lot of ideas. The tricky part is not to lose faith in them while trying to write them. The real problem is our own insecurity whether we can write. I guess we don’t want to face that insecurity. At any cost.
Expert advise for writers is 'write everyday.' regardless of inspiration. But how do you do that? The day job. Friends. Family. Other hobbies. Going out. Late nights. How do one do it?
My answer is 'wake up early.' Early morning you cant bring yourself to waste your time browsing or watching movies. Put an hour to write in the morning. Gradually the habit will be ingrained. And slowly but steadily you will have some work to show the world.

Quality difference in film scripts in different languages

Originally published
here on PassionForCinema.com.



I have heard repeated comparison in Kerala that tamil movies are much ahead of malayalam in terms of script quality. What is the real difference between those two? And how do they compare with current Hindi and Indian english movies?

I think the strength of tamil movies is in their treatment. When you examine theme wise there is not much variation. Most of them (we are talking about main stream movies) deal with criminal heros or a love story told in an unique way. Even if you take a movie like ‘Subramanyapuram’ which was recently acclaimed for its realistic portrayal of 80s you see ‘gone wrong’ criminal heros and a love story. Same with Selvaraghavan- one of my favourite directors. What makes them different is the courage for unconventional endings and unsuspected twists. The protagonists of these movies does not represent the life and concerns of majority of middle class Tamil population. Setting may be close to life but story is not.




When you come to Malayalam first thing you notice is the dearth of classy directors. There is no one now who has a signature in their visual style. As once John Abraham said every director is doing the ’supervising job’ for the script writer. Malayalam has its share of ‘commercial exercises’ like the recent Twenty 20. But in the last month there was another hit movie in Kerala called ‘veruthe oru bhaarya.’ (Roughly translates as ‘a wife of no utility’). Its about a wife who is stuck in menial jobs with no time for herself. So she informs her inconsiderate husband that she is resigning from the ‘house wife’ job (not a divorce - mind you). Movie is about her husband trying to prove that doing house hold jobs is not such a big deal. Needless to say he fails miserably. Such a movie cannot be generalized for presenting the status of scripts in Malayalam. But still theme wise Malayalam movies remain closer to life though in patches and stripes. They fail when they get into desperate comic situations. Of course tailor made stories for the mega stars doesn’t help either.



But I think currently the best scripts are coming out in Hindi. I am not talking about the movies in which you throw in a star and starlet with beautiful locations and 50 crores and you hope to get a blockbuster. I am talking about the so called ‘multiplex’ movies. Movies like Bheja fry, A wednesday, Amir etc has carved out a niche for themselves. They rely on a smarter script rather than star faces. Some times story situations go over the top but usually they get away with taut treatment. The reason these movies are good is that they understand the importance of a good script. You don’t have to cut your story to size to incorporate the image of the star.

I think that’s the message for the regional movies also- especially malayalam. Avoid stars and your writer is free to write a better story.

All the director's men

Chatted with a friend today. He is working on a script for RGV right now. I was intrigued to know that most of the writers working for RGV didn’t give a shit about standard teachings about structure and format. Even RGV went in a level of ' what interesting thing can happen next .' That’s all. No plot points, three acts and other mumbo jumbo. I think that may be its hurting him not giving attention to the mumbo jumbo. Look at his recent films. The sarkar series, or the numerous 'darna' variants. Especially the sarkar movies are just strings of events with no discernible order. What I mean is that it is possible to remove half the running time without injuring the basic plot.
What's most grevious about the picture I get about the different movie factories is that writing is done by sidekicks and flattery spewers but not by genuine talent. Funny that still they think putting 2 crore instead of 1 crore in a song or fight sequence will make it a better movie.

Jaane Tu...Ya jaane naa

First of all let me tell you that this movie is fair when compared to all the filth discharged by bollywood in the last few months.(If you think Om shanti om is 'the movie' please don't read further. This is not for you.)
But Abbas Tyrewala screws in terms of consistency of tone of the movie.
1-Is this a light vein college romance which brings a smile to your face and try to tickle your mind's fine threads of emotion?(whatever it means)
2-Is it an over the top comedy (you know the kind where dead people talk in photos and people go to bar on horses) where writer is repeatedly trying to prove that he himself has not taken the story seriously?
3-Is it something that celebrate the spirit of youth?(means that you get a lot of people walking together in songs and there is lot of jump cuts during this- it’s a craze after 'dil chahta hai' you know)
well I don’t know. Because the film maker couldn’t make up his mind. So what he does? He mixes every thing together.
The idiom here is not 'when in doubt do nothing'- its 'when in doubt do everything'. The end result is something that is brilliant in patches. And also horrible in patches.
The best thing to come out of this movie is some fresh acting talent. Rathna patak is brilliant. Manjari Phadnis is nice. Imran khan doesn’t disappoint but will have to be tested in different roles.