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| Edited By: Harshada Rege |Source: DNA |Updated: Oct 28, 2017, 09:30 PM IST
When you put the words, ‘erectile dysfunction’ and ‘Bollywood film’ together, you expect the result to be a crass comedy with double-meaning dialogues and vulgar innuendos. But this year’s Shubh Mangal Saavdhan proved to be among the most entertaining films. While the acting and direction definitely were up to the mark, it was the writing that was delightfully crackling. What’s more, this was screenplay and dialogue writer Hitesh Kewalya’s Bollywood debut. Whether it was the limp-biscuit symbolism or a mother (Seema Pahwa) explaining the sexual act to her daughter (Bhumi Pednekar), the writer had the audience chuckling through the film. At the age of 37, Hitesh has worked in the ad world, written for television and has now a Bollywood film to his credit. Here, the writer who calls himself literary illiterate, talks about his journey in Bollywood, how he came up with the limp biscuit idea and drawing inspiration from real life.
I am from Delhi. I came to Mumbai about 12 years ago after learning filmmaking from NID. Like most NID graduates, I joined advertising. I worked for an ad production house for a year. Before I went to NID, I wanted to become a radio jockey, but I couldn’t because I wasn’t a graduate and they wanted one. I did write for someone. I dabbled in a lot of other things like theatre. At NID, I wrote short films and dialogues for others. But when I came to Mumbai all that stopped. I was in the ad production house so there was not much to do for me. It was not satisfying for me so I quit and stayed jobless for a year.
I started writing TV promos around 2006-2007 when a lot of new channels were being launched. That led me to writing for television. Then I got a chance to write for television. I wrote Miley Jab Hum Tum. And because I always wanted to write a film, I started writing those on commission basis. Unfortunately, none of those materialised into films. In fact, the first film I had co-written was with Amit Masurkar, who has made Newton now. We wrote for about a year-and-a-half, but we couldn’t sell it then. Somewhere I was a little disillusioned. I had literally given up, but I would jump at every odd opportunity. Then I started writing scripts for myself and stopped worrying about whether the film would happen or not. My work on television was on, so I didn’t have to worry about running the kitchen. That went on for a while. That’s when I really started to enjoy the process.
In 2015, I met Sandeep Nair, who is an associate producer of the film and has been working with Aanand L Rai. He asked me what I was doing and since I was writing a script that time, he asked me to pitch it to them. I felt he was just saying it to be nice. That script was still in a very nascent stage. But soon he called me and asked whether I would write the dialogues for SMS. I met RS Prasanna for the first time for that. I jumped at the idea. They said we’ll meet once the screenplay is done. They later called me and said that the screenplay is not working out and whether I would want to write it. I tried it and they liked it. When I began working on it, at that time itself we had decided that I would not see the original, so that I am not influenced by it. The film would have been different if it had been a verbatim adaptation. Once the film was shot I saw it.
I would say everything that I write is inspired by real life. The world that I have seen, the place I have grown up around. I would say 50 per cent of my work is inspired by real life and the other half is what I wanted to say through those characters. It a mix of both that comes out well. When two different worlds meet, there’s a commotion. Like when patriarchal ideas meet today’s thoughts it creates friction. Like the foam that you see when two waves meet. This foam is very interesting. It’s not like our parents are our enemies. They care for us and we respect them, yet there are some things they say or some ideas they have that we don’t agree with. The dialogue that comes out of the two different worlds is very interesting and that’s what I try to capture.
I still stand by the climax. Maybe it didn’t come out the way it was supposed to. The take on it was that the leap is not a heroic one, but was metaphoric in nature. It could have been from one roof to another, it didn’t have to be the two udan khatolas. The idea was that I liked the visual of this modern Indian man balancing between two philosophies. We are in a state of flux as a society. We have grown up in a patriarchal society, but when you go out you are expected to be a certain way when you go out in the society. Maybe because of the heroic nature of the leap people couldn’t interpret it the way it was.
I never felt the need to mention it. If I say it in English it’s fine, but if I say it in Hindi then nobody will understand it, and in layman’s language, it would be too crass. That’s when the biscuit idea came.
It definitely was. It wasn’t something that I had thought about and knew that I would use it at a certain time. Post the movie, I had a lot of people calling me and saying that they now make that association when they eat a biscuit. But I can’t pinpoint the moment that it came to me. My wife does love eating Parle G with tea. (laughs) It’s a very middle-class thing. It’s very us. Most of us do it in office at our desk and not people who are sitting in five-star hotels. My brain made the association at the right time.
The thing is these voices have always been there. I have written for TV in a similar manner. It’s not like I have changed the way I write. Aap medium ke liya apni soch nahi badal sakte. But those voices need to be heard. There’s just so much noise around that these voices get lost in it. This year has been different because despite that noise, those voices have been heard. Whether it is because these kind of films have worked or the audience has woken up, but they have been heard. I am hoping that going forward they are heard as well.
We have to give credit to the audience for choosing the cinema that they have opted to see. As a country, as a society, we are changing. We are looking inwards. We want to hear our stories. The hero, who is a superhero, concept has dimmed. We are at a stage where we are looking at hero among us. Someone like my father. Not a hero who can bash up 10 people, but someone who does the right thing. This is the new middle-class that’s forming. The time for run-of-the-mill stories seems to be over. I don’t want to see those stories because I don’t believe in them, I can’t relate to them. At one point, I wanted to see things that are larger-than-life because that was the only medium of escape, but now I have a lot, so now I will choose what to watch.
I won’t give credit to them. They have a certain kind of audience, especially in big cities. But if you look at it on the level of the country it’s just a small fraction. I started watching Netflix and Amazon Prime Video recently. As a society, we are growing. Are we influenced by cinema or is that a reflection? That question is like asking who came first the chicken or the egg! But social media is a big influence. We are talking a lot more, seeing a lot more. We are exposed to more content.
I am a very distracted reader. I can’t read fiction. I can count on my fingers the number of books that I have read. But I read a lot of non-fiction. I like reading about philosophy, history, politics, so that has been my influence. I watch a lot of films. Woody Allen, Sai Paranjpye, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, I love their films. I am a very filmi person in that sense, I am a big Amitabh Bachchan fan, his films left a huge impression on me. When it comes to a writer, I love Gulzar. I love reading his work, listening to it.
I write every day. I start out wanting to do a lot, but that doesn’t happen, but I know that I have to sit every day, even if I write a line it’s fine. I have learnt that there has to be a discipline, within it there can be indiscipline. I can sit for eight hours and not do anything. It’s okay if nothing happens, it will happen tomorrow. My favourite time to write is in the morning. I try to crack a scene or come up with some idea. Often, I make notes, and then on one or two days, I write it out.
I think it is very important. Material ka jo source hai uska set pe hona zaroori hai. Till I am writing a story it’s mine, then everyone interprets it differently, right from the director to the actor to the DOP. From all those thoughts comes out an interpretation that we get to see as the final product that is the film. It’s a collaborative process. But the material that everyone is using, has come from one person and it’s important for him to be there to understand the nuances and hidden meaning. It’s important to have the communication. It’s also important for the writer to be there because between all these interpretations, you need to have that person who knows the exact thought behind it.
Of course, I do. I face it on a daily basis. The only way to deal with it is to sit in one place. You tell yourself that what I am writing right now is great. The next day you may feel that it’s crap, but it’s important to sit and do the writing. I often do things that may not be related to what I am writing. I will distract myself, probably watch a nice film. You have to push, cajole, abuse yourself. Another thing I do, is I go to a public place and look at people because for me material comes from there. Even in a gents bathroom, you can overhear very interesting conversations. I eavesdrop a lot. I can spend hours just looking and listening to people. Nowadays, people smile a lot while looking into their cellphone. So, then I think what must be making them smile. What kind of smile is it? Is it the sort you have when you get a message from your mother or friend or girlfriend or daughter? It’s become a habit.
Definitely. Eavesdropping is a writers’ biggest tool, that is how I keep in touch with reality. I don’t do it consciously. Instead of taking a rickshaw I walk. The idea is to keep yourself open to possibilities, be it when you are travelling or sitting in a coffee shop. The material is all around us, it’s about how much we can hold. I try to not work on too many things. Even when I was doing TV, I was only doing one project. I have to be happy when I am doing it so I am working. It has to do something when it goes out to the world.
I try not to discuss my work. For SMS, the mentor was Himanshu Sharma. He was the first to hear and respond, but otherwise, I narrate what I have written to my wife, Nupur, sometimes. But mostly, I prefer to keep it to myself. I am worried that when I am narrating something the other person, the way he/she reacts may influence me. I may end up nipping a good idea in the bud because of a person’s reaction. Also, you need to pick the right sounding board for that particular subject. But I try to rely on my judgment.
I love Rajat Kapoor’s work, specially Aankon Dekhi. I admire Mani Ratnam’s movies that I have grown up watching Roja and Bombay, which were politically charged but very human. I have always loved Shoojit Sircar, Aanand L Rai, Dibakar Bannerjee’s work. I often like films more than filmmakers.
Newton.
I am developing another script for Aanand L Rai. Another four to six months and we will see how it goes. I definitely want to direct. I have never chased anything vigorously. The only thing I do vigorously is writing. That should explain why I have made my film debut at the age of 37. I have directed short films, so it has always been on my mind.
Things are happening, but we are so huge in numbers. How do you pick and choose? These things are random. There are screen-writers labs. I have sent many stories, but they weren’t selected. That doesn’t mean they were bad. Also, we never learn to appreciate films, we look at films as entertainment. Even if film appreciation isn’t taught, storytelling has to be given importance in schools. Storytelling is used in various aspects. A good teacher is a good storyteller. A good salesman is a good storyteller.
See, because we are so many in numbers it is difficult to decide who is good. If you come on the back of a success you have proved yourself, but there are many who are good but aren’t getting paid because they don’t have a successful film behind them. I would say, people who have managed to prove themselves are okay, but people who have not been able to make it, they find it difficult.
Profits should trickle down to everybody, not just the writer depending on the scale of work.
You can’t keep your mind at home. Even when you are eating food — picking between vegetarian or non-vegetarian food — it’s a political and social choice. There’s nothing that is done without a reason or thought be it your clothes of food or anything else, especially in today’s world. Another thing is that people shouldn’t mix entertainment with comedy. Any experience that gives you catharsis is entertaining. And that’s very important — a film should move you — either its concept, idea, comedy, emotions, or sheer imagination.
