'I was impressed by the Allahabadi dialect' - Shanti Bhushan

There is a saying that behind every successful man, there is a woman. Similarly behind every successful show, there is a master story teller behind it.

Shanti Bhushan, the well known writer, has been associated with Indian Television for a long time and has penned lot of successful shows like Pratigya, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo, Rishton Se Badi Pratha and several others.

Tellybuzz had an interview with the renowned writer where he discussed about the prospects and concepts of television today

Abstracts!!!

How is your journey as a writer?
It took several years for me to reach where I am right now, from my village and the journey has been an interesting one. I had been in Varanasi, Lucknow and also Allahabad for education wherein I got associated with theatre, journalism and AIR, but Mumbai gave me the artistic culture.

Tell us about your background, where do you hail from?
I am basically from a village called Yuvrajpur in Gazipur district in Uttar Pradesh. My father was a teacher and was always particular that we both brothers should do something different from our family business because of which he concentrated more on our education. He was always concerned about our interests and constantly encouraged us to explore things. Today my brother, Yogesh Vikrant, is also working in Television industry as a lyricist and writer. He was awarded the best lyricist for the title song of Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo.

Is it true that you were a painter first, and then went on to become an anchor, at the All India Radio and then a journalist before becoming a writer? How was this journey?
Painting has been hereditary for me, a talent that I imbibed from my father. This was my main hobby in my childhood and later on I started doing poetry. When I was in Allahabad I was associated with theatre and All India Radio where I did compering along with radio drama for AIR. I had worked as a writer and director in theatre and my scripts had been staged at national level wherein I was awarded Best director, writer and actor. I can never forget my fun filled days of Theatre and those days it never crossed my mind to get into Mumbai and become a writer one day because even today I want to become a film director.

Which was your first show as writer on television?
I started my career in Television by scripting a documentary for Doordarshan, after which I wrote dialogues for a Bhojpuri film called Saathi Sanghathi. I was awarded the Best Dialogue writer for that work at the Bhojpuri Film Awards. Later on I scripted again for Doordarshan for a show called Jaye Kahan. After Jaye Kahan went off air, I got the offer to write for Agle Janam

Agle Janam has had many writers. How much have you been involved in the show?

The basic story, with which Zee TV decided to start the show, was written by me, but then later on several other writers had been associated with the show for episodic story. But the channel was not so happy with their work and hence they couldn't continue after five to ten episodes. Then Mrinal Jha handled the story, as well as the screenplay of the show and I, along with the story, started working on dialogues as well. We had worked together for more than a year for the show.

You have a good association with Pearl Grey and write for both her shows Pratigya and Rishton Se Badi Pratha. How has the association worked out?
Pearl is an excellent writer, who is at very ease and a simple person and she has a plethora of experience which she knows how to apply in her work. Our manner of storytelling is similar which makes me comfortable to work with her and we supplement each others work. And apart from being a writer, she is a great human being as well. We have a good tuning among ourselves wherein we first work on the story together, after which she does the screenplay and I work on the dialogues. We have always tried to bring in something new and untouched with Pratigya and Rishton Se Badi Pratha and have always been successful.

In Pratigya, the dialogues given to the Sajjan Singh and his family have been very much appreciated. How and why did you decide on giving each and every character such strong hitting and unusual dialogues?
There is always a humour in every language and its dialects, and these contents are a bit more in the Allahabadi dialect. I was really attracted to the dialect when I was in Allahabad and whenever there were bits of Allahabadi dialects in Amitabh Bachchan movies, I used to get really excited. When Pearl had started planning for Pratigya, I had already decided to familiarize the audience with this dialect and also the people who we normally get annoyed with. As a writer, I was also attracted to the characters who we always find difficult to cope up with, because I feel we should try to know them. I had known a family, similar to that of Sajjan Singh's, when I was a kid and that familiarity helped me to bring out the characters alive on screen. To live like dabang has always been a hobby for them and I have tried to include this forte in the characters. This reasons why the dialogues of Sajjan Singh, Krishna, Shakti and Komal are popular.

How do you tackle with the dialogues to be given to characters for Pratha? Is there any difference in the way you tackle both shows?
Whenever we start writing for a particular show, we will be in the character and in their world and will be solely occupied with the thoughts of how they talk and walk. This makes it easy for us to write shows of different backdrop. And since I do not like repeating my work, I have always tried to put in different elements in my content too, so that audience also feels the difference.

The recent track in Pratigya has upset the viewers wherein bigamy is shown. Also Krishna has been shown to be a weak character who cannot support his wife. What do you say?
There are various other social practices that upset people and we have always tried to portray the reality through our shows where we deal with topics that people hesitate to talk about, in public. The marriage of Arushi and Shakti is a social crime, a decision taken on the emotional grounds, which is later taken for granted. Such anti social activities happen around us now and then, even at our home. But always we silence ourselves for the ease of life. For example we never question on the practice of bribery by our relatives but at the same time we consider them lucky to have illegally earned money. Similarly Krishna is also a common man and not a hero; he is uneducated, but at the same time innocent. Because of which many a times he fails to decide whom he should stand for and does whatever he thinks is right. Whenever he feels Pratigya is right, he stands for her even if the whole world turns against her and at times goes against her because of the social institution in which he has been brought up. Gradually he is improving in his ideology and he is not like any other ideal hero.

For Imagine, you have been writing Gunahon Ka Devta, which is yet again based on the rural dialect. How did this show happen?
When I narrated the concept of Gunahon ki Devta, Saurabh Tewary, the Programming Head of Imagine TV, was so impressed that he suggested me to produce the show. This was because, the concept of the show is never worked on, and he believed that a person, who has not seen a situation of that sort, cannot do justice to the show and its production.

Are you happy with the ratings that Gunahon Ka Devta is getting?
The ratings are never stable for a show and even Pratigya had a bad start with regard to ratings but went on to the peak of fame and in ratings. We expect the same to happen for Gunahon Ka Devta.

You write screenplay as well as dialogues. But what do you like more?
I am originally a storyteller and hence enjoy writing stories. The reason why I write dialogues is because I know my characters very well which helps me to write for them easily. I even like to write screenplays but never get that much time to dedicate for it.

Your views on TV today.
Television gets mature day by day and there are a lot of expectations from it and I feel that television, within a short span of time, will do what films couldn't, in all these years. This is because television reach out to people easily. Also the concepts of television shows have changed over the years wherein social problems are also included as the main concept. Getting out of the Saas Bahu drama, television has started showing concepts on social evils like illiteracy, hunger, poverty and exploitation, which indeed is a good move.

Your views on the projection of Biharis in television today?
Bihar is a culturally rich state and has a proud history related to it. But post independence, the state has not received fairness because of which there have been social difficulties, a block to development and in the literal way Bihar was set back. Also public was denied general necessities. Television shows whose concepts are based on the backdrop of Bihar are successful because common man could relate themselves to the show and its situations when they watch. Television brings out the concepts of different places and problems related to it where people are troubled and where there is a need for development, be it Bihar or Rajasthan

The recent show Apno Ke Liye Geeta Ka Dharmayudh on Zee TV is also based on the Bihari concept. How do you like that?
The show is written by Vikrant and he is a very sensitive writer wherein his writing has a depth. He has a great knowledge about literature and society and I wish the show too makes its mark in Indian Television.

Which is your favorite show on television?
Sasural Genda Phool

Reporter: Srividya Rajesh
Author: Saranya Valsarajan