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| Wordsmith's wand |
| We sit glued to our TV sets entranced by the magic they weave in daily soaps. Yet the writers who pen these dreams mostly go unnoticed, says Srabanti Chakrabarti |
| Creativity and assembly lines have always been poles apart. While the former requires millions of gray cells working overtime, the latter needs more of muscles and braun. A marriage of the two was unthinkable till the time a population explosion of daily soaps happened on Indian television. Today, something as creative as writing a story and developing the script of a serial, has become somewhat like a product in an assembly line. Writers 'produce' stories of serials for five days in a week, 52 weeks in a year and are willing to change course whenever the audience or producers wants them to. Almost like one would see a particular design being changed in a production line. We have had Arthur Conan Doyle bring back Sherlock Holmes from his grave on popular demand. And that was, perhaps, a one-off instance in the history of literature. In the television industry, Mihir Viranis are brought back from funeral pyres daily and, no one seems to complain. The answer, perhaps, lies in the capability of the story and scriptwriters in the television industry. They make the transformation or change so seamless, the new story dovetails into the old one so perfectly that we never seem to notice or cry hoarse. Instead, the TRPs soar and viewer feedback becomes more positive. Sadly, the people who deserve the credit (the scriptwriters of television serials) go largely unnoticed. If you are not convinced, ask yourself this question — you know Ekta Kapoor, Rajan Shahi, Tony and Deeya Singh and a lot of other TV producers, but how many scriptwriters of their serials have you heard of? They are truly men and women who work behind the scenes, content with the job they are doing, and happy at the indiscreet credits they are given at the beginning or end of the show. Smooth transition Interestingly enough, most of the much sought-after scriptwriters in the television industry drifted into the profession. Be it Sonali Jaffer (writer of 'Bidaai') or Shanti Bhushan (writer of 'Aagle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Keejo'), they had planned their career in different fields. Says Jaffer, "I was a journalist and like every other reporter had a number of creative ideas. That prompted me to go to Ekta Kapoor and make her listen to one of my concepts. Her perseverance paid off when the queen of soaps asked her to start writing for some of the Balaji shows. "My career as a scriptwriter started with moonlighting! I was not confident enough to leave my journalist's job. But after 'Kasamh Se', I started working with her full time. I wrote the serial for more than one-and-a-half years," says the lady with a beaming smile. Shanti Bhushan's entry into the industry was no different. "I am from a small village in UP and wanted to become a painter. Later, I started hosting shows on All India Radio and also started writing articles for various publications," remembers the scriptwriter, who is behind the hugely successful 'Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Keejo'. But the lure of Bollywood proved irresistible when Shanti shifted base to Mumbai to become an actor! That was not the end of the story because to make both ends meet the painter-turned-compere-turned-actor became an assistant director for Nimbus Television. But even there, he could not find his groove. It was only after he started writing for serials, did he realise what job satisfaction is. "I started combining acting and writing. I wrote 52 episodes for the DD serial 'Jaane Kahan' and also played the role of the villain in the serial. After that, there was no looking back. I have written the script for many Bhojpuri films and television serials," says the writer who finds inspiration from our daily life. One also finds scriptwriters like Rakesh Paswan, who have always been into writing and made a move from writing plays to serials. An IPTA activist in Jharkhand, Paswan was famous for writing firebrand plays. "I remember writing a political drama called 'Danga' in just two days! It was a huge hit and that prompted me to move to television. I first started with production and direction, but soon realised that it was not where my true passion lay," remembers Paswan. He acted fast and moved to scriptwriting. Today, after a plethora of successful shows like 'Bhagyavidhata', 'Dulhan', 'Mamta' and 'Ek Ladki Anjani Si', he is one of the most successful writers in the television industry today. Unfortunately, most of these writers who dish out what we watch every day — be it the saas bahu saga or a crime thriller — continue to be unknown faces behind the scenes and we know very little about them. Interestingly, none of them seem to mind and are very happy with the way things are. Jaffer laughs this off by saying, "There is a huge positive side to this! Sometimes when we write an episode or show a relation in a serial that is highly impractical and people close to us start complaining about the show, without knowing who wrote it, we can escape easily!" But do they mind not being giving their due in terms of fame and recognition? Most television scriptwriters answer in the negative and seem to be quite content with what they are getting in the industry. Says Jaffer, "I have been in the industry for more than six years now and though I agree with you that television scriptwriters do not get due recognition, I do not have any grievances whatsoever. Luckily, all the producers I have worked with are very passionate about their products and not willing to compromise on quality. So the creative satisfaction we get, more than makes up for the recognition we do not get." Interestingly, even Shanti Bhushan echoes her feelings. While he agrees that not everyone knows their names and they are not stinking rich, he is more than happy with what he has achieved on the personal front. "When I first came to Mumbai, people in my village used to laugh at me and criticise me for making this move. Today when I go home, everyone welcomes and praises me. That means a lot to me," explains an emotional Shanti Bhushan. His views find an echo in scriptwriter Gautam Hegde, who has written the story for shows like 'Miley Jab Hum Tum' and 'Love Ne Bana Di Jodi'. According to Hegde, getting a mention in the credits is good enough and one should not look for anything else. "How many people are aware of writers of films like Mandi and Ardh Satya? Not only are these films well made, they were also very well written. But no one knows their authors' name. Even if you take someone as famous as Javed Akhtar, can anyone remember the name of the last film he wrote? I doubt. People still remember him for Sholay and Deewar or at most, as the judge of 'Indian Idol'! That is how the industry works. Authors not becoming celebrities is not limited to the television industry." "You have to understand and accept that the whole industry is star-driven! Let's face it — the author can never become as famous as the star," Paswan adds. However, he also feels that things are improving with more and more awards being launched in the television space. Paswan, however, has a slight grudge when it comes to financials. He feels there should be a royalty system for authors of television shows. "Unlike the West, we do not get any royalty payments for our serials. I feel there should be some thought put in this area," he chips in. Hard work all the way More so since the work of writing a television serial script is anything but easy. The biggest challenge television scriptwriters face — and no points for guessing this right — is the frequency and nature of changes. Any character can die, become a protagonist or antagonist, or come back from death depending on audience polls and TRPs. Jaffer agrees and explains, "The changes are dependent on a number of factors — TRPs being the most important one. It happens quite often that though we think the track will do well, but TRPs and audience reactions say otherwise. After that, a creative team from the channel and producer has a joint meeting and decide on the next change in the storyline. I agree deadlines become a problem in such cases. You have to churn out stories every day of the week, without a break. But, once you get into a daily soap, you are aware that you are getting into a daily delivery mode!" "I draw inspiration from my childhood and early life in the village. When I started writing for 'Agle Janam…', I was given a very simple brief — 'The channel wants a show with the name — 'Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Keejo', and I have to develop a story based on that! Since I am from a Thakur family, I know exactly what happens in a village. All I did was to borrow from my experiences in the village and convert that into a serial," explains Shanti Bhushan whose fortunes have skyrocketed since. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction! |
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