"The standard Hollywood format of the writer's regulation is that the writer gets a certain percentage of the budget of the film, that kind of format is not followed in Bollywood" - Suresh Nair 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, March 21, 2007 - 02:15 IST
Want to know how to cook the perfect recipe for a screenplay? Well we have the man to tell it all. Suresh Nair the man who penned the screenplays for films
like Jhankar Beats, Salaam-e-ishq, Zinda and many more is all set to reveal another of his recipes Namastey London, which is all set to release this Friday.
IndiaFM chit chats with the film journalist turned screenwriter about writing for Bollywood and the perfect blend for a masala flick.
From writing for newspapers to scripting movies, how did your transition from a journalist to a screenwriter happen?
It was not by design actually. It was mainly because my friend Sujoy Ghosh was to make Jhankar Beats, so I out of friendship, started writing the dialogues for
the film. Around the same time Ramu used to read my column in Bombay Times and used to keep coaxing me to write a script for him. One thing led to the other and I
also did a draft for Gayab So scripting was purely by accident and not by design.
Ramu used to read my column in Bombay Times and used to keep coaxing me to write a script for him.
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Your articles as a journalist always gave an impression that you are a hardcore filmy.
I don’t think I ever thought in those terms. I was writing about films and various other things. Yes I am a big movie buff but I don’t think I ever planned to start meeting
people in the film industry through journalism to get into films as such. It just happened; it was never planned as such. And then I started to enjoy writing, it was more fun
writing for a film than writing about the film.
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It was more fun writing for a film than writing about the film.
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From Jhankar Beats to Namastey London, how has been your journey as a writer been?
I am actually enjoying the journey. It's only in the last two years that I've considered screenwriting as a serious career option and plunged into it whole-heartedly. Until
then I was balancing it with a career in journalism. But right now I am having a ball because I am able to explore myself as a writer through so many avenues. I mean, I
am still a newspaper columnist who still writes articles when asked by my friends in the media. I am also a comic’s writer and an aspiring graphic novelist along with
being a screenwriter in Bollywood! And I've been lucky to get to work with some of the finest talents in Bollywood. And even the projects I am being offered currently
are fantastic. I just hope they don't discover anytime soon that I am actually a talent less sham!
Namastey London releases this week. There were reports that the film is a remake of Purab aur Pachim. You being the writer are the best person to speak on
this
I really don’t know where these rumors came from. There is nothing to do with Purab Pachim. Infact we even have a dialogue in the film which says that if you
want to know more about the cross cultural issues of how India has westernized please watch Purab Aur Pahchim. I think the moment we hear something we
start saying aree ye uska copy hog ya ye isska copy hoga, nobody is sure. Our industry DOES copy but its not that everything we do is a copy. Namastey
London is actually based on something that happened to one of Akshay’s friends. Vipul Shah gave me a one line story and then we developed it.
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We even have a dialogue in Namastey London which says that if you want to know more about the cross cultural
issues of how India has westernized please watch Purab Aur Pahchim.
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Shootout at Lokhandwala is based on a real life incident. Did you do any research to keep the feel gritty and realistic? What was the source for the research?
Initially yes. Sanjay Gupta and I met A.A Khan the then ATS head (anti- terrorist squad). He spoke at length about the encounter. We also went to the Bandra police
station and checked out the records of the people killed. A.A Khan has been of immense help. After which we got all our research together and started the process of
stringing the entire research in a screenplay. We couldn’t just have a movie entirely about the shootout; we also had to show why the shootout happened and what
happened after the shootout. The film is part fiction, part fact because most of us don’t know about the track of six gangsters hold up. A lot of it has also been created out
of our own imagination
Are you also writing for Dus Kahaniyaan?
Not really. We had one story which we discussed but I don’t think that it is included in the ten stories now. The story was written by someone, Meghna Gulzar was going
to direct the film and I had done the screenplay but I don’t know if the story is still there. I have no idea.
What are the other projects that you are working on?
There is Sujoy Ghosh’s Aladdin. Also there are a couple of projects which are yet to be announced.
Wouldn’t you want to direct your own script?
I don’t know. A lot of people have asked me this question. Like I said I had no clue that I would start writing for films. Then people asked me if I will be directing a film.
When I watch all these directors I feel direction is a lot tougher than writing. And when you are directing you end up spending an entire year focusing on one film, and for
me at this time it doesn’t seem very interesting to spend an entire year focusing on one project. I also do a lot of other stuff like writing a column for DNA and writing a
comic strip. I enjoy doing all these variety of things.
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There is a formula when you do a thriller or an action film. But all movies can’t have a pattern you have to write it
the way the story flows.
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Have you had any professional training in terms of screen-writing?
It’s very hard to say, I have read all these books on and off but ultimately the story comes from your heart. You have to write a script as per your gut feel and as to how
the story should develop. There is a formula when you do a thriller or an action film. But all movies can’t have a pattern you have to write it the way the story flows. If
you watch some of the movies which the west has come up with like a Sideway or Lost In Translation they break all dimensions of standard scriptwriting. Its
finally about how you tell the story, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t follow a coached perspective. There are times when people tell me arre yaha graph upar hona
chahiye, yaha graph drop ho raha hai and then when I watch some of these really interesting Hollywood films I am like where is the graph, I don’t see any graph. Its
all about how you tell a story nothing else matters.
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If you watch some of the movies which the west has come up with like a Sideway or Lost In Translation they break
all dimensions of standard scriptwriting.
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Do you thinking writing in team helps or writing alone is much better?
I think both have their advantages. Writing alone is also very exciting in terms of the fact that you have to do it alone. Sometimes it helps to write a film with a partner as
you can utilize somebody else’s strength. There are areas where you might not be able to do justice to a scene and your writing partner might be able to do it a better job
to the scene. I enjoy both. The upside of writing as a team is that when critics watch your movie and decide that the script is the culprit, you can at least heave a sigh of
relief that you are not alone and the blame can be shared with someone! It’s great fun to write in a team as long as you work with people with the same wavelength.
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The upside of writing as a team is that when critics watch your movie and decide that the script is the culprit, you can
at least heave a sigh of relief that you are not alone and the blame can be shared with someone!
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In your own words tell us the difference between a story, screenplay and dialogues when it comes to screen-writing?
The story is actually the foundation of the whole film. When you break that story down into scenes in a way that it can be executed as a film, it becomes the screenplay
and dialogues are actually what they say in the film. And all this makes a script.
Do you agree with the fact that script-writers in India don’t get their due credits as much as in Hollywood and other foreign cinemas?
Yes I think so. Monetarily I think there is a big discrepancy as the writers here don’t get paid well. The situation might have improved in some cases but they still don’t
get paid to the extent they should be. The standard Hollywood format of the writer’s regulation is that the writer gets a certain percentage of the budget of the film, that
kind of format is not followed here. The first place where the budget cut takes place is the script and the writer is the one who gets the pinch of it. Very few directors I
think actually acknowledge a writer when they talk about a film. I find it odd when director’s talk about the story, I think they should give due credit to the writer
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The first place where the budget cut takes place is the script and the writer is the one who gets the pinch of it.
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Also don’t you agree that there is hardly any original writing going in India? Writers just adapt from foreign DVDs
I don’t think it’s the writers fault because I don’t think any self respecting writer goes to a director and says look I have a great idea and here’s the DVD of the idea. The
problem is that you get to come up with only a few original ideas because most directors want to do a remake. I don’t think writers would go around trying to make a
copy of a film, unless they want a quick buck. Most writers who genuinely enjoy the process of writing would definitely do an original script. So why blame the writers the
writes are just doing their job. Most of the writers are hired they write what is given to them.
Do you think the scene off lately is changing for writers in India and is getting a little better?
Yes definitely. I think the current lot of directors are far more conscious about the writing process and are far more interested in the way they deal with writers. I have
thoroughly enjoyed working with Vipul for Namastey London and Sujoy for Jhankar Beats. Directors today are ready to experiment and also understand
the writing process much better. Many of the directors play a huge part in helping out during the writing process. The writer is ultimately putting the director’s vision on
paper so it is very important that the director be involved in the process.
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I don’t think any self respecting writer goes to a director and says look I have a great idea and here’s the DVD of
the idea
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Which Indian writers do you admire?
My all time favorite are Salim Javed.
Which foreign writers do you admire?
Charlize Hoffman and Woody Allen.
Can you earn a living out of writing or are writers grossly underpaid in India?
I think once you get a steady flow of work I don’t think income is a problem. I think today the pay scale of writers is much better than it was five or ten years back. I
guess it’s much easier to make a living out of being a scriptwriter than an author
Do you write a particular script keeping an actor in mind or an actor is roped in depending on the script?
It depends. Sometimes you know who the actor is going to be. Like for instance for Namastey London I knew that Akshay was going to play the lead as he is
Vipul’s friend. We were not sure about Katrina. But I wrote the script keeping her in mind because that was the perfect casting. The story was of a London born girl and
she was the perfect casting. If I have an option then I better not keep the actor in mind while writing the script as I can get a better perspective of exploring a character.
You are not limited to the fact while writing as to what the actor is good at.
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If I have an option then I better not keep the actor in mind while writing the script as I can get a better perspective of
exploring a character.
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Finally what advise do you give a writer who has a script in hand? How should he approach a producer?
I suppose the only way is to go and give your script to directors. Though you might say that a lot of directors are copying stuff, there are still directors who are ready to
read scripts and going through them. If you see last year along with big blockbuster films there were also small interesting films which somebody is making. Even now I
have people coming and telling me about the kind of films they want to make which is very exciting. People are much more open to ideas now.
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Namastey London not inspired by Purab Aur Pachhim
