Random notes
I am student of literature and film and TV writing is no different. The difference between film n TV writing and literature is that in TV-Films stories are written in common man’s language keeping the common man in mind and in literature, particularly contemporary literature talks about common man but not in common man’s language or verb. This is also written in one of the chapters on my Ph.D thesis. “Samkaleen Hindi Kavita Mein Samay Aur Samaj” was my topic in which I defined that present is nothing but a very thin line between past and future.
Things, thoughts and themes keep on changing with time. It is a common statement these days that “ab pehle jaise gaane nahin rahe”. I agree but I want to add in this statement that pehle jaisa insaan kahan raha hai, pehle jaisi soch kahan rahi hai, pehle jaisi society kaha rahi hai?” There was a time when we had leaders like Nehru, Shastri n Gandhi. There was a time when we had Dhyan Chand, Aslam Sherkhan, Dhanraj Pilley in Indian hockey team. There was a time when we had natural actors like Moti Lal, Dilip Kumar n Balraj Sahni, they never bothered about their six pecks, here, what I am trying to say that it depends upon societies taste, and every art form is mirror of society. A society produced Bedi, Manto n Abbas, the other society is producing todays writers. And I am sure the next generation will give same type of statement to their contemporary writers. No writer is good or bad but readers or viewer’s choice n taste makes them so.
I feel gap between literature and cinema should be bridged somewhere. And yes this can be done easily, gap can be bridged and in some cases film makers are already doing that. Films like Tare Zameen Par, Khuda ke Liye, Praneeta and Teen Patti or 3 Idiots, Firaaq are examples.
And any type of writing or involvement is a full time job. Even Lyrics writing is full time job for those who believes in
“gazal mein badish-o-alfaaz he nahin kaafi,
Jigar ka khoon bhi kuchh chahiye asar ke liye”.
A soulful lyric needs devotion n dedication of writer.
Still I think that few things more are needed for good writing. First of all, the sense of differentiation between good and bad writing is must. The sense of new n changing trends of society is also required. The deep understanding of human psychology and knowledge of language in which you want to write are few basic tools a writer needs. Above all a writer needs heart and mind in place.
As here I have to talk about myself, I am a very previllaged guy as far as language is concerned. I am from muslim family and our cultures language is Urdu, I belong to Punjab so my native society’s language is Punjabi and I did Ph. D in Hindi. And one language more society still trying to teach me, that is English. I know I am very bad student of that language.
Although a writer is writer but personally I like lyrics writing then dialogue writing and then script or screenplay writing. This order is in that case if I am not writing the whole film.
I always love to work with with every director and music director who has passion for his work. As a student of literature I like Nirala, Shamsher Bahadur singh, Dushyant kumar, Kumar Ambuj, uday prakash in Hindi, Galib, Mir, Faiz, firaaq, basher badr, Wasim Barailvi in Urdu and I like Wordsworth, Keats, Yeats, John Donne, Edmund Spencer and I also like Rasul Hamzatov, Nazim hikmat n Kajuko also. Basically I like every writer in every language who does not write with pen but heart.
In my spare time I want to read anything which attracts. Sometimes Trends, Faces n Actions of people beside books.
For me Success is nothing but appreciation of your hard work by God and people in general. No one thought that Jab We Met or Love Aaj Kal or Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani will be successful ventures. But yes the process of making them was enjoyed by me n all involved and that’s the only key to success.
“Shohrat ki bulandi to pal bhar ka tamasha hai,
Jis shaakh pe baithe hain vo toot bhi sakti hai.”
I also feel that Lyrics writers are getting better dues then screenplay or dialogue writers in terms of credit [but not in terms of cash]. Because only lyricists find place on posters and script writers hardly find that place. Any film buff can name 5 lyricists but no one can name 5 script writers.
I tried to direct 3 small films also just because I want to help some road side school for poor children and after a thought I decided to make some short movies for them involving them and make a DVD and sell it in foreign market. One of my friend settled in US helped me in selling. Because I was putting in money so budgets was not enough to hire a good or even bad director. So I directed myself. My friend sold around 5 thousand DVD’s in US to raise money for those poor children.
When I was doing this I wrote:
“Do chaar nahin dus bees nahin
Ab poori khalkat bolegi
Ab chhod munafa laalach ka
Bebaak mohabbat bolegi
Tera pyar nafa
Tera pyar sila…
Chal Haath Mila.