For someone who was pursuing geology at Kumaon University in the beautiful and quiet town of Nainital; National School of Drama (NSD) sure was a different leaf to turn. And the turn has led him on a different road - one he loves and lives on.
The creative brain behind more than two-dozen screenplays of the episodes of Rishtey, Star Bestsellers, Saturday Suspense, and X-Zone, Trivedi has also been penning shows like Ketan Mehta's Mr. Yogi, Amol Palekar's Mrignayani, Manju Singh's Ek Kahani and Darshan, Ajai Sinha's Samay and the award winning Justujoo.
Apart from that, he has worked on the BBC sitcom adaptation for Indian television One Foot In The Grave, Doordarshan's popular cultural magazine Surabhi and a magazine on environmental issues Bhoomi. He has also produced a daily soap called Ye Dil Kya Kare for Zee.
Bolstering his career graph, are his stints as commissioning editor with Star Plus in 1995-96 and Zee TV in 1996-97.
His ambit includes not only television but also extends to films. Dialogues of blockbuster Bollywood movies like Ghulam, Aisa To Na Tha (a film still in the making), among others come from this man's creative juices.
Ishan Trivedi spoke to indiantelevision.com's Richa Singh about his work and the issues that surround his work. Excerpts:
What brought you to scriptwriting? At NSD, I had adapted a Scottish play. Somebody chanced upon it and asked me to write a series called Bargad for Pradeep Krishan. Arundhati Roy was doing the screenplay. Then in the late eighties, I came down to Bombay and worked with Ketan Mehta for about three years. But what happened in Bombay is interesting. There were a lot of writers in the industry, but not many respected deadlines. So if somebody comes around with respect for deadlines, then work starts rolling. That is exactly what happened with me. I don't know whether I was good or bad, but I always wanted to make television serials and films. I had specialised in direction at NSD. There was no course in writing in those days. |
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And now that you are on the faculty of a scriptwriting course - Qalam 2003, what is the most important lesson that these new scriptwriters can imbibe from your experience? I think one should always be willing to break the 'set' mould. Only then will you grow as a writer. Unfortunately, most of the times the producers, channels, directors demand that 'this is what works currently and this is what you have to write'. For me personally, whether I'm successful or not, I've never been into trends. Agreed that one has to write as per the market, but you need not cater to the market all the time. Second thing is that it is a discipline like any other job. Deadlines are deadlines. |
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You are very particular about timing. Also, I sometimes feel that most writers tend to compartmentalise themselves. Instead of interacting with the real world outside, they are on their computer or notebook writing 10-12 hours a day. That is when they stop growing and follow clichés. Read as much as you can, see a lot of movies, theatre, and go to a lot of painting exhibitions... |
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So, basically you derive your learning curve from experience and interaction. |
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Since you've brought up this correlation between clichés and growth, what's your take on the fact that scripts often change with TRPs because of channel interference? Of course, for a successful channel, even a slight drop in TRPs is like a sword hanging on their heads. But at the same time, I feel that there should be that space for conversation between producers and channels. |
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Do you view it as a compromise - as an encroachment of your space? |
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But how significant are TRP ratings for you - do they influence what you write or how you write? |
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Wasn't Justujoo meant for a niche audience? Currently, you are writing and directing a licensed BBC sitcom for Star Plus - Kaua Chala Hans Kee Chaal. What is it about and when can we see it? We have wrapped up 13 episodes. In fact, deliveries will start some time next month. Once they have a battery of four episodes, they will slot it somewhere. What has been your contribution in the adaptation - have you taken a lot of liberties with the script? We also knew that the British sense of humour is not what would work here. But then, because it is a licensed programme, we couldn't deviate too much. At the same time, we presume that we know what our audiences' tastes are. Accordingly, we converted situations and adapted characters. The structure remains the same, but the tone and the humour changes. The dialogues are 'Indianised'. |
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What are the other projects you are working on? Also I'm writing and directing a feature film called Sapna Hai, Sach Hai, Kahaani Hai. I am in process of signing Irfaan Khan, while talks are on with Govind Namdeo, Anand Desai, Vijay Kashyap and Lalit Tiwari. It's a small budget film scheduled to go on floor from 1 December. It's about television channels and how they start dictating what is to be followed by real people - how they get involved with reality or the real world. It's an idea we'd been working on for the past four-five months. |
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Which genre do you enjoy writing for most? If you have to make a choice, which one would you rather not do without? |
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But you do have thrillers Balaji's 'Kya Haadsa…' on weekends on TV these days. How has been the reaction to your telefilms - audience as well as channel reactions? |
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So why do you think we don't have a market for telefilms? In India, we have a very restricted market and the same people are busy with television… so there is no time for alternative cinema. Then again, the budgets are meagre. For instance Josh. They had the budget, they shot it on film and they treated it like a film. Whether it was good or bad, I won't be able to comment but that is the treatment you need for a film. Even for series like Kashmeer, the budget was not very high which means you make a lot of compromises in terms of logistics, so neither became a big game. In America, even a Tom Hanks would appear in a television film. That is the difference. People don't want to see the same television actors repeating in a 90 minute film. So there's no difference between television programmes and telefilms. Is writing satisfying in terms of remuneration? What is the payment structure like? It usually goes from Rs 5,000 to Rs 40,000 per episode. How about the new writers - are they getting a raw deal or are they paid as well? Way back in 1989, I used to get Rs 2,000 per episode. |
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How much time does it take for you to pen an episode? What about the quality of output? What are the other problems you faced as a writer in this industry? How do you deal with them? But TV has been good to writers as far as getting payments is concerned. In films, it's a big problem, say, if you sign a contract for Rs 100, most of the times you wouldn't get more than Rs 50-60. That is the most frustrating aspect of film writing. Films have their own clichés but there are times when you can really achieve something that has never been done before. In television, it is very restricted. So how do you switch on and off between television and films? Survival - as in steady income? You prepare a draft, fulfill your commitment but there is no cheque. Then dishonesty creeps in the whole deal. They always say 'the story is the star' but then what about the writers who create that story. Of course there are pretensions in television too, but then television pays the writer. |
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So quite evidently, you enjoy television more than films. Once I was promised five lakhs after a lot of bargain. But I got only one lakh. Seems like you have burnt your fingers, and you still want to work for films. Why? Does the credit given to a television writer justify the effort put in? |
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Our scripts don't draw on our rich Hindi and regional literature. Why? There is no market for literature. It is only in the second stage where you turn literature into a visual medium. How many people buy literature? How many buy books? In India, very few. |
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If you were to make a literature based script, who's literature will it be? Do you think 'different' story ideas like Sony's 'Jassi...', which is an adaptation of Yo Soy Betty La Fea, will play a role in freeing the script from the saas-bahu shackle? Do you think this is parallel to the similar phenomenon of crossover films - is it a passing fad or will it stay? |