From actor to scriptwriter and teacher to CEO of a multifaceted production house, Akash Khurana stands out as a rare example of talent and passion married to fervent honesty to his craft. Perhaps one of the few in the industry who have successfully blended academics and creative art to reach a stage where he now shoulders awesome corporate responsibilities as the head of Nimbus, Khurana retains a simplicity that is disarming.
In a freewheeling talk with Vickey Lalwani, Khurana holds forth on a variety of issues, including his own work and what could pep up the creative side of Indian television.
How did you become an actor?
My first tryst with cinema was Kalyug. Ever since my college days, I was a lot into extra-curricular activities like stage shows. Then I did quite a bit of theatre. I was performing with Prithvi, where the casting of Kalyug was happening. That's it!
How did this actor take to writing? What are the essential pre-requisites for becoming a good writer? Do you experience a writer's block sometimes? |
|||
|
|||
So how do you wriggle your way ahead then? But do you always have the end in mind? With whom? What have you enjoyed more- writing for cinema or television? What is the difference in technique? What helps to keep the programme ticking? Pace/Suspense/...? Do you approve of change in tracks and no bound script? Are you saying that there are no bound scripts on television? Especially, the beginning and the end is of vital importance. Say, if you want to go to Churchgate from Juhu, you know the starting point, you know your destination. Else how can you term it as journey? The end in particular helps you to change the tracks, which has become the in thing today. The tracks should be changed in accordance with the end. Else you are simply making a mess of it. Are we having a dearth of script-writers on television? There is a lot of social stuff, a fair dose of spook, now even action, but what's happening to comedy? Has it dried up? Did you ever face channel interference in script writing? Is this channel interference due to competition? Go on... Solution? Why so? Do you still read? Are writers paid well in India? Let's take a look at the programmes abroad. How is it that they have so much variety? Is 'literacy' the answer again? But aren't we copying some of the shows from abroad? Nothing much... |