Writer Abha Dawesars script on a Delhi couple will soon be a part of an international film project Four books,published photographs and several art exhibitions later,Abha Dawesar,37,is travelling through an unknown terrain writing the script for a film. The New York-based Dawesars latest work will be seen in a global celluloid venture called Love and the Cities by Brazilian director Rodrigo Bernardo. The film brings together five writers from five countries. Each of us creates a segment which are all linked together thematically in an arc, says Dawesar,who is visiting Delhi before she travels to Jaipur for the literature festival in a few days. Her own piece,which comes towards the middle of the film,is about a young couple living in todays Delhi,who will possibly marry. When Bernardo met Dawesar in the Big Apple a year ago and proposed the idea,the writer,whose books Family Values,That Summer in Paris and Babyji have entered bestseller lists across the world,was readily impressed. I liked the idea,especially because a film is a collaborative effort. It forces one to create within constraints and that brings out a different aspect of creativity from writing a novel, she says. What she wasnt prepared for was how writing a screenplay would challenge and change her imagination. I had to think visually,unlike when writing a novel. Everything had to be conveyed through dialogue for strong visuals. This shift in perspective took a lot of time, she recalls,adding that her script was ready by the end of the summer of 2010. For her part,she isnt a particularly systematic film viewer,especially of Bollywood cinema but writing for Love and the Cities made her realise that being involved in creating something is more interesting than being a consumer. Dawesar is currently also working on a new book that merges fiction and non-fiction,but she says her latest experience has changed her mindset. I will never stop writing novels,though I am open to more screenplays. In a film,the end result depends on so many factors. I could have written a powerful piece but its execution depends on the actor and the director among others. Of course,these downsides are nothing compared to the joy of a collaboration, she says.
