Journalism of Courage
Scriptwriters Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Kundan Shah feel that modern day cinema has creative boundaries that prevent scriptwriters from exercising their imaginations to the fullest
They definitely have made films on a wide variety of subjects. And that is a fact. From the dark comic scenarios of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro made by Shah to the cinematic brilliance of the themes of Albert Pinto ko Gussa Kyun Aata Hai,by Mirza the two script writers cum directors have been achievers in their own right. And even though they were diverse in their ideologies as far as the making of films was concerned the duo did team up to create,what is now termed as a benchmark television serial,Nukkad . In the city for a seminar On the uniqueness of the Indian film script at the National Film Archives of India (NFAI),the two have changed a lot since their Nukkad days. The spark in their eyes and the intensity to fight a stagnant and overrated system of making commercial films however refuses to die down.
Both Shah and Mirza feel that the industry has come a long way from the old days when a script writer was treated like a Munshi, who would just take down orders from the directors and write the film accordingly,but a lot still needs to be done. Mirza says,The entire concept of making films has changed a lot now. Melodramatic sequences have changed and what used to be termed conry once upon a time,has now become a mainstay of commercial feature films. That however doesn’t negate the fact that script writers still don’t have the full fledged artistic creativity needed to make films that are on par with the world cinema.
Shah on the other hand feels that script writers themselves are torn between the societal norms of making films that run on a fixed formula and about telling a story that they are passionate about. Lets face facts,the divide between cinema genres is very deep. A scriptwriter is given a fixed subject and guidelines within which he or she has to write a story. Anything that a scriptwriter wishes to express on screen is either rejected by mainstream directors,or gets canned because they do not fit into the fixed guidelines that are laid down for them, he says with his characteristic smile.
While Mirza still maintains that his films are the antitheses of melodramatic films,he is glad that he has been able to get around the system and tell stories that have become commercial successes as well as set the bar for judging the content that is showcased on television. He says,That was a reason why Nukkad became the iconic television series that it is. Because it dared to tell a story that related to the worlds of the commoners. It wasn’t over the top or exaggerated but it was what the people in the common world experienced.
And for hopefuls who still believe that someday the two will reunite to conquer the small screen or the silver screen for that matter,there is nothing in the near future as of now. Oh come on,Nukkad was for the old world. It is the age of the saas-bahu sagas,and the garish make-ups and the larger than life characters in the television serials. Where does a serial like Nukkad fit in,in such a scenario, he asks quizzically.
