Writer’s hour

Some of his novels have been adapted for movies,notably Lallu,which was filmed as Sabse Bada Khiladi.

“I’ve known Ekta Kapoor for many years,” Sharma informs,“She first approached me for adapting one of my novels into a movie,but nothing came of that. We stayed in touch and when she approached me with the idea of televising Keshav Pandit,I agreed immediately.” The writer says that he leapt at the opportunity to do something different. “Initially,there were talks about wanting to do a CID-style format,but I think that’s very limiting. Most serials only show the crime being committed and the criminal eventually getting caught. But there’s so much human drama to explore here. For instance,what about the impact of the crime on the families of both the perpetrator and the victim?” he explains. The Meerut-based writer is currently busy translating the popular series into television scripts.

Keshav Pandit,Sharma explains,is someone who’s learnt the hard way that the law is a weapon against the innocent in the hands of the powerful. “He’s accused of murdering his family,escapes and then gets caught for travelling without a ticket. It’s when he’s in jail that he starts reading law books. He stays there for six months and then once he’s out,he’ll deliberately do something to land himself in jail,so that he can continue his study of law. He does this for 10 years and once he’s out,he decides to use the law to fight for the oppressed,” the novelist says. Since he’s not qualified to officially fight cases,he decides to subvert the system,find loopholes in existing laws and even break a few. The show has already shot a few segments in Varanasi and will now go to Allahabad. It stars Sarwar Ahuja,winner of Zee Cine Stars Ki Khoj,as Pandit.

Sharma will not be the first acclaimed television writer. His predecessors include Manohar Shyam Joshi,who wrote Buniyaad and Hum Log,and Kamlesh Pandey who wrote Mrs Madhuri Dixit. Although he laments the fact that writers no longer have much importance in TV’s scheme of things,he hopes it’ll change. “From what little I’ve seen on TV,there isn’t much quality. But Balika Vadhu is a well-written show,and that shows there’s hope still.”