‘Anybody who says Aamir Khan is an interfering person, I think they are completely…’: Sneha Desai on writing Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies

Laapataa Ladies is Sneha’s debut feature film. She has written hit shows like Pushpa Impossible and Wagle Ki Duniya. Sneha says working with Aamir and Kiran was the kind of “mentoring” she was looking for at this stage of her career.

 

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Aamir is often mentioned as an actor who interferes in the project’s writing process. Debunking this ‘myth’, Sneha says, “I had one of the finest working experiences and learning curves of my life with Aamir sir and Kiran ma’am. They are such hands-on producers and extremely down-to-earth and intelligent. They are also very sensitive, they exactly know what they want… what they want to say. They respect your creative freedom and ideas, they are willing to engage in dialogue, they agree to disagree, so it was a very democratic process. Anybody who says that Aamir sir is an interfering person is completely wrong; he is an extremely involved person. He is very passionate about how his production shapes up and is willing to go to any length to give you the kind of production value that you seek as a writer.”

“As a (feature film writer) debutante, the respect I got over there, the kind of grooming that I got at his production house has been spectacular and I wish every debutant writer gets a similar opportunity because it shapes you for life,” she adds.

 

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While Laapataa Ladies is being loved for its overall story by critics and the audiences alike, what really stands out is how cross class and relatable the story is and the impact of Manju Maai’s character that, Sneha says, was not even there in the initial story, but was added because the director wanted it.

“It is a wonderful story. It in fact won the second prize at the Cinestaan competition. So, the beats and the grain of the story remained almost the same, there were certain characters that were not etched out like Manju maai. Kiran and I wrote Manju maai’s character, it was not there in the original story,” reveals Sneha.

 

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Adding more on how they worked together on fleshing the character, Sneha says, “Manju maai was actually Kiran’s brainchild. Badi Ally it was a sweet old couple that helps Phool in the initial story, but Kiran felt that we needed one character who had outgrown and outlived the victimisation that she has gone through. That’s when I started thinking of Manju maai. Even though it was developed by me and all the lines and screenplay was developed by me, she primarily belongs to Kiran.”

Sneha was involve in the film to make it more “commercial” as she comes from a television background. On how she worked on the story which was more “serious and dramatic” before Kiran chose to direct it. She says, “The story was more serious and dramatic tone, so it was the tone and the tenor that we primarily changed. We wanted it to be entertaining, we wanted it to have a message that was not preachy. We added a lot of humour and satire to the theme. But that is also the prerogative of the screenplay and the dialogue writer because the story basically gives you a flow of the events. So, full marks to Biplab Goswami for creating this beautiful premise from which we could take off so beautifully.”

On how Laapataa Ladies stands so relevant to women of all classes and cultures, Sneha says, “The story spoke so beautifully to us because even though it was set in the heartland of India, it was primarily the story of any woman. You place it in an urban milieu and it would still call out to you, you place it in a dark milieu and it would still call out to you. So, it was basically the universal theme of empowering women, of following your dreams, of finding yourself when you have lost track of your dreams and aspirations that called out to us and we decided that we wanted to say a lot of things through our characters and through this story.”

 

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Shena then also opens up about how she carved Ravi Kishan’s much loved character, the corrupt police officer, Shyam Manohar and the switch that brings the film’s story together.

Shena reveals, “A lot of characters got added in the process. While Ravi Kishan’s role was there in the story, it was definitely not this etched out. Shyam Manohar, not Ravi ji. Shyam Manohar’s role and character became so important that we felt that we needed a person for a cameo in the film. Ravi ji was a prototype when we were casting because we needed someone like Ravi Kishan, so we were like why do we need someone like him when we can ask him to do the role himself. He belongs to that mitti (soil) he belongs to the heartland, he knows the walk and the talk of the people so we’ll, that he looks so beautifully camouflaged in that entire landscape that when the twist happens you don’t see it coming.”

Opening up about why the writers wanted Shyam Manohar’s character to switch, Sneha says, “He looks like a letch of a police officer, he is greedy and just waiting to pounce on the meat and just at the right time he comes across with such a beautiful twist. Of course I don’t want to give much away of the twist because it will be a spoiler, but that’s the kind of casting that we were looking at and I should really give credit to Divyanidhi Sharma as he really helped shape Shyam Manohar’s character in the script and on the screen.”