Sumit Arora on Jawan: ‘Wrote lines that justifies Shah Rukh Khan’s stardom and stature’

Asked whether Jawan was his toughest gig yet given the anticipation surrounding the movie, Arora told PTI, “It was the most enjoyable project.”

“You have to keep in mind that the lines will be delivered by Mr Shah Rukh Khan so you have to keep lines that will justify his stardom and stature, his personality and character,” the writer added.

Sumit Arora said he has been a fan of how Atlee, known for Tamil blockbusters Mersal and Bigil, makes “mass films”. Jawan is Atlee’s Hindi debut.

“I had met Atlee when he was thinking of making his first Hindi film. At that point, the idea was to work together, there was no story then. When he had the draft of the screenplay ready, he reached out to me. Nobody makes mass films like he does. I was happy to be part of this journey with him,” the writer said.

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Arora, who grew up on a steady diet of Hindi literature thanks to his mother, counts icons such as Harishankar Parsai, Sharad Joshi, Ravindranatha Tyagi, Shrilal Shukla and Manohar Shyam Joshi as major inspiration behind him choosing writing as a career.

“I studied in a Hindi medium school. I didn’t know how to speak in English. My mother gave me the habit of reading from an early age, I used to read stories from (magazines) like Nandan, then I graduated to literary magazines like Hans, Gyanodaya, and others. By the age of 17 and 18, I had columns published in Hindi newspapers. Satire was my forte,” Arora, a Hindi literature graduate, said recalling his formative years.

In 2006, Sumit Arora moved to Mumbai with a desire to work in Hindi films as a writer. He started writing for television and after a successful stint with shows like Chhoona Hai Aasmaan, Dill Mill Gayye and 24, he started getting opportunities in movies.

Stree, a horror-comedy in 2018, was his first major theatrical hit.

Then came the OTT boom, giving Arora a chance to establish himself further with The Family Man and Dahaad.

Dahaad, a show created by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar and revolving around a cat and mouse like chase between a cop and a serial killer, helped Arora showcase his literary influences.

In a scene from the series that has become popular on social media, Badri Narayan’s Prem Patra poem plays as a voice over, which was Arora’s idea. He also went back to the writings of Rajasthani literary icon Vijaydan Detha’s works to add nuance to the story.

“It is set in Rajasthan. I had not grown up there so how do you create the sur and language? Language is not just words. Like, every language will have a different kind of vocabulary, humour, etc. So, I went back to the work of Vijaydan Detha to use the cultural nuances of the place. There were a lot of things that I got from his books and I used that in Dahaad.

“Similarly, I saw the opportunity to use poetry in Dahaad for Vijay Varma’s character, like the Prem Patra’ poem by Badri Narayan, which became really famous,” he added.

Poetry also finds a place in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan.

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The song “Zinda Banda” from the film is introduced with a couplet from Wasim Barelvi: “Usloon par jahan aanch aaye, takrana zaroori hai… Jo zinda ho toh phir zinda nazar aana zaroori hai! (When principles are at stake, one must fight. This battle is what makes you alive!)”

Most recently, Arora worked on Netflix series Guns & Gulaabs, starring actors Rajkummar Rao, Adarsh Gourav, Dulquer Salmaan and Gulshan Devaiah. The Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK-created show, set in a fictional small town of Gulabganj, follows the exploits of a colourful set of characters.

And it gave Arora an opportunity to explore his early memories of living in small-town India.

“I grew up in a small-town in Meerut, my inspiration comes from there, whenever it is a small-town show, I always go back to my childhood, my growing up years, the kind of people I met, my friends, the language they were using.

“When you are writing, a lot of things come from your subconscious, now I find an outlet when I am offered to write dialogues for a show like this,” he said.