‘At heart,I feel like a playwright’

My family migrated to the US from Puerto Rico,one of the last remaining colonies of the world. It is considered a territory,and not a country. So there is always this conflict in the head of Puerto Ricans about where they belong. We are always looking for that anchor,and this search is a deep part of our lives. This aspect translates into the characters,be it Che or Salvatore Paradise — who also undertake their respective journeys to find that anchor within themselves.

Your family had the typical life of immigrants to America — one of struggle in a land which was culturally foreign…

It was the 1950s and the Great Depression sort of never left Puerto Rico. This led to a great wave of migration,especially to New York. But my family moved to Long Island instead,which was just across the waterway from the Big Apple and yet,culturally different; it had a huge migrant population but we were the only Puerto Rican family in the beginning. My parents were never very educated,so dad would take up multiple odd jobs a day to support his family,drive a taxi,work in a kitchen and so on. Today,however,he is an artist. But those were tough times,my mother lost three of her nine children. But they made sure we went to school and then to college.

Do those experiences find their way into your works?

They do,in many ways. Sometimes,they become the content of my works. But most importantly,having watched my dad work so hard to support his family,I consider myself a working class citizen,which lends my work a kind of discipline.

You have adapted two of the most iconic books into screenplays. Did you land On The Road because of your work on The Motorcycle Diaries?

The first time someone wanted to adapt On The Road,it was Francis Coppola 30 years ago. But the film did not take off. Then he saw The Motorcycle Diaries and felt that the same team might be able to do it. So,one day,while shopping at the supermarket,I got a call from Walter Salles who asked me if I wanted to write the movie. I readily agreed. It is easy to be typecast. But I am glad I landed this project,also because I am working with the same team.

There must be a lot of pressure while working on them?

When I am writing,I do not think of anybody. It is a dialogue between me and the characters. Like when I was writing The Motorcycle Diaries,I had to train myself not to think of Che. He was not THE Che Guevara yet. With On The Road too,I had to forget that perhaps it is America’s favourite book. Everyone interprets the same book differently and the movie cannot be everybody’s On The Road,it has to be our interpretation. So,a large part of writing involves not being influenced by the pressures.

You also wrote a play,School of the Americas,about Che Guevara’s last day alive. ..

Che spent his last 48 hours as a captive in a school in Bolivia. There was a school teacher he interacted with in those final hours,who fell in love with him. It was interesting for me to explore what a man like him — hungry,captive,wounded and one who knew he was going to soon die — do in that time he had. It was fascinating that despite the circumstances,he chose to make a friend. That is the kind of person he was. But the play is as much about the school teacher as about Che.

Does his influence still show up in
your works?

I was born in the 1950s,and he was my hero in my early years,especially since I was a migrant. I was against the Vietnam War and I could associate the anti-imperialistic idea that he represented. So,even today,when I write,it helps to have understood his ideology because it still resonates somewhere,also in a contemporary setting.

In your filmography,Letters To Juliet sticks out because it’s a romantic comedy. What made you take it on?

I took it on because the idea of exploring the lives of people who write to Juliet and the girls who answer those letters,was fascinating. It was also a genre I had not explored,so I decided that I will pen a mature love story. But it ended in a complete disaster. I wrote two drafts and was replaced by another writer. The film eventually became a kiddie romantic film.

Is turning director the ultimate goal of
a screenwriter?

It does give you more control over what you write and what is shown on screen. Celestina,which is also loosely based on my play Cloud Tectonics,is about a woman who has been pregnant for two years because time around her has stopped moving. She heads out in search of the father of her child. The film is still in the making and should release next year.

Which medium do you prefer — films
or theatre?

At heart,I am a playwright,I love theatre as a medium. I do films for the money.

Does your approach towards characters vary with the genres you’re writing for?

When writing plays,the character and their conflicts take on a different space. The language is different too — I feel that theatre is closer to poetry where the language has many textures and layers. In movies,imagery becomes central. The approach is to imagine what the scene will look like on the screen. I always say that you write plays with your ears and films with your eyes.

Writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez has also hugely influenced your works.

I must have read Marquez at the age of 21. My parents didn’t read and school was limited to European literature. When I read One Hundred Years of Solitude,I could connect with my roots. I was so struck by his style of writing.

Does the sense of magic realism in your works come from him?

Yes,in a way. Actually,when I read him,I was reminded of the kind of stories that my grandmother told me as a child. He gave a similar magical touch to the realities around and I felt that he was celebrating a style of storytelling that,perhaps,was unique in a way to the part of the world I came from. And then,much later,I met him at a workshop by Sundance Institute. He demystified his style for me,which kind of seeped into my works.

Is this your first time in India?

It is,and I am already so overwhelmed. We are here for a week,of which we are to spend five days at the workshop. But my experience of the one day I have spent around the city is so different from any I have ever had. There are so many people,so much sensory information. I travel a lot and as an American,there is a lot of hostility I feel directed towards me. But I don’t feel that here. The people are warm and I don’t fear anything. I would like to visit again and take back some stories from India.