Bhawana Somaaya

In the olden days film writers did not get separate credit for story, screenplay and dialogues. It was taken for granted that the one, who conceived the story, wrote the screenplay as well as the dialogues of the film.

Over the years writing of a film got divided in to three specific departments as a result one man wrote the story, the second, the screenplay and the third wrote the dialogues. Their role was to collectively translate the story idea of the filmmaker on paper and for this he was paid a small fee and often given no credit.

The writer was more often than not treated like a munshiji by the production houses. Two versatile writers who could not be patronized and who stood their ground all through their careers were Inder Raj Anand and Pt. Mukhram Sharma. Inder Raj Anand was a very knowledgeable man and Mukhram Sharma was apparently was the most dependable and systematic writer of all times.

The equations changed with the arrival of Salim- Javed who changed the dynamics of writing in Hindi cinema in the 70s. The duo rained super hit films every week in the cinema halls and the audience loved their power packed dialogues. They were the final word in casting of a film…It was on their suggestion that Prakash Mehra cast Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer and Ramesh Sippy in Sholay. There were times they wanted a change in the climax and they convinced director Yash Chopra that they were right. They created superstars but called the shots and it was the only time in the history of filmmaking that writers’ names appeared on the billboards.

Salim Javed were the highest paid writers in India and for the first time since inception films were identified not by the lead stars or the banner of a film but as Salim Javed films.

The magic lasted roughly over a decade. Salim Javed saw the rise and fall of Rajesh Khanna and the rise and rise of Amitabh Bachchan. When the partnership split Salim saw the rise of Sanjay Dutt in Naam and Javed was responsible for the launch of Anil Kapoor in Mashaal and Meri Jung. When the duo was together mediocre films got transformed into magic. When they split, screenplay writing went downhill. Filmmakers got back to their original role of narrating story ideas to debutant writers and guiding them into scripts.

The result was never the same. Most of the films in the coming decade suffered because of mediocre scripts. In the absence of powerful, original writing filmmakers exploited raw talent and did not pay them what they promised. Sometimes established writers rehashed old plots and sold them to new filmmakers but there was nobody to listen to their story of woes because there were no specific guidelines drafted even a Writer’s Association since decades.

In the pre-independence days a bunch of revolutionary writers got together and launched Progressive Writer’s Association comprising path breaking writers and poets like Faiz, Ismat Chugtai, Sultan Jafri, Kaifi Azmi among others. Today, this Association has a new team of gifted writers led by Anjum Rajaballi and Atul Tiwari who consistently fight for the rights of the writers in terms of fees, credit, copyright or royalty.

The Progressive Writers Group has been active and holding regular meetings and workshops to inspire young talent. A lot of them are on board with education systems like Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods and FTII, Pune. The Progressive Group was elected to the Executive Committee of the Film Writers Association in 2008. Since then, several over-due initiatives have been undertaken by Film Writers Association.

After long negotiations, the Model Contract is now with the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), the parent body of all 22 trade unions for different crafts of the film industry. While producers have been delaying negotiations, FWA had to impress upon FWICE to resolve the issue at the earliest. It took a lot of persuasion but finally FWICE has agreed and meetings with producers’ bodies ought to begin soon.

A Model Contract for TV writers also has just been finalized and will be submitted to FWICE shortly.
The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010 was tabled in parliament in April. FWA had actively intervened and made a representation to the HRD Minister to ensure that protection of screenwriters’ copyright and royalties were included in the Bill. The Bill has incorporated these suggestions and is currently with the parliamentary Standing Committee. Film Writers Association in the meantime has in a strongly worded letter made another representation. They know they have to be vigilant until the ministry passes these representations as Law later this year.

With these initiatives, FWA’s aim is clear: Replace the helplessness of the individual writer with the collective bargaining strength of the union. It has to protect every writer’s fees, credit and copyright and the writer’s association can achieve that only if it is strong. Their motives are honourable and credibility no more in dispute. It organises regular screenwriting workshops and seminars in Mumbai and outside. Their last conference in December 2008 was a landmark event which had 600 writers sharing the same space and discussing professional and creative issues!

In two years FWA has walked many miles and conquered a few milestones but the journey isn’t over. The Model Contracts for film and TV writers, the Copyright Amendment, the educational and development activities may be in place but the goal is still far away. Unless every single aspiring writer joins this noble cause, the battle for justice isn’t going to be easy. For FWA to be able to protect all screenwriters, they have first to be established and be endorsed as one powerful body.

They have to be supported by colleagues. And they were. It was hundred percent attendance on Sunday at Time & Again when every small and big writer of merit was present to lend support to the Progressive Writers Group. Every writer who cared for their craft and dignity was there to support the moment.

Today, Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan will come together for a unique jugal bandi of music and mathematics at Prithvi Theatre for Paanch Pachees. The monsoons promises to be a fun filled month at Prithvi Theatre combining films, music, mela and workshops. A sensational project Hive Mind which is a creative engagement with mathematics brought together school teachers and students.
Cconducted by Victoria Gould and Poppy Keeling the duo is masters of the special art. Gould trained at Manchester and Cranfield Universities and is an MSc in Mathematics. A founder member of the devised theatre company Kangaroo Club he collaborated on Shun-kin, A Disappearing Number and The Elephant Vanishes. Keeling started as Administrative Assistant before taking on the role of Education Coordinator, has performed with Theatre in Education Company First Line Theatre and worked as General Manager of Kettle of Fish Theatre Company.

The duo conducted the most extra-ordinary five-day workshop educating children that life is governed by mathematical principles and the prime example of this is the world of bees shaped by rules and systems. The participants studied the habits of honey bee and explored their learning by devising a performance on the final day of the workshop which was a theatrical spectacle.

Bhawana Somaaya
www.bhawanasomaaya.com

I’m not sure how other people read books but I prefer to first look at the pictures and then read the text. There are two reasons for this. The pictures set the mood for the subject and more important, the detailed captions prepare you for the story to unfold.

Four years ago, filmmaker and parliamentarian Sunil Dutt passed away after a brief illness at his home. A few months later his daughters Namrata Dutt Kumar and Priya Dutt compiled a joint biography on their parents.

As a journalist writing on cinema for almost three decades, I was familiar with the careers of both the actors and still enjoyed reading the details. Nargis was14 when Mehboob Khan persuaded her mother to launch her in his 1943 Taqdeer. Sunil Dutt began as a radio jockey interviewing film stars on Radio Ceylon before Ramesh Saigal gave him a break in 1955 starrer Railway Platform.

Everybody is aware of their dramatic love story triggered by a fatal fire on the sets of Mother India in 1957 where Sunil Dutt jumped into raging flames to save Nargis and won her heart.

When I was a cub reporter in the late 70s I have attended the mahurat of Sanjay Dutt’s debut film Rocky held at Mehboob Studio. In 1981 when Nargis died my photographer and I had attended her funeral procession at Pali Hill.

Over the years there were several occasions when I had to meet Sunil and Sanjay Dutt for interview and photo shoot and in the process frequently interacted with Sanjay’s two sisters Namrata and Priya Dutt.

In 1991 I did a mimi autobiography booklet on Sunil Dutt where he described his life as a ‘House of Heartbreaks’. He said he had locked up his memories in the attic, thought about them only once in a while but the booklet had woven together his past for him and now he felt hopeful again.

As somebody who had chronicled the family panorama from close quarters I was sure there could be no further revelations for me in the book. I was wrong. Nothing could have prepared me for the heart wrenching story of the famous couple, lovingly unfolded by daughters, Namrata Dutt Kumar and Priya Dutt in Mr & Mrs Dutt: Memories of our Parents.

The 200 page hard bound pictorial book published by Roli Books is divided in ten chapters. Initially the two-track narrative separately tracing the life and times of Nargis and Sunil Dutt is uncomfortable but as their lives entwine the reader settles down.

The children analyze the similarities and the contrasting qualities of their parents. Both were born in the year 1929. Nargis as Fatima in Calcutta to a Muslim mother Jaddanbai, a thumri singer and father Uttamchand Mohanchand, a Mohyal Brahmin. Sunil was born as Balraj Dutt in Khurd, Jhelum to landlord Devan Raghunath and his wife Kulwant Devi, both Mohyal Brahmins.

While Sunil Dutt had a troubled childhood after his father passed away and his widowed mother had to face many hardships to raise her three children. Nargis was raised in great comfort and easy success.

Both were committed to responsibilities. If Nargis carried her personal driver Kasam bhai and maid Ameena bai to her marital home (the children addressed the old staff as nana-naani) Sunil Dutt did everything in his ability to secure his mother and settle his younger siblings.

The most moving passages in the book are the episodes elaborating on the detection of the illness suffered by Nargis (chapter-Darkness at Moon). On one particular visit to Delhi in 1979 for the Rajyasabha session, she was suspected of having jaundice and returned to Bombay. She had to be rushed to Breach Candy Hospital the same night and to New York the next day. From the airport she was taken directly to Sloane Kettering Cancer Center. At that point it appeared as if she would return home soon. She returned only a year later, after innumerable surgeries and immensely frail.

The following two chapters-The Home Coming and Healing- are difficult to read without a veil of tears. The sisters present a startling account of how their life fell apart after their mother’s demise. They watched on hopelessly as their father who had been brave all along fall in to pieces. Sunil Dutt expected his elder daughter Namrata to run their home the way Nargis did. Namrata couldn’t and felt exasperated.

Those were difficult times. Sunil Dutt was devastated. Sanjay Dutt was on drugs. The youngest Priya was appearing for her tenth exams while supervising her brother in a rehabilitation clinic and Namrata was making foray in to college. All of them needed an anchor and the anchor was gone. But children have an inbuilt defense mechanism and slowly, they took the reins of life in their hand.

As destiny would have it there were happy moments in the family again. Namrata was married. Sunil Dutt found a new direction in his life. He came to be recognized as a committed parliamentarian and an inspiring leader. Priya Dutt stepped into her father’s footsteps and a little late but found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. And most important, Sanjay’s career was soaring.

Life was almost perfect and as usual something had to go wrong…

On the morning of 25 May 2005 when Sunil Dutt did not wake up at his usual hour, his staff contacted the children. He had slight temperature the previous evening and he had mentioned it to Priya and her husband Owen when they visited him. Sunil Dutt said he was tired because he had spent the entire day clearing his cupboards and packing his belongings. He was looking forward to shifting from his current flat Apsara Apartments to their new home Imperial Heights in a few days’ time.

He wanted to host a grand house warming party and call all his friends. It did not happen.

For his final journey, Dutt’s body was covered in the Indian flag and attended by both Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It was only when the children immersed his ashes in Hrishikesh that the enormity of the finality dawned on them.

Interestingly, Sunil Dutt had a foresight that a book would be compiled on the family and had diligently collected memorabilia, preserved documents and dated sepia photographs preserved in separate envelopes.

Through the book his daughters Namrata and Priya have revisited the past and gifted us a glorious book profiling two extra-ordinary artistes. Through tattered bits of paper, old letters, frayed scrap books, we read a poignant story of rare courage and compassion.

I wept while reading it and I’m certain that Namrata and Priya wept while compiling it…

Bhawana Somaaya