In Hindi films, script is now the real star

New Delhi: People snack on entertainment and there is always a need to get that ‘diet’ right, else there can be indigestion, filmmaker Prasoon Joshi said at the Times Litfest on Sunday.
He was joined by filmmakers Meghna Gulzar and Vikramaditya Motwane and they all agreed that with time, scripts have become the real stars of films.
“For my movies — ‘Raazi’ and ‘Talvar’ — the scripts were the real heroes.Earlier, movies would revolve around stars, superstars and directors but that’s not the case anymore,” Gulzar said, adding that today’s audience is more informed.
Echoing similar sentiments, Joshi said that with social media and the multiple reviews common people are bombarded with, the audience nowadays gets more time to choose. “The lives of stars are no longer out of bounds for the people. Every other day, the world gets to see them on either Facebook or Instagram. The people know where they are going, with whom they are shopping and who are their wedding guests. So if the actors deliver the same performance or repeat characters, the audience gets bored.”
Motwane added that star-appeal is not the driving force behind movies anymore. “Let’s take films like ‘Badhaai Ho’ and ‘Stree’ for example. Both worked because of out-of-the-box scripts and outstanding performances by the actors.”
Gulzar added that actor Deepika Padukone will feature as an acid-attack survivor in her next movie. “It just shows that actors are ready to experiment with roles. Earlier, no one would want to scar a pretty face.”
Joshi also put emphasis on the art of storytelling. “Filmmakers should have a different perspective towards life. They should choose an emotion and revolve the story around it. While I was shooting Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, I didn’t have much knowledge of sports and I concentrated mostly on emotions. And that’s why the movie stood out,” said the man behind Rang De Basanti, Delhi-6 and the soon-to-be-released Manikarnika.
Gulzar added that there is also a huge responsibility while taking up biopics. “I will never want to disrespect a person and portray him/her in a bad light. But when we do biopics posthumously, there are not many ways to find out what exactly happened and how things transpired.”
Motwane said that there is also a debate over how much liberty a producer should get while turning books into movies. “A film doesn’t belong to the writer or the producer or the actor. It is solely for the audience and for that whatever is needed should be done.”
While talking about superhero movies, Motwane said that Indian superheroes are not mask-wearing characters. “We belong to the land of Hanuman and Saboo so if Krrish has a costume it won’t work at the box office like it would have done abroad.”
As a tip to the cheering, young crowd, Gulzar said that if anyone was planning to write a script, he/she should brace up for rejection.