POST 4: Paanch Adhyay aur Paanchva Adhyay bhi: 4 DOWN 2 TO GO! Sundance Institute Mumbai Mantra Screenwriting Workshop.

Room number 3019. Already home for me. We,humans are so strange! Adjusting to a new situation takes very little time. Adaptability! A part of evolution. “Tribhanga”is adaptable too. It’s already gone through a sea change since I’ve come here. It's more evolved now.

It's wonderful breakfast time  in the company of people I can now confidently count among my friends. J

After breakfast we all troop dpwn to the screening room for “Paanch Adhyay”,a film in Bengali directed by Pratim D Gupta, the baby (only age- wise) among us fellows. Pratim has a Yoda-like quality;an innocence coupled with a maturity way ahead of his years.

Paanch Adhyay starts with a beautiful Usha Uthup song and my spirits lift immediately. The aesthetically done titles shows the work of someone who understands the medium very well.

“Three gone, three to go” the first chapter in the five chapters is announced. The beautiful Dia Mirza is perfectly cast, but I immediately have a problem with the way Priyanshu plays the lovesick hero. Over the next two hours we go through the ups and downs in the relationship between this couple which marries, loses the romance, finds it elsewhere and comes back together only when they know that they are to be separated by a cruel circumstance. Why do we not say “I love you" enough, when we have the time? “Why don’t we show that we care? Why don’t we improve upon what we have rather than finding it in someone else? Why do we understand the importance of our spouse only when it’s too late? These are some of the questions which are thrown up through the story. The couple rests on the beach at the end of the film in a beautiful interlocked way; they are so much in sync but it’s too late. They are yin and yang; one incomplete without the other. There will be other lives together but this one’s all but wasted.

What works is the amazing visual sense that Pratim has. He has a very assured hand. I love Soumitrada’s scene-what a class act! And the lovely Dia in her tasteful Bengali sarees (I want them all) is beautiful to watch. What doesn’t work is the screechy second lead, a very important part of the narrative. She is playing Priyanshu’s ‘Charu’ (he is a reputed film director). The iconic ‘Charulata’ by Ray, Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary from literature have influenced generations of students of literature and cinema. The reference to a modern take on “Charulata” and the metopher of “Black Swan” is unfortunately not used very effectively in “Paanch Adhyay”  Good intentions,not so good results. The song that is used as a recurring theme through the film and which the film ends with, stays with you long after the film is over. But all in all “Paanch Adhyay”is a very brave film, even more so because it is Pratim’s first film. It reflects Pratim’s personality, mature beyond his age and it also means we have a writer-director among us who’s definitely going to go places with his next.

And now it’s time for my “Paanchva Adhyay”, my fifth mentor encounter. It’s Asif Kapadia.

ASIF KAPADIA: ( The Warrior, Senna) “ENDEARING”

                    

We find ourself a corner near the pool, used for lounging under normal circumstances. We, of course are going to use it for an intense discussion about my “Tribhanga”. Asif confesses that since the four previous mentors have already touched upon most of the glaring problems in my screenplay, he would like to discuss his response and get a feel of my writing through what kind of things I liked or disliked in my personal life. That’s different. That’s nice. Asif’s grey eyes are so reflective, introspective and exude peace. If I was Bertolucci making “Little Buddha”now, I would cast Asif in the role of the young Prince Siddharth whose tryst with pain and suffering led him to form a casteless, equal religion which showed the path to Nirvana by detaching oneself from all attachment; Buddhism. And I hold on to every word like a faithful devotee; Buddham Sharanam Gachhami! :-)
I keep berating my screenplay for lacking a strong story. Asif tells me quite categorically that a screenplay doesn’t have to follow the rules. I say that I can only break the rules if I know them. A valid atheist is one who knows his religion before denying God. I sheepishly admit I had no clue about the rules of screenplay. My knowledge of writing or even direction was through observation, seeing films, reading literature, learning on the job as an actress. I’ve had no formal training. Of course by now I did have a very good idea of what a good screenplay was meant to be. He asks me what my inspiration for these characters was. I tell him like I told my other advisors. He says he is amazed at the intensity of emotion there is in my characters. And surprisingly, it has a lot of humour too. He asks me what changes I foresee now that I have interacted with so many experts. I say I want to make my screenplay less verbose. I confess the obvious; my characters speak way too much. He says that’s not such a bad thing because he loves my dialogue writing. He says writing dialogue is a skill not many screenwriter’s are good at! Wow! That’s a huge compliment! He says I should not lose the punch in the dialogue while I am sorting out the story. Sometimes you don’t require to go from A to B to C if A is all that you want to say. You have to know what you want to say through your screenplay completely and you have to show it visually. He’s hit the nail. The screenplay wouldn’t sound so voice heavy if we could see it equally strongly. He says that’s going to be easy for me considering I’ve got the difficult part (characters and dialogue) out of my way. Wow! He’s so good for my ego. A small hopeful voice in my head asks, “ May I take you home with me Asif?” (Of course the voice stays in my head!)

He then turns to the male characters who are hardly developed. Again, the smile in those inward looking grey eyes (so many shades of grey; from Bill to Joshua, Malia to Asif) he says I don’t really blame you for the inconsequential men; they usually are. Yaaay! He’s a feminist!But he loves the character of Anu’s brother Robindro and wants me to give him a good look, as well as the character of Milind who is a biographer. Hmmm I agree completely. He asks me which film is my favourite. I answer without hesitation, Guru Dutt’s “Kaagaz Ke Phool”. He confesses he hasn’t seen it, but wants me to tell him why I like the film so much. I narrate the story and as I come to the end he says that it is a tragic story. I agree. He asks me whether that is the mood I want to create in my film/s. I disagree. My endings are always hopeful, not completely happy but better off than before. I’m an incurable optimist. I also love humour, satire, slapstick. I want to tell him that I love Dr Strangelove, Chaplin and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron too, but I stop myself. He immediately says that my writing has too much humour in it to make it a classic tragedy.

It’s amazing how fidgity Asif is, shifting in his lounge chair every two minutes, trying to find equilibrium; but his thoughts, his even temper and focus belies that. Detached attachment? He asks me if I had anything else to add or ask. I don't have anything to ask or say, but I don't want this to end. This conversation has comforted me. It's warm khichdi for my soul. I have been magically healed. I can see that he is looking forward to a very good screenplay from me. I don't ever want to disappoint him! 
He tells me a few exercises he thinks would help me ‘see’ the film.
1) A chronological time line for all the major characters. 
2) 10 important events. 
3) Three page story. 
4)Only visual screenplay without the dialogues(the most important exercise for me, according to Asif).

It’s strange how after every intense advisor-fellow session I go back with so much inside me, so much has happened in terms of growth, enrichment; yet so little has changed outside.

I have so much to do and now I just want to sit and write.

I am glad for the free afternoon I have. I go to the Spa with my free voucher (Mumbai Mantra has spoiled us silly! I mean where do writer’s get so much bhaav? That too writer’s who are learning to write? But I’m not going to think along those lines.Main toh ab aam khaaungi, guthliyaan kyun ginun?)

The wonderful foot massage I get not only relieves the ill effects of the walk down to Pavna and the cramps that happened yesterday but also sharpens my thinking.Bliss!!!

After a sumptuous dinner we watch Carlos Cuaron’s short film “Second Bakery attack” based on a Murakami short story. He says he wants to show it because short films don’t get shown enough. He is so right. There is a hierarchy even in cinema. Feature length films always come first. Opportunities for shorts or documentaries are so rare. Carlos, the writer of the film with a cult following “Y tu mama tambien” is a very funny, honest man. He is Mexican and one can see the cultural difference between him and our American advisors at once. The distance in miles between USA and Mexico is not as much as the cultural difference. In fact watching his “Rudo y Cursi”I can’t help but notice the same chaos that defines India, especially Mumbai. I’m drawn into the tale of two football loving brothers at once. There sibling rivalry and revellery is endearing, emotional, bitter, funny, sometimes politically incorrect. I love listening to their Spanish. The bumbling brothers, their passions (which lead to their downfall) and their talents,(which they don’t appreciate enough) are so real I can almost see Carlos and his filmmaker brother Alfonso in their place. All writing stems from such a personal space. The q & a is also thoroughly entertaining. We get a good insight into Mexico through his film. Films are such a good way to travel! When Carlos confesses that the really kitschy parody of a song video shown in the film, of the kind he completely hates, goes on to become hugely popular, he is flabbergasted. He shares how one can never tell the response of the audience. 
Sitting in that screening room are twenty unique people with twenty unique responses. Once again the complete humility and vulnerability with which he answers hits me. Every time is like the first time, however lauded you are. Each new person is a potential critic or admirer. And the space between the end of the film and the first question is always the most painful.

I’m looking forward to writing tomorrow. Tomorrow is my Chhatva Adhyay and the last. I have a session off in the morning before my last advisor session.This dream experience will end. Not a very happy thought. Goodbyes scare me. Being a bad writer scares me more. But there is just so much that I have got out of this experience, I don’t want to think of the things that will make me cry. I will sleep and I will dream of Anu, Robindro and all the lovely people at the Lab. 
The real and reel will mix seamlessly.