Through four characters from different strata of the society, she weaved a beautiful story about Mumbai and its residents. Each of her stories had its own message and the power to stand independently. Yet blending them in seamlessly seemed like a far-fetched idea. But Dhobi Ghat (2011), even with all its flaws, can be one of the best debuts one can ask for; with the right amount of emotions, drama and poetry. Ever since her first film, writer and director Kiran Rao has tried many times to write her next film, failing almost every time.
“I am trying very hard to write my next film. I have gone over many different kinds of stories and tried to develop them into probable films, but haven't succeeded. However, now I have come back to one [story] which I had developed some time ago. I have finished one draft of it,” says Rao when we meet her at the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image's Word To Screen Market recently. In the last couple of years, Rao has taken over many roles. Besides taking over as the chairperson of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) in 2015, she also oversees the production work at her husband's production venture—Aamir Khan Productions Pvt Ltd (AKP).
"The writing process, for me, is daily refining on why I want to make the film. One [reason] is of course the pure skill and craft of writing a screenplay, but the other is also constantly going back to what it is that I actually want to say through the film. It’s a slow process for me,” she confesses.
In the last three years since the change of authority, MAMI has tried quite a few things to make cinema bigger and better. If the regular MAMI screenings are an effort towards making meaningful cinema accessible to a larger audience, Word To Screen Market is an initiative to bridge the gap between the content creators, and writers and publishing houses. In the second edition of the Market, 30 top of the line production houses (with 81 representatives), 19 filmmakers, 12 publishing houses and 10 authors participated.
Rao feels this is the best platform for stories and storytellers. “Otherwise, it is not very easy because one just can’t go through so many titles [that are published year on year]. Penguin India alone publishes 200 books a year. Can you actually sift through that quantum of content? Word To Screen is a fantastic way for producers to find content for a film or series,” she says.
As Smriti Kiran, creative director, MAMI, aptly puts it: "Cinema needs stories and literature has plenty to offer. We are here to enable these two worlds to forge friendships, collaborations and find these untapped narratives. There is no downside to this marriage."
There were 18 recommendations by MAMI. Curated by Arpita Das (Publisher Yoda Press) and the selection committee members Rupleena Bose (writer and scholar of English literature), Mihir Pandya (author and scholar of Hindi literature) and Ravikant (writer and scholar), the shortlist included Gandi Baat by Kshitiz Roy, Ghachar Gochar by Vivek Shanbaug, In The Shadow of Freedom by Laxmi Tendulkar Dhaul among others, besides an additional long-list.
“A variety of stuff was pitched today—fiction, non-fiction, biographies—and at AKP, we have really done different genres; from Peepli Live and Dangal to Taare Zameen Par. Since we try different genres, different kind of content interests us. I have particularly been interested in content for young people—both young adults and children,” she says as she talks about a young author Andaleeb Wajid from Bengaluru who has nine novels to her credit. Two of Wajid's novels—It Waits and When She Went Away—were a part of the 18 shortlisted books and had interested Rao.
“There’s a fresh perspective, new stories, and we as content creators are looking at this as an opportunity. It’s our job to read and see where our needs fit in.”
Adaptation,however, is tricky and many a times leads to unnecessary conflict. “I suppose there is no one right way to adapt,” says Rao. “It needs taking into consideration the visual medium and the kind of film you are interested to make. At the same time also stick to the [text] to keep the integrity of the written word and integrity of what the author intended. I think every person who adapts wants to keep that integrity. But when you adapt to screen, there has to be a change. And often, there is a difference of opinion between the writer of the original work and the filmmaker raising questions like how would it be portrayed in the best way, are certain characters really necessary or not. These are conversations that will be different for each work. For some works, it’s very easy to stick to the original, but for others, it needs a lot of adaptation to make it to screen and fit it into a context. It’s a relationship of trust that has to be developed between the creator of the original work and the adaptor." But that, Rao thinks is also the exciting part.
A little earlier that day, Tamil writer C.S. Lakshmi or Ambai as she is better known, had highlighted something in her opening speech. She had recalled the time when her husband Vishnu Mathur adapted one of her short stories into a film and did a fine job with it. “I could have never imagined that my stories can become films,” Ambai had said. Rao referring to Ambai’s remarks, points out that it all depends on the skill and intention of the filmmaker.
For creative people, nothing can be greater than having an ecosystem [like Word To Screen] where content is easily accessible for adaptation. But then, creating a forum like this can have its own limitations. It can create writers who write because they want to be adapted and not for literary satisfaction. “I find that happening quite a lot in the modern day writing," says Rao adding that there are numerous occasions when she feels the writer was writing a film script rather than a novel. "Like a book is written to be visual,” remarks Rao, who personally is not a great fan of such writing.
“I don’t read books because I want to adapt them; I read books because I like to read. And often, the best literature is best because of the way it deals with the larger themes and connects with people. It may not be the best content to adapt, but will always remain a classic story, something that you want to tell and retell. Whereas stories written just so that it can be made into a film wouldn’t be stories that you would want to read over and over again."
Rao thinks it is a sign of the way the world has changed. “And also, the way we as consumers consume images so much more than the written word. Now people write for that consumption. They are catering to a particular demand and that’s something you can’t help.”
A self-confessed fan of graphic novels, Rao loved the adaptation of Blue Is The Warmest Colour, a French graphic novel by Julie Maroh. “It is also extremely moving and beautiful, lyrical and short, at the same time very effective,” she says. She is also a big fan of Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind by Yuval Noah Harari, and thinks it would make for a great series. “If there’s anything that I would opt to make into a series, it would be Sapiens,” she remarks with a caution that she doesn’t really want to get into that zone because she has her own fiction project that she wants to keep working on, irrespective of the time it takes.
Adapting a book or a real life story (biopics) for screen can be tricky, too. Don't we all crib watching a middling adaptation of a book almost every time? One often ends up diluting the content, dramatising it unnecessarily. But Rao begs to differ. “Of course you change it for your cinematic needs. But for instance, we did Dangal, which was a biopic and I don’t think we diluted the content. Yes, we had to dramatise it, but I don’t feel it is dilution necessarily. It’s kind of finding a way to effectively talk about what you feel is the [message]. When you are living your life it’s not dramatic, it just happens to you. When you are presenting someone’s life in cinema, you have to present the key moments. Dramatisation is important, especially in the mainstream space,” says Rao, who if ever makes a biopic would opt for the life of Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
“He was one of the most interesting personalities in Indian history and he definitely deserves a film. Even if there have been films on him, there is scope to make a really great biopic,” Rao adds.
