KAL KI TASWEERON MEIN

Taweerein hon yaadon ki
Buss tasweeron mein hum na ho..
Chadaron ki salwatein hon..
Badlee hui katrwatein hon...
Ankahi baatein rakhin hoh
Sirhaane...
Takiye par alsaye sapne hon.
Subah jo ho
Toh tasweer mein bus suraj hi ho..
Raat ki khamoshiyaan hon...
Adhjali adhbujhi mombattiyaan hon
Lau thartharaye...
Toh kisi ko khabar na ho..
Kal yahaan kiske sapnon mein kaun aaya tha...
Kal ki taweer mein sab kuchh ho
Bus kal na ho...

TV

TV
Bahut achchha medium hai.
Television.
Aap kamaa sakte hain...
Agar ganvaa sakte hain.
Bech sakte hain
Agar bik sakte hain...
----
Yahaan kisi ke pita ki maut ho jaaye..
Toh bhi hukm itna hi milta hai.
Apne hisse ka “Kynki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahoo Thi”
Kisi ko saunp kar jaao...
Aap rote hain ..
Aur mail type karte hain.
Flight se pahle ke 3 ghanton mein.....
Aap ko apni har duty delegate karni hoti hai.
Kyonki “chita” rook saktee hai.
“Kyonki” thode hi rook sakta hai.
...
Zara,
Tum bhuli toh nahin na vo din?
Kyonki vo tumhare pita the aur
Main mook darshak...
Main tab TV mein naya naya hi aaya tha.
....
Bahut achchha medim hai.
TV
...
Hey Avinash...
Tumhein yaad hai...
Tum apni boss ke kamre se bahar aaye the.
Daant kha kar...
Aur tumhra “statue” ho gaya tha.
You were ”smiling” the whole day.
(smile on a face can be scary, you know.)
Tum aaj ho kahaan pata nahin..
Par hum sab scared the....
Kyonki tumhari smile kah rahi thi.
You have lost it.
.....
Tum aage badhna chahte the.
Ve star plus ke achchhe din the.
Tum us din sirf muskarate baithe the apni desk par..
Par koi nahin tha jo tumhein rula sake.
.......
Kyonki agar vo mudkar tumhein dekhte..
Toh shayad jaag jaate...
Phir vo aage kaise badhte ..
Agar kisi se sympathy mehsoos karte...
......
We Kyunki ke utarate din the shayad..
....
Pata hai avinash tumhein
Jisne tumhein depression mein dhakela tha.
Usne shayad bahut kamaya hoga...
Lekin ve aaj TV mein bhi nahin hai.
Nice way to say...
“She has taken a sabbatical.”
.....
Zara, Avi..
Tumhien pata hai..
Itihaas ke panno par
Na tum ho
Na hum hain.
Na vo hain.
.......
Aur haan unki jagahh..
Just imagine...
Koi aur hai...
...
Marna hi hai...
Toh TV se behtar
Sadak kya buri hai?
Episode likhne ki dead line se
Railway line par death
Kya buri hai?
....

Maai Tujhe Salaam

Gunwanti………. Tujhe Salaam

For an event on Colors channel, “ Maa(n) Tujhe Salaam” telecasted on the occasion of mother’s day, I was asked to write a poem for Basant, a character in Balikavadhu. I wrote what I could:

Sharing with you…

दुनिया देखी पहली बार तेरी नज़र से .... माँ
तेरा आँचल छत .. तेरी गोद ज़मीन थी ..माँ ..
तेरी लोरी ही दिन को करती थी रात हमेशा.
तेरी मुस्कान से ही हर रोज़ सुबह होती थी माँ .
……..
मैं ही नहीं दुनिया में,
सब के होठों पर ..
सबसे पहले आता है एक लब्ज़ ... माँ ..

When I was writing a promo for the same show with the OAP team of the channel, one of us, Mushfiq read out a poem of Nida Fazali.

Maa.N

Besan kii sondhii rotii par
khattii chatanii jaisii maan
yaad aatii hai chaukaa-baasan
chimataa phukanii jaisii maan
……
…..
Bivii, betii, bahan, padosan
thodii thodii sii sab mein
din bhar ek rassii ke oopar
chalatii natanii jaisii maa.N
Baant ke apanaa cheharaa, maathaa,
aankhein jaane kahaan gayee
phate puuraane ik alabam mein
chanchal ladakii jaisii maan.

All of us loved it.. and decided not to use it for a promo. It was genuinely written. And we felt we should not use it for any commercial purpose.
…
My mother liked my poem. But I did not like it at all.
I was told Production house liked it. I did not.
It was used later in the promo also in Mushfiq’s voice. I quite liked his voice and promo. But I did not like my poem.
I felt it was not an honest writing. It was just idolizing the standard image of mother.


A real mother is more like a Gunwanti who can ruin the lives of children just to maintain a social mask of “happy family.” These mothers are constantly sweeping the problems under the carpet. They are ignorant. They are not living in the present. They have their roots in tradition, culture and past. They are the mothers people love to watch on TV. But I think their roots are their limitations. They have stopped to grow long back.

A real mother is too real to be idolized.
Like Gunwanti.
I am sure if Veer speaks out his heart he will curse her. (But he cannot do it, since its TV.)

When her son suffers from addiction, she ignores. She truly loves him.
When he commits suicide, she blames it on the daughter in law. She truly loves him.
Gunwanti is a real Indian mother, who is ready to do anything for her children.
But whatever she does, she invariably harms her children.

People dislike Tapasya as a character and still watch her. At least they know her.
What they think of Gunwanti as a character I don’t know. But as a writer I see her as “Gandhari”, one who has willingly stopped seeing the world of her children.
Let’s look at her more closely.

When Vansh was borne what was she busy with? Tej singh? Keeping Dadda ji happy? I am sure she must have neglected her husband, because it was Daddaji’s haveli. And her survival instinct and upbringing might have told her… “Keep him happy.” “Keep Sasur ji happy.” She kept him happy. She dealt with Tej singh because he was Dadda ji’s problem.

She loved her children like any mother does. But she hardly understood them or their world.

When Vansh became addict… she used carpet.
When Vansh fell in love, she could see the problem… but she liked carpet.
She got him married. Veer kept on telling her .. “tell the truth to Bhaiya.” But she loved carpet.
She swept everything under the carpet
….
Now he is dead. And she wants to sweep the reason under carpet. She does not even try to know. She blames Ichchha, “You don’t want your conscious to be burdened by Vansh’s death, so you are accusing Veer.”
The truth is she does not want to face her conscience and so she puts the blame on Ichchha and hides behind the garb of “bête ki maut ka gham.”

It’s a very real character…. It’s what many mothers do to their children. For them, parampara is the key word. They have stopped living long back.
If Vansh’s soul is still there…in Bundela Haveli…… Then it must be saying:

Maai
Tu mujhe samajh na paayi.
Main is ghar mein bhatak raha hoon.
Apni Ichchha ko dhundh raha hoon.
Main tujhse kah raha hoon maai…
Tu mujhe kabhi samajh nahin paayi.

Jab thappad marna tha
Tune kaleje se lagaya.
Jab kaleje se lagane ka waqt aaya.
Tune band kamre mein mujhe chhipaya.
Jab zaroorat thi sahare ki…
Tab tujh mein himmat nahin thi maai.
Jis mein himmat thi..
Tu use samajh nahin paayi.
Maai tu mujhe samajh nahin paayi.
Tu lalla ko bhi samajh nahin paayi.
…
Maai… Tujhe salam!!

VANSH AND VEER .. AND A DREAM

1.
No one very clearly knows where and how a dream shapes up in one’s mind.
This morning I woke up out of a dream, a part of which I can share with you.
Dream:
I am with my elder brother in a town. I think we leave there. Someone throws a stone at my brother and he gets angry and I try to control him.
Ichchha is telling Jogi about why she wants to get married to Jogi. While she is talking to Jogi she comes on a terrace of an old house.
She is wearing a blue dress…
And we see a woman in blue saree walking towards two quarrelling kids engaged in a fight.
One is Vansh and the other one is I think Veer….
Or Vansh being bullied by Tej?
I don’t know.
It was dream
The woman in saree is Ichchha or gunwanti? Or both?
Cut to
2.
I accept Vansh has been the most difficult character for me to write.
When I write him remembering bajre ki roti and gud ka chawal, I don’t see him remembering these things.
I hardly see parents in his childhood. There is complete absence of a mother in his life.
3.
So yesterday I asked a simple “ankganeet ka sawal”….
“Jab Vansh ka janm hua Tej ki umra kya thi?”
And two non-mathematical questions:
“Jab vansh ko maai ki zaroorat thi ....Vo kin zimmedariyon mein vyast thi?”
“Jab Vansh ko jivan mein hero ki zarurat thi , kya Tej singh mein use vo hero nazar aaya hoga?”
Agar yeh ganeet sulajh jaaye toh baat ban jaaye
4.
When Vansh was borne, there was an adolescent rebellious child who had lost his mother.
Son of a maid.
Son of Thakur Baldev Singh Bundela.
“ Thakur Tej Singh.”
When Gunwanti got married to Umed, she took the responsibility of chhota devar as her child.
But Tej was unruly.
And in these circumstances Vansh was borne.
So Gunwanti had two responsibilities on her shoulders. And she dealt with them in the best possible way.
She took care of Tej, Baldev, family, village and Vansh in that order.
5.
When Vansh was 5 or so. He had one hero in life Tej singh.
When Veer was borne, Gunwanti was in a much better position to take care of him. She was settled in Bundela family.
Vansh had Tej to look up to.
Veer had Baldev and Umed!!
Veer got his share of parental care.
Vansh also was protective about him.
So in a sense Veer has everything in the right proportion.
He never came close to Tej because I think by that time Tej would had become a young monster who would rarely be at home.
So Vansh and Veer had different experience to shape up their lives. It’s natural.
No matter how good the intentions of parents are, children perceive them in a different way.
END OF FLASH BACK
CUT TO
6.
Today Vansh is going to get married to Ichchha.
His mother and grandfather stood by him in the hour of crisis and even lied to Veer so that Vansh gets his share of love in life.
Gunwanti is happy for Vansh.
She is also happy that Veer and Tapasya’s marriage is saved for some time.
Who knows, it might just help Veer to accept Tapasya as a wife?!!
Mothers always take right decisions on behalf of children.
7.
What his parents have conveniently forgotten is:
Vansh is undergoing treatment. He is not cured yet.
He feels he is in love with a person who was just trying to help me.
And the person unfortunately is Ichchha.
His mother thinks Ichchha is the right medicine for him and decides to marry him.
This is what is normally done in our society. To control an unruly son, parents decide to marry him. At times it works. Most of the time life of a girl is ruined.
So parents of Vansh, Gunwanti and Baldev, think,
“Ladke ki shadi kar do. Theek ho jaayega.”
Gunwanti decides to transfer her burden of responsibility on an innocent young girl, Ichchha. And the girl also accepts it.
Let’s look at the “faisla leve ki taakat” of Bundela family little more closely.
Once upon a time, they separated Vansh and Veer because they wanted to protect Veer from the influence of Tej and Vansh.
None of them dealt with Tej when there was time to face the reality.
They preferred to hide the inconvenient truth of their life.
When Vansh became an addict, they kept him locked in a room. I am sure they must have discovered it too late.
And now when he was under treatment and Veer had taken a bold step to address the problem … what did they do?
Gunwanti took him under her wings at the wrong time and offered him a wrong medicine “Ichchha”.
And I am sure Vansh will have withdrawal symptoms soon. I have read recently that at a later stage of dependency on Alchol, an alcoholic starts doubting his wife. That is what is fate of Vansh is. Hallucinations… Doubt… suspicion.
8.
Sometimes one scene is good enough to get a correct picture of a family. Actors at times do instinctively what the character would have done. When Jogi asks the Bundela family, “Kya Veer ko is rishte ki baat aap bata chuke hain?”
The way they react is clear. They are not able to deal with the reality responsibly. No one is evil. They are just weak. Apparently the strongest one is Baldev Singh (Daddaji). Initially he used to reiterate quite often, “mard ki pechnan hot hai waaki faisla leve ki taakat.” We can see now the mask of the strength is falling apart.
9.
What kind of picture of a happy family Vansh and Veer have in their minds?
Since we have seen Ichchha and Tapasya growing up so we can use them as a reference.
Ichchha recently said in one episode,
“Papa… aap aur thakurain mere liye ek adarsh hain. Pati patni ka aadarsh…Ammo, mere papa ko maine tab kho diya jab main shayad papa bolna bhi nahin jaanti thi….Maine toh humesha papa aur thakurain ko hi dekha hai..Kaise ek pati aur patni ek dusare ke saath har mushkil samay se guzarte hain…”
So she has an image of a happy married life and family.
What about Vansh and Veer?
Even if Vansh remembers gud ka chawal, none of the boys in bundela family seem to have got true parental care and love.
If we compare the actions of Bundelas with those of Jogi Thakur, I think picture will have more clarity.
When Jogi realized Tapsya did something horribly wrong, what did he do? He confronted her. He did not hesitate punishing her.
Today also he is willing to talk to Veer but Bundelas are not.
To sum it up:
When Veer, Vansh, Ichchha and Tapasya use the following words like love, family and responsibility, the meanings are different because their parental scripting is different.
10.
Ichchha has a picture of husband wife relationship in her mind.
Vansh?
What is the picture in his mind?
I don’t see him thinking of sindur.
He has no patience for rituals.
Veer also has an imperfect picture in mind, but he is ready to change and learn in life. He can find a father in Jogi and mother in Damini. He has patience to deal with a relationship. Vansh doesn’t have it.
Lets just see one example:
Veer has been chasing Ichchha and she has been refusing to accept him after his marriage, he still waited patiently.
Vansh faced refusal only once and how did he react?
He went to the terrace.
Suicide is the weapon of attention seekers.
Their lies the difference between Vansh and Veer.
Veer tried to persuade his family for his marriage with Ichchha.
Vansh used the attention seeking devices to do the same.
They are different people.
If one takes a long journey before he calls Damini “ammo”, the other can do it out of impulse only and forget it next moment that he called her ammo.
I am not saying one is better than the other.
They are different.
As far as impulsive nature is concerned he is close to Tapasya.
And I am sure Tapasya will be awed by his impulsive love.
She would love to have a Vansh in life… and if not may be a Tej?
Scary …..!!
11.
Both the brothers fell in love with the same girl.
Are they searching for the absent mother in their relationships?
12.
The dream that I had.
I am with my elder brother in a town. I think we leave there. Someone throws stone at my brother and he gets angry and I try to control him.
Cut to
In the holi scene Vansh gets angry and violent and Veer tries to protect him.
Veer has always been doing this.
Back to the dream
Ichchha is telling Jogi about why she wants to get married to Jogi (162/6) but not exactly the way its shot. Dreams are dreams.
So while talking to Jjogi she comes on a terrace of an old house… she is wearing a blue dress…
And we see a woman in blue saree walking towards two kids fighting…
One is Vansh and the other is I think Veer….
The woman in saree is Ichchha or gunwanti? Or both?
Cut to
Ichchha is taking up the responsibilities of Gunwanti on her shoulders wearing the same colour saree and going towards vansh.
Cut to
Real and reel have merged in my dream.
12.
I see Gunwanti as a failed mother.
And since she cannot accept it, lives of her children will be ruined again.
As veer says to her , “you did it because you wanted to save the marriage with Tapasya.”
Her subconscious is making her to do so because somewhere she feels Tapasya is the right choice.
She is not nani. She cannot be. To be evil is not easy.
She is neither a Jogi nor a Damini.
She is not even Divya.
She is like many other parents who think they loved and did everything for their children but children don’t seem to buy their story. Humare bachche humse behtar hon yeh maan-baap ka sapna hota hai…
Children also secretly dream of better parents.
She is a simple woman who still lives in a time which has passed long ago.
She won’t accept, Bundelas have lost the glory.
They are respected out of habit.
They are the relics of a feudal system which is a part of history now.
But let me add, imperfect characters make the story interesting.
13.
As a writer I have my hopes in Umed and Veer. They seem to see their faults and are willing to accept and change. But we never know. Fiction is stranger then dreams.
14.
Time has come when focus will shift from Jogi Thakur’s to haveli Baldev Singh’s haveli….
I did not write Thakur Umed Singh’s haveli!!

Lets tell a predictable story!!

Is the story predictable?
When the promos of Utaran with grown up Ichchha and Tapasya went on air, a friend’s daughter called me and asked me, “Are they going to fall in love with the same man? Is Tapasya going to get married to the man Ichchha loves?”
Veer or Sid were yet to enter in their life.
******************************************************************************************************************
When Veer entered into the life of Tapasya, another viewer, 11 years old predicted that Veer has come to see Tapasya but he will fall in love with Ichchha.
Much before Veer realizes he has fallen in love. He seems to be little lazy. (Lol)

*******************************************************************************************************************

When Sia was thrown out of the house by Amma jee… I knew that she will come back to the haveli to take the revenge.
When Vidya of aapki Antara is getting ready for a dinner with her husband and he enters with Antara after getting the medical report, I knew that what they would never go out for dinner tonight.
When there is a high drama around hope or happiness one can sense that the end will be just opposite.
When a hope is created that Archana of Pavitra Rishta will get married to Manav, and one knows that finally they are going to fall in love, but one can still predict that end of episode all the hope will be shattered.
****************************************************************************************************************

I think I have made my point clear. We are telling a predictable story.
Not just the story is predictable, we make it more predictable through our promos and coming ups.
Still people watch them. They are glued to Nanis and Ammajis.
Why is it so?
The best example I remember is of a play, “Oedipus Rex.” I knew the story and the end everything still for 2 hours I was completely absorbed by the twists and turns. It is one of the best examples of telling a known story. The myth was known to the audience of Sophocles. Its known to us also. Yet every moment you are on the edge. Its not just the craftsmanship.
How to tell the predictable story and still make it interesting that is our job.
Don’t we all experience the highs and lows while reading the same novel or play third or fourth time? A great work of art has a shelf life. Unfortunately TV does not have a shelf life. Its like a daily news paper.
Have we told any such story recently that is available on DVD?
One of my friends used to caution me, “don’t try to write for posterity!! You are writing for TV.”
Still I wish DVDs of our shows will be on shelf someday. Till the time the opportunity comes let’s tell the most predictable story in slightly unpredictable way.
I know I a not a Sophocles and I am not happy about it.
Before I post I want to add what I found on net about predictability.
“Personally I think a good author can pull it off and bad authors use it (Predictability) as a crutch.”

“The details are what make them work.”

“Interesting writing is always interesting, even if you know what the character is going to do next.”

Arm Twisting Writing

Sorry Ishita
Before I post anything I need to apologies Ishita for I forgot to mention her name in my earlier blog, “I am sorry…”
She has also done a wonderful job and I clearly remember people were more sympathetic towards her in those days of jealousy.
Generally I restrict my views to the characters only and do not comment on the actors portraying them. I feel that is not the purpose of writing the blog.
But I think I got carried away.
So Sorry Ishita. You have given life to some wonderful moment in Utaran.
I like character of Tapasya.
But our viewers like the characters who cry endlessly on screen.
That’s why we make lives difficult of Sia, Archna, Damini, Ichchha, and Chiraiya.
Sometimes I feel we get paid for twisting the arm of the heroine and make her cry.
There is something interesting about developing a plot. I read it on net. You also read it.
Writing looks funny if one looks at it this way.
The aim of an episode is to chase your characters up a tree and then hurl rocks at them. Just make life more and more problematical for your characters - and just when they think they've solved the problem... make it worse.

I am sorry, I just punished you Ichchha.

I had punished Ichchha once in Episode 39 Scene 12, if my memory is not failing. That time she had stolen a video game of Tapasya to impress her friends in the municipal school.

It took me seven hours to write her punishment then. And some more time for revising it.
Today it took me just three hours. It seems I am seasoned now in punishing you Ichchha.

Whenever such a scene comes, my first reaction is to postpone writing the scene. But today I had no choice. The day of punishment is tomorrow.

I am sorry Grown up Ichchha. But let me tell you what happened when you were punished for the stolen video game.

Dates: February 20-22, 2009

Screenplay had assigned you one punishment.

“Damini turns towards Ichchha and now her face turns red in rage…
High treatment …
she rushes near Ichchha slaps her hard…”

Then there was feedback, “not sure if the child should be slapped so many times…”

And your punishment was shortened by using music and montage.

I am sorry. I did not allow it to be shortened.

Actually I did nothing then.

I just let Damini do what she wanted to do. And she did not slap her. She threw you out of the house. She slammed the door. Do you know that she collapsed after that? She really loved you then. Does she love you today? I am not so sure about it.

Will talk to you about it later.
Let me just complete narrating my experience to others. You can also listen to it.

It was a very long scene…11 pages.

What a performance by Vaishali Thakkar and Sparsh!!

They seemed to be borne to do these roles.

So Ichchha got the punishment and then Damini began molding her daughter.
She taught her to sacrifice.

We project sacrifice as the best amongst all the virtues. And damini loves sacrificing.

But today I felt something different.

What Damini does to Ichchha is not so different from what Nani does.
Is it shocking?

A sacrificing woman…
A mother who love her daughter Ichchha.

And the other a selfish woman.
An old woman who hates Ichchha.

But as far as the understanding of human nature goes, I see them on the same platform today.

Damini uses Ichchha to prove her loyalty to her master.
Nani also does the same.
Both of them use her as if she is a puppet in their hands.

Damini,

Do you know that you have failed as a mother? The loyalty to your master weighs more than the love for your child.

I do not discriminate you when I am writing because we writers have to give equal importance to all the characters.

But when I have done that and I am alone I compare you with people I see around me.

I had a maid, Kavita. She once took a loan of ten thousand and paid it back in ten months by not taking salary for ten months. I respect her. She was making difference to the lives of her children by sending them to an English Medium School without any support of Jogi Thakur.

And there is one more maid. She is a widow. 22-23 years of age. She has a daughter, 3 years old. She is also sending her daughter to an English Medium School without taking any loan from anybody.

This is sacrifice.

Do you really think you could not afford education in a municipal school for your child?

Do you really think you had a valid reason to stay in haveli to pay back your master?

Do you really think Thakurs have been treating you as equals?

Just look at the reality.

Yesterday you were taking care of Tapasya. Today your daughter is doing the same.

If Thakurs were just human beings then they would have stopped this practice. They would have told Ichchha, “You and Tapasya are my daughters. So if you do something for her, she should also do the same for your. Don’t treat yourself like a servant.”

No, they wont do so. It’s a convenient relationship for the grown ups and unfortunately their children are paying the price.

I remember a renowned playwright saying once.

Don’t trust the characters on the basis of what they say. Like all human beings, fictional characters also lie. The truth is visible only if you scratch the superficial layer of words.

I want to repeat one thing that I have understood while writing Utaran.

Story is the skeleton for a screenplay writer.
Screenplay is also a skeleton for a dialogue writer.
And the final script is again just a skeleton for the actors.

If actors can scratch the surface then they would definitely come out with unexpected responses that can surprise the viewers.

Sparsh, Vaishali and Ayub hav done it in Utaran.

It’s time for the new actors to do it.

I wish you courage and strength to you Ichchha. I know you are not guilty. But you also won’t listen to me when I say your mother is guilty. After all you are fictionalized to live a pre-destined life.

And I feel sorry for you.