Sibling rivalry to an aspiring chef dodging questions about his career were among teenagers' plots at MAMI's script writing workshop
Tara Rai, a 17-year-old student of Cathedral and John Connon School in south Mumbai, is a budding writer who loves watching films. She has a big screen story to tell— one that involves a village woman and a city slicker who get to know each other during the course of a boat ride. It's a conversational tale, says the soft-spoken girl, one of the nine participants at the Half Ticket Young Adult Script Writing Workshop held on Friday at a suburban five-star hotel.
The aspiring screenwriters were mentored by comedian, screenwriter and lyricist Varun Grover, filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee, and actor Dia Mirza as part of the ongoing MAMI film festival. For Rai, the experience was a revelation of sorts. She had attended the preparatory foundational workshop conducted by writer Sanyukhta Chawla Sheikh a few days ago. The starting point of Rai's discovery was to realise that a story must have a beginning, a middle and an end. Her close interactions with Grover on Friday helped her understand the marriage of visuals and words through a step-by-step process: how a story needs to be divided into scenes in a sequence of events. Then came the technicalities of screenplay writing and the attendant problems. “Since cinema is essentially a visual medium, I had to learn to think in terms of moving images for which Mr Grover's mentoring was very helpful,” says Rai.
The idea of holding such workshops was conceived and executed last year when the Half Ticket section — meant for children and young adults — was introduced at MAMI. “The purpose was to involve young minds, nurture their creativity and give them the exposure of working with celebrities,” says Monica Wahi, one of the organisers. It's a two-way traffic. For the mentors, it's like reliving the adolescent phase in the company of youngsters and getting a glimpse of the aspirants' thought processes,” she says.
For Banerjee, it was a rewarding experience. “I took two lines from each of their stories, asked them a series of questions and gave them choices to carry the narrative forward. In the end, I had three very good storylines that can be turned into successful films,” says the director of such hits as Khosla ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Love Sex Aur Dhokha.
The nine youngsters came from different backgrounds. Fourteen-year-old Afreen Bano is a student of Vinay High School that is affiliated to Teach for India. Her story revolves around a young man's frustration who is needled by his parents and relatives with questions about his career. He wants to be a chef but is afraid to convey his decision to those around him.
The participants are as much in love with films as any youngster of their age. Rai's choice of favourite flicks is a mix of Hollywood and Bollywood: Imitation Game, Zootopia, Haider and Queen.
For Misha Singh from JB Petit, it's Raju Hirani's films, ET, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Neerja and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. The 14-year-old, whose story at the workshop explored the facets of sibling rivalry — a common condition in most households, but in this case looked at from the perspective of a teenager — has had a change in resolve after the session with the mentors. \"I was earlier thinking about studying biology, but now I am not so sure,” she says, suggesting a career in screenplay writing cannot be ruled out.
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