I want to be a farmer now: Scriptwriter Akashaditya Lama

Like most Indian parents, mother and father of Akashaditya Lama also wanted him to be an engineer. He, however, did what his heart wished him to do. Now he is a highly successful person as a scriptwriter in TV and films. Having recently directed Cigarette Ki Tarah, he has been the assistant director of many films, serials and commercials and has worked with both Doordarshan and satellite television. Shows like Kumkum, Zara, Hamari Betiyoon Ka Vivaah, Aayushman, Kkusum etc are to his credit. Tellychakkar.com corners him for an in-depth interview. Excerpts: You are a diploma holder in mechanical engineering. Why did you change your professional stream? (pauses) I have a family which has a army background. While my grandfather was in the army, my father was in the CISF (parliamentary force). As for me, I either wanted to become an army officer or an air force pilot, when I was in school. However as a school boy I noticed that war just wasn’t happening. I felt that I would get bored in the army if there wasn’t a war and it was only then that I decided to try out some other career instead. I developed an interest to become a film director while I was in class IX. On my parents insistence, I pursued mechanical engineering. Soon I dropped out of it and came over to Mumbai to pursue my dreams in film direction. Initially, I worked as assistant director of ‘C’ grade films. Later I got into advertising and assisted Anil Sharma in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. After that, I joined Balaji Telefilms as a screenplay writer after which I went to Indonesia for a while. Tell us about your upcoming film Eighteen Plus. (smiles) Well, Eighteen Plus is a tentative title. It’s a bold theme which will be produced by Sudhakar Bokade who had earlier produced Saajan, Prahar, Sapne Sajan Ke among others. Initially, Sunny Leone was to do one of the roles, however, things didn’t work out. I feel that big stars will not be comfortable doing the film as it has a bold theme. Nevertheless, it has some fine actors. We will announce the project in a month’s time. Your previous film Cigarette Ki Tarah wasn’t a box office success… Cigarette Ki Tarah was a bold but a regular film. It wasn’t my concept or story anyway; it’s only that I just directed it. In every interview of mine (even before release), I did mention that it is not a different film. My next film Eighteen Plus is surely not a run-off-the-mill movie. You choose quite bold themes for your films whereas all your TV shows are very family oriented. Any reason? I strongly believe that there should be a strong censorship for TV. Even I wouldn’t like to see uncomfortable scenes with my parents. TV is after all a living room affair. On the contrary when you buy a cinema ticket, you volunteer to watch a film. The content of TV is for housewives and middle class families while films may be divided into two categories- regional films and those for the urban viewers. The urban viewers want to see something different which includes films that are not meant for family viewing regarding which Indian society may not want to talk about. How did you learn the art of filmmaking? I picked up a lot by assisting noted Kashmiri filmmaker and screenwriter Arun Kaul, whose film Diksha won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. My theatre background also proved me beneficial. Basically, I learnt the art through work experience. Your play Mohenjodaro is highly successful… I had written Mohenjodaro when I was a 17-year-old school boy. My mother is a Bengali whereas my father is a Tibetian (his family settled in India for last hundred years). The inter-racial marriage of my parents inspired me to write a play centering around our ancient civilization. Mohenjodaro reminded me of how in India, many races have blended into. It is very close to my heart. Initially I approached producers as I wanted to make a film or serial out of it. At that time nobody was interested to do so. Kuldeep Bakshish of the Little Ballet Troupe decided to direct it along with me. Aanaahad- the lead actor of the film Lahore, Raunaq Ahuja who was in Sanjog Se Bani Sangini and Aman Verma who is best known for being the host of Khullja Sim Sim has played the male protagonist of the play from time-to-time. Amrin Chakkiwala who was in Beend Banoonga Ghodi Chadhunga and Devoleena Bhattacharjee (Gopi Bahu of Saath Nibhana Saathiya) also Binny Sharma (of Dance India Dance fame and the female lead in Sanjog Se Bani Sangini) had played the heroine previously. Then someone suggested Mitali Nag who was appropriate for the role as she is both a talented dancer and singer. Mohenjodaro has been staged in all prestigious theatre festivals in India like the Kalidasa Samaroha, Nandikar National Theatre Festival, Sutradhar Festival, Jashn-e-Malwah etc. The response received was awesome. What kind of response did you receive from your play Krishna? Krishna has been written by noted TV and theatre actor and director Ashok Banthia who played Nawab of Pataudi Senior in Bodyline. Krishna, that has me as a co-producer along with Ashok Banthia under our banner BigBang Theatres Foundation is directed by Kulvinder Bakshish and it opened the first show of Krishna at Udaipur last month and are planning to have shows in Mumbai very soon. Your show Jhilmil Sitaaron Ka Aangan Hoga was on the theme of ghar jamais. Do you think being a ghar jamai is wrong even if the husband is financially independent? Maybe he is living in his wife’s house as it is an expensive city that has astronomical room rents and he doesn’t have his own house. It is very opportunistic to be a ghar jamai. Why should one become a ghar jamai as he doesn’t have a house to live in? One shouldn’t marry a girl just for accommodation. Men and women have been conditioned by society into gender specific roles for years. It is tough to free yourself from this mindset. I am a traditional guy from a middle-class family who wouldn’t like to be a ghar jamai in the first place. If my to be in-laws don’t have a son, I will surely love to support them and be their son but not on the condition that they would dictate their terms on me and that I will be dependent on them. It is a foregone conclusion that the husband should be the one who earns the bread and butter for a family where both the husband and wife are working. The wife may add jam and jelly. How do you feel about the ending of the ghar jamai track? The ghar jamai track ended with the death of the male protagonist Akash. All the ghar jamais have now moved into their respective homes with their wives. Now, it is totally a Rajshri show dedicated to Indian tradition and culture with no villain or vamp. Even Rakesh Paul who played Pratap who tried to kill Akash has changed. It is just that Charu Jhethani is slightly negative by character and that is because she doesn’t have a child of her own. She had raised her divorcee brother-in-law’s kids. She is just insecure that the kids will get aloof from her now that they have Angana as their mother. The viewers will feel sympathy for her. Jhilmil Sitaaron Ka Aangan Hoga is now about remarriage. Why are there so many shows on remarriage of late? In Sholay, didn’t Radha (Jaya Bachchan) get remarried. Now remarriage is very common in Indian cities. Nowadays, there are more shows on remarriages as the demand for these shows have risen. You have written many shows for Doordarshan too. How would you compare the work culture of Doordarshan to that of satellite television? Some of my shows like Joh Kahunga Sach Kahunga had actually fetched a higher TRP than Kaun Banega Crorepati. Doordarshan has less viewership in cities and more viewership in small towns. The budgets of Doordarshan shows are also less. Also the fate of Doordarshan’s shows aren’t always determined by TRP. Many DD shows have been taken off air when they were raking very high numbers. What are your future plans? Besides Eighteen Plus, I am also directing another film. Now, I want to be a farmer. I have brought a farming land and wish to grow crops. Once my farm house gets properly established, I will live there and do my work from there itself. I will come to the city just thrice a week for work-related purposes. As a writer do you prefer seasons or dailies? I definitely prefer seasons. However, if writers are eyeing money, then they will obviously prefer dailies. After a while, the stories of dailies get boring and some characters lose their charm. You obviously compromise on creativity in the process. While in seasons, you get to do better work. How else can the quality of Indian television improve? You can make a saas bahu into a Balika Vadhu. Earlier, stories of Sarat Chandra and Munshi Premchand were made into serials. Now, we have to tailor make our stories into what our viewers wish to see. With better cameras and equipments, technology has improved though.