He is a man of few words, but powerful ones. Yes… we are talking about well-known dialogue writer Anil Deshmukh who brings a character alive by churning out gripping dialogues. The writer, who has penned dialogues for most of the popular shows on Hindi television, is currently weaving sentences for Colors’ Uttaran. Tellychakkar.com follows the writer to his writing room and catches him for a free-wheeling interview for the Behind the Lens section. Excerpts: How did your journey in the entertainment industry begin? Born and raised in Madhya Pradesh, I completed my M. Sc from Ratlam and later went on to do M.Phil in chemistry. Later, I came over to Mumbai and joined as a lecturer in one of the colleges in the city where I started the chemistry department. After that I started with theatre writing and wrote screenplays for theatre. After some time, I bagged few shows as a dialogue writer. Some key shows I have written for are Laagi Tujhse Lagan on Colors, Yeh Pyaar Na Hoga Kam, Mata Pita Ke Charno Mein Swarg, Dil Se Diya Vachan. Currently as you may know, I am writing dialogues for Uttaran on Colors. What is the nature of your work? Well, well, we are a total of three people who are involved in the writing process. The scriptwriter writes the bound script, the screenplay writer writes the script while I write the dialogues. My work as a dialogue writer begins once the plot is prepared. Getting into every minute detail, I sketch the characters and then define dialogues for each character. After that I email my copy to the creatives. How many hours of work do you put in? Earlier there were days when I used to write for multiple shows at a stretch. This did hamper my health. Now, I am just writing for Uttaran. Earlier we used to shoot cut-to-cut but now there’s a rule that if you shoot cut-to-cut, the production house will have to pay to the channel. So, we have a bank of episodes of one week. I can proudly say that I work for seven to eight hours mostly. I make sure that I write for at least two day’s episodes. I write for a day’s episode only if there is an emergency. How realistic are the dialogues that you write? Well television and real life are poles apart. Very few situations on television match with that of real life. The thing is that I have been associated with Uttaran from its 21st episode. Initially, you must have noticed that it was based on parent-child relationship. You see, a writer has to know as to what is going on in the society. Like I get to know the complexities of a child-parent relation by observing minutely a situation of how a father reacts when his child throws a tantrum. All this leads me to define each character and their dialogues. Which has been the most taxing show that you have written for till date? I feel it’s Uttaran - there are so many shades in each character. Be it Tapsaya, who is not completely grey, negative or white. There are other characters and each of them has their own set of characterizations that I have to take care of. What kind of research do you carry out while writing a dialogue? Since I am a science student, it comes to me naturally. It’s in my instinct when the creatives tell me that they need a 10 second dialogue. I make sure it’s just for 10 seconds or 20 seconds after gauging as to how many dialogues the character needs to portray in the particular scene. Initially, in Uttaran, there was a Bundelkhand sequence wherein I had to pitch in the Bundelkhand dialect. I researched on novels, I watched old Hindi cinema where the dialects are used in proper connotation. Moreover, I am well-versed with the pattern of the actors and their characters. Did you find any difficulty at the production level in terms of dialogues getting chopped? Yes, I did. It is not that I always get appreciated; there are times wherein I write something that become way too lengthy and my lines have to be chopped. But I always make sure that in case of any urgency or emergency, if the actor is unwell and the dialogues are chopped, I am kept in the loop so that there is no misunderstanding. Otherwise, I know how much is too much. How has your rapport been with actors? Well, I must say that the younger lot is much more money-oriented but senior actors like Ayub Khan, Vaishali Thakkar and Pratima Kazmi are more respectful and they value each and every person who is behind the camera. Which show did you enjoy doing the most? Well, it ought to be Laagi Tujhse Lagan in which every character was well-defined. The characters, the dialect and everything were so perfect that its reach and popularity amazed all of us. Though Uttaran is popular, but my best experience was mainly working with Playtime Creations, the producers of Laagi Tujhse Lagan. As a dialogue writer, you may have a grip over several languages. How many? I know to read, write and speak Hindi, Marathi and English besides I can understand and speak Gujarati but can’t write. Therefore, for sequences like some geographical locations, I refer to books and novels. What are your future plans? Well… I would love to do movies; but I am not the kind of person to write comic dialogues. I can write realistic comedy, but am not at all conversant in putting in jokes. Any advice for new actors? Yes, I would just like to say that one must not only focus on actors but there are various people associated behind the camera, light man, cameraman, spot boys and associate director et al. They should also be respected. In the current scenario, I only see senior actors respecting and understanding every single person behind the camera.