Is less exposure the reason behind the shortage of original screenplay writers in Bollywood ?

Kainath Yasmin Choudhury

In this current era, everyone is dazzled by the biggest celebrity names who have introduced themselves as a brand now under the shadow of their significant directors and producers.Well somehow in all this dazzling,cameras around, a major significant one’s role behind the success of that very film goes unnoticed, the efforts and creativity of the very screenwriter. No matter how much handwork, patience and days of creativity has been involved into that work still hardly anyone bothers about knowing the screenplay writers or script-writers until and unless that person is a renowned personality or is into multiple fields as well.

One of the best well known example of a renowned personality who not only got a major exposure because of his extremely popular series of novels but also several other major projects which is further on going to make his grip into this industry as a screenplay writer really very strong and he is none other than the author Chetan Bhagat whose movies like ‘Kai Po Che’,’2 States’ along with a few more but it was ‘3 Idiots’ ( based on the novel Five point Someone) which set a benchmark and turned out to be one of the most remarkable movie which not only got tonnes of appreciation from the public but even from the critiques, and this movie is still considered to be a masterpiece of its own, even though his recent movies couldn't nurture or attract as much attention but still in even in the current generation after 10 long years, this movie is still remembered and suggested because of its content and the true story it showcased.

Now lets take a look at some of the most prolific and well known writers from our mainstream industry who take the credit of original content which is rare in this era of back to back remakes : Rajkumar Hirani { PK(2014) , one of the most controversially successful movie which received balanced amount of criticism and appreciation when it hit the theatres);Javed Akhtar { Lagaan (2001), this movie has its own legacy and is remembered to be one of most classic movie which highlighted the issues in diversity,colonialism and untouchability;Anurag Kashyap { Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) & Queen (2013) being the most succesful ones in his career);Juhi Chaturvedi { Vicky Donor (2012) , October (2018) }. Lt. Basu Chaterjee { Sara Akash (1969), Jeena Yahan (1979), Byomkesh Bakshi (1993-1997), etc.

Now, if you go through their Biography or do a research on them,you will notice that almost all of them are either directors or producers or even both along with being a scriptwriter but would they had been known and got this much of exposure if they were only into script writing ?

Well,you can easily figure it out with a tiny experiment, by asking among your known ones or even asking the ones you know only on your social platform regarding well known globally recognized movies ; at first they will confidently name the actors, directors and even producers along with that they will even describe the particular or major scenes of that very movie without a halt but the moment you are gonna ask them if they know about the writer behind this amazing script,you will hardly or rarely find any response in return because who bothers about the story right ? Stardom, huge setup, their favorite celebrities in it, even if the story being a remake or not even having a proper plot or a conclusion. Even in the the huge and renowned award functions when the scriptwriters gets felicitated there is hardly any warm gesture, enthusiasm or even encouragement for them.Yes, it is true that a film needs good direction,enough finance and exposures to get promoted along with fresh faces or the celebrities who are already in demand but a movie’s actual base lies on the story it wants to showcase,and its impact on the audience is fully based on that.Maybe by looking at the amount of work done by the scriptwriter it seems like his work is done just after submitting his script but it isn't so because that very script involves years of creativity, efforts, lots and lots of ideas to create that plot,getting a grasp of the dynamic generation and keeping in their mind the keen interests of the individuals and it differs with the genre because maybe a writer who pens down stories based on emotions may not be able to create the same level of impact in a comical genre.So, if you are planning to go for this profession just to satisfy or fulfill your monetary needs then this isnt the right career option for you because its true that anyone can write a story but penning down your words in such a pattern that it strikes a chord in the reader or the audience isn't a child play,you need to focus,have the patience to research and expand your imagination to be able to deliver the desired content that can fit into the current phase.

So, being a script-writer is challenging on its own,and this industry needs to give at least a certain proportion of exposure to to the script-writers so that they can get more encouraged to keep up with their originality just like the way the Regional industries (Tollywood, etc) has been doing so and maybe in the coming years the Bollywood industry will get back its grip just like the way it used to in the 90s.

Moreover, there has been a positive rise in the writer’s field, from Bloggers to Fresh Authors more and more people have taken keen interests into it and maybe in the coming years we can come across more and more Bollywood movies with scores of original scripts along with the scriptwriters getting at least a balanced amount of popularity and recognition.