Cracking the code
Quintessential storytellers, there is a story behind everything they say or do — right from how Siddharth Singh and Garima Wahal became a formidable writer duo to what working with heavyweights like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Sandeep Reddy Vanga means to them. As the writers and lyricists of big-budget extravaganzas like ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’, ‘Padmaavat’ and ‘Kabir Singh’ make their entry into the landscape of Punjabi entertainment, yet another story unfolds.
Siddharth and Garima were working with Desi Melodies, a music company owned by Arvindr Khaira and Jaani, when they came in touch with Jay Randhawa and soon ended up agreeing to write the screenplay for his recently-released film, ‘Badnaam’. And once they said yes to Jay’s proposal, extensive research followed.
The film deals with alcoholism and they found themselves visiting many bhatthis (distilleries) in the sweltering June heat and studying how the liquor market operates. Born and brought up in Hyderabad, Siddharth has remained away from his Punjabi roots, but toured the state extensively along with Delhi-bred Garima, making several trips to Chandigarh to understand what the audience in this part of the country wants. At the same time, they believe, “Stories have no language and are universal.”
Siddharth and Garima’s tryst with Punjabi arclights is not a fleeting affair. They have already zeroed in on a film inspired by a book on Partition whose name they don’t want to reveal at this point. Writing for period films is more invigorating than challenging, and one historical film they are super excited about is on the great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji, directed by Sandeep Singh, in which ‘Kantara’ fame Rishab Shetty plays the lead.
Their foray into Maratha history has nothing to do with the prevalent mood of hyper-nationalism. Rather, they promise, “We will never fan communal hatred or make a propaganda film.” Stepping back into the pages of history can stir a hornet’s nest, but they are unperturbed. “When our history itself is so interesting, why distort it and create unnecessary shock value?”
The brains behind ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’, they beg to differ when people call the film a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sanitation campaign. Garima reveals that they had written this story in 2012, when the BJP was not in power. “For years, we were running around to get the movie made. Of course, once Viacom and Akshay Kumar stepped in, it became a big deal and the film was a superhit,” she recalls, adding that working with big production houses is a huge plus, for “they know how to sell their films”. But the downer, Siddharth shares, is, “Since many of them hail from filmy families, they don’t know life outside their air-conditioned studios. It becomes very difficult to pitch original ideas.” Besides, Garima adds, “With big players, stakes often become too high and they employ many tactics like remixes.”
Having won the IIFA award for their lilting song ‘Satranga’ (‘Animal’), the duo feels that the new trend of hiring various musicians and lyricists for one film isn’t such a great idea. For them, penning songs is as organic a process as writing screenplays and involves complete understanding of the script and the characters’ arc.
An integral part of the film industry, they don’t sugar-coat their observations on how the cookie crumbles in filmdom. Or in the world of OTT, which they insist is falling prey to the very star system that plagues the Hindi film industry and its distribution. They faced many stumbling blocks for the streaming of their second directorial venture, ‘Saale Aashiq’ (the first being ‘Dukaan’), on OTT and had to finally settle for direct-to-TV release. The subjects of these directorial signatures — surrogacy in ‘Dukaan’ and honour killings in ‘Saale Aashiq’ — were not the easiest to handle. They say these were in line with their ‘activist’ stance. How, in that case, do they see themselves doing a ‘Kabir Singh’ or an ‘Animal’, both flayed for projecting toxic masculinity? More than Siddharth, Garima puts up a spirited defence of Vanga, whom she calls an “original filmmaker who has broken many norms”, and his films. She asserts, “Neither was Preeti in ‘Kabir Singh’ a weak woman nor was the film misogynistic. Yes, Kabir was a flawed character but why can’t we tell stories of such people?” Siddharth chips in, “If you think Ranbir in ‘Animal’ is ideal, there is a problem with you, not the makers.” For them, cinema is all about stirring its viewers out of their comfort zone. They say in chorus, “Surprisingly, the audiences got what the makers were trying to say, but the critics didn’t.”
Siddharth and Garima bonded while working at a radio station. Today, as they navigate through many conflicts to arrive on the same page, syncing ideologically and creatively, they don’t even remember who wrote what. The world might wax eloquent about the power of one, but here’s to creativity raised to the power of two. Watch it flow further in Bhansali’s upcoming ‘Love and War’ and Dharma Productions’ ‘Dhadak 2’. As lyricists for both these films, they are certainly on song. Like Bhansali, one of their favourite directors who is “intense and great fun on the sets”, they too are sagacious and mirthful at once.
