All voices must coexist

Cinema is not a medium of education. Its prime purpose, first and foremost, is to entertain. Yes, within the magic of storytelling, you could pack in a message or two or something of educative value, but not at the cost of entertainment. Who goes to a cinema hall, pays for a ticket to be lectured upon? My series ‘CAT’ has been earning accolades for painting a realistic picture of Punjab. But had I failed to engage the viewers, had I not stuck to the tone and tenor of my story, I doubt anyone would have been pleased. For, cinema is the art of engagement and entertainment.

My affaire d’amour with movies started in early childhood. Since my father was in the Air Force, we kept moving from one place to another. What never changed was our weekend forays at special theatres. The projector room fascinated me, and I even started collecting negatives. When my father was posted at Pathankot, VHS had taken over cinema halls and I watched even more movies. In the late 1980s, I was growing up on a staple diet of Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt films, and was mighty impressed.

Today, without arrogance, but with a certain degree of pride, I can proclaim that I am almost an encyclopaedia of cinema. Ask me a question about any music director, lyricist or filmmaker, especially of the 1950s and 1960s, and in all probability, I will be able to give you the right answer. Dare I say, before I became a filmmaker, I was a film aficionado first. I strongly believe the more you watch, the more you read and see, the more you learn. Input is equal to output: this is my eternal motto.

When I was doing Masters in Economics at Baroda, Internet opened me to world cinema. Italian film director Federico Fellini, Japanese Akira Kurosawa and our very own Satyajit Ray are among my favourite directors. Cinema had to be my de facto choice. How much the three-month diploma in filmmaking from Noida helped me I can’t say for sure, except that it gave me the confidence to knock doors in Bombay. As was the norm of the industry, I worked as an assistant to several top-notch directors and learnt the craft. But you can only imbibe the technique, rest you have to master yourself, and your voice has to be distinctly individualistic. Real recognition came with writing. Today, OTT has given writers a clear edge. But when I started, it wasn’t the most glorious job on the earth. Yet, later, I met filmmakers like Tushar Hiranandani, who himself is a noted writer but still reposed faith in my writing abilities. Saand Ki Aankh, for which I wrote the screenplay, won me the best screenplay writer nomination in the same league as writers of Gully Boy and Article 15, indeed an honour.

Though I turned to production and direction, I simply love to write. Each day, for at least three to four hours, I gather my thoughts and put these down on paper. Writing, of course, is as much about thinking as actually putting the pen to paper. Ideas can float any time of the day or night, while travelling, driving, or even on a vacation. I just scribble my thoughts and distance myself for a few days. If after a week, I still find these fascinating, I go ahead, else I simply junk the idea.

The story of ‘CAT’ had been on my mind, and I do feel strongly about the issues, be it insurgency or the drug menace that I have handled in the series. Some people may think that I have painted the police in dark shades. But that is not true. Look at the portrayal of policewoman Babita. In every spectrum of society, there are good and bad people. Common man, too, is not above board. But the police and politicians have a much larger role to play… they are the lawmakers and uphold the law. What they do impacts others. If there was/is no nexus between the politicians and the police, would things have come to such a pass as they did in Punjab? Besides, if everything is good, if all were/are honest, then there would be no conflict, it would be Ram Rajya or Satyug. But, this is Kalyug. At the end of the day, ‘CAT’is a fictional story, a human story, told with honesty.

Though I am being lauded for how I got the nuances right in my series and that being a Punjabi from the border town of Gurdaspur may have informed my creative process, I think it’s the job of a filmmaker to do his homework thoroughly and be an avid student of human life. Currently, I am working on a film on Partition. I wasn’t even born when the cataclysmic event rocked Punjab, but I have heard enough stories and read so much on the subject that when I get down to capturing the feel, I should be able to do justice to the tragedy which, I feel, essentially affected Punjab and Bengal. Apart from being a cinephile, I read as vociferously Saadat Hasan Manto, Mahadevi Verma, Rajinder Singh Bedi… the list of my favourite authors is endless. Besides, who can forget Amrita Pritam or Shiv Kumar Batalvi? I am particularly fond of poetry, probably that is why Suvinder Vicky’s character Sehtab Singh in ‘CAT’ has a suitable couplet for the most unlikeliest of situations. Of course, each character that you draw has a bit of yourself in him or her. My first audience is myself, too, and I am my best and worst critic. We all should be — that is the best starting point.

To my fellow brethren of Punjabi cinema, my only piece of advice is: you are doing good work, only explore more genres. Directors like Gurvinder Singh come up with newer experimental subjects all the time. Comedy is fine, Punjabis have that quintessential joie de vivre. I have written and produced Puada too. But let us have all shades of cinema, all voices must coexist. Go with your conviction. Today, regional is universal. When I decided to make my series in Punjabi, I could not have imagined the stupendous response it has received. I am overwhelmed, and, more so, by the compliment that the series which depicts a real and not an imagined Punjab has an international feel. I am thankful to Netflix for giving me full creative freedom and letting me tell my story the way I wanted to. In future, too, my ambition is just that. Success does different things to different people. For me, it’s a signal to put my head down and keep at it.

— The writer has written and directed the hit OTT series ‘CAT’

(As told to Nonika Singh)