Screenplay

I have always been curious in reading the names that appear on the screen before and after movie is being screened. There are whole lots of technicians who transform the vision of director, the fantasy into a reality. Perhaps myself being a curtain puller in inter-collegiate events, I know what importance it plays in making a program success! The word that I had least understood for years was Screenplay, perhaps until I saw Saathiya.
Here the movie starts with Vivek driving bike and hearing ‘O humdum suniyo re’ and somewhere in the middle of the story again you see repeating the same scene but much has happened in between those two same scenes. Otherwise what Saathiya is, it has no story which is strikingly different as Swades or Lagaan, a very ordinary love story, which happens very commonly, both meeting in marriage, attraction, next dramatic view in two oppositely passing train (that’s quiet impossible otherwise), superb straight- forward proposal in train, coming together-leaving for parents, and then Runaway marriage, differences after marriage (commonly termed as ‘ate daal ka bhav pata hona’). Apart from calculated acting of Rani and Vivek (and small yet crispy role of Sandhya Mridul), its screenplay is what which acts as a fuel to keep our interest burning. Story could be the strength of a movie like Lagaan has, but with a simple story like Saathiya, getting away with such a pleasant result, could be achieved by Mani only.

If Sanjay Leela Bhansali could be ‘feelingful’ director then Mani could be called as thoughtful. If Ram Ram Gopal Verma is a man of silences in dark room, then Mani could be calculated words with timing (Remember another classic propose to Isha by Michael Mukherjee of Yuva, “ Yeh Pyaar vyaar kuchh nahi hota hai, mujhe jhel sakati ho to aa jao.” ). If Karan Johar is only good at handling family soap type movies then Mani could handle variety of stories with midas touch.

Another good part of Saathiya has been dialogues by Gulzar. He is master in weaving words together and farming a sentence. They are low-weight yet meaningful and humorous too. When Vivek runs to see Rani in her gallery, Sandhya Mridul – Rani’s sister- says “Kise dekh rahe ho, who ladki jo kapde utar .., mera matlab hai rassi par se kapde utar rahi hai usko?” You see, it’s not a vulgar, it’s actually humorous. That’s what has made Saathiya superb alongwith ARRahman’s Composition and not to forget ‘Yeh udi udi udi’ by Adnam Sami.

What I have admired in Mani’s film is the way relation ship between man and woman is portrayed. Generally the Gender is taken as giving deliberate importance to woman to the level of sidelining male, but in Mani’s character both are actually ‘equal’. The simply Vivek has conveyed his feeling, without shying away, not silently keeping flower in hand and waiting for months to speak out, Why? If it is so natural!

Also see the choice of actors for the roles. Even in the tamil Alaipayuthe, the original version of Saathiya has Madhavan and Shalini. They are irreplaceable in their roles-perfectly tailor made-as like Rani and Vivek in Saathiya.

Oh! In the middle of writing this, I realized that Saathiya is not directed by Mani but his assistant Shaad Ali, who has almost vanished after that. But with this much classic, it is not possible, by heart, to give credit to Shaad. Romeo and Juliet even if transferred in marathi by me, credit would always remain with Shakespeare, isn’t it? I am waiting for Shaad Ali’s next movie. He has a great legacy behind him; he is son of Mujaffar Ali who filmed Umrao Jaan.

Another good example of a good screenplay is Yuva, again by Maniratnam. The way three different lives of youths woven together and yet there is a common stream and at last the way they meet at the Howrah Bridge is a classic piece of story telling and screenplay.

In the old films, where Anurupa Roy is the mother of Abhishek Bacchan kind of films, the mother tells the story how she became old, then bald and grey haired character would wear a wig and be hero’s father. It was that kind of screenplay those days.

Among all, I believe, nobody knows what a screenplay is as much as Maniratnam does. All directors’ with different style are appreciated, but Mani leaves his trail behind.