ITV

Tag: Qalam

  • Scriptwriters course ‘Qalam’ in full swing

    MUMBAI: With positive response from channels as well as production houses, television and media services company Indiantelevision.com kicked off the third edition of its annual scriptwriter’s course, Qalam on 21 June 2003.

    The four-month long comprehensive TV Scriptwriters course has been ideated, created, executed and guided by a governing board comprising of prominent television writers and media personalities including, Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana, ace writer Vinod Ranganath, Indian Television Dot Com CEO, Anil Wanvari, film maker Aditya Seth and writer-director Vijay ‘Victor’ Acharya.
     

    Qalam 2004 will be co-ordinated by Aditya Seth. The course gives participants a golden opportunity to present their concepts directly to the channel executives and representatives of production houses. New topics have been added to this year’s syllabus.

    The selection process for the course included two rounds comprising a written test and personal Interviews. The selected candidates belong to a variety of fields ranging from amateur scriptwriting to content / technical writing.

    The goal of Qalam is to convert the aspiring scriptwriters to real professionals and placing them in prominent production houses and television channels. Qalam’s earlier batch has produced students who are currently working with serials like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, Kitty Party and Yeh Meri Life Hain amongst others while some are involved in film scripts too.

    Commenting on the launch of Qalam ’04 Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana says, “We’re sharing our hard-earned knowledge with you and we expect you to respect and learn from what we’ve accumulated over the years – quite like in the gurukul system.”

    With earlier batch students currently working with good projects, Dr Khurana feels that the ruling vision of Qalam is to get the creative talents their due.

    The course is slated to run for 16-week with a minimum of three interactive sessions per week. The weekend sessions will be longer and the focus will be to illustrate the educational experience with the help of video sessions. Besides this, the participants will also be taking part in interactive sessions like discussions, ideation and analyses.

  • Indiantelevision Dot Com’s Qalam to commence from 21 June

    Indiantelevision Dot Com’s Qalam to commence from 21 June

    MUMBAI: Good news for all those aspiring writers who couldn’t apply for Indiantelevision Dot Com’s scriptwriting course Qalam, which was supposed to commence from 14 June.

    Interested candidates can still join the course as the date of the commencement of the course has been extended till 21 June. The entrance for aspirants will be held on 19 June.

    Qalam has already received an overwhelming response from wannabe script writers. Keeping this in mind, the date for the course has been extended.

    Qalam is a full fledged, well-structured, four month comprehensive Television Scriptwriting Course guided by a governing board comprising Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana, ex-Siddhant Cinevision creative director Vinod Ranganath, Indian Television Dot Com CEO Anil Wanvari, film maker Aditya Seth and writer-director Vijay ‘Victor’ Acharya.

    In its second year, the course will be co-ordinated by Seth and boasts of an acclaimed faculty which includes television luminaries like noted scriptwriters and directors BM Vyas, Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Ashwini Dhir and Vivek Agnihotri, among others.

    The questionnaire for the examination has already been put up on this website along with eligibility criteria, course content and other details.

    Qalam’s earlier batch has produced students who are currently working with serials like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, Kitty Party and Yeh Meri Life Hain amongst others.

    The course fee is set at Rs 12,000. For further information call Abhishek at 022-2673 0986/659.

  • Indiantelevision Dot Com’s ‘Qalam’ back again

    Indiantelevision Dot Com’s ‘Qalam’ back again

    MUMBAI: Here’s a piece of good news for all those who wish to make it big as scriptwriters. Indiantelevision Dot Com is back with Qalam, its full fledged, well-structured, four month comprehensive Television Script Writing Course, starting 14 June.

    The course will be guided by a governing board comprising Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana, ex-Siddhant Cinevision creative director, Vinod Ranganath, Indian Television Dot Com CEO, Anil Wanvari, film maker Aditya Seth and writer-director Vijay ‘Victor’ Acharya.

    Starting its second batch, the course boasts of an acclaimed faculty including television luminaries like noted scriptwriters and directors BM Vyas, Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Ashwini Dhir, Vivek Agnihotri among others. The course will be co-ordinated by Aditya Seth.

    Qalam’s earlier batch has produced students who are currently working with serials like Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, Kitty Party and Yeh Meri Life Hain amongst others while some are involved in film scripts too.

    Reema Suri, a student of the first batch, says she had a very good learning experience at the course last year and it taught her a lot that is being of assistance to her now. Currently working as an assistant screenplay writer for Yeh Meri Life Hai, Suri was the script coordinator for the same show earlier. She even assisted Vinod Ranganath in some of his assignments.

    Married for five years, Suri had no previous experience on script writing when she joined Qalam in August last year.

    Keeping in view the different skill sets that the students are required to master, the syllabus for Qalam has been broken down into four modules.

    To begin with, the first will initiate students in the rudiments of story ideas that are relevant to television, the different kind of concepts that work for the medium and the creation of the characters that go into making a complete story.

    The second will deal in how to weave a story into an interesting teleplay, the graphing of the story, the differences in the teleplay for different kinds of stories and on how to create cliffhangers that retain the interest of a teleplay.

    In the third module, trainers will take students into the in-depth construction of the scene and dialogues while the fourth module will see students creating a story from their own ideas/concepts, fleshing out the characters, developing the plot and the overall structure of the script. They will also write the teleplay and dialogues for an episode. Each student shall have the independence to choose his/her generic specialisation of television writing according to aptitude.

    The 16-week course will have a minimum of three interactive sessions per week. The week-end sessions will be longer and the focus will be to illustrate the educational experience with the help of video sessions. Besides this, the participants will also be taking part in interactive sessions like discussions, ideation and analyses. Each module will be of three weeks and have six to nine sessions.

    Suhana Bhatia, another ex-student, defines last year’s course as a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Her story is a bit different. A post graduate in mass communication, Bhatia was providing English-speaking classes for grown ups before joining Qalam.

    What prompted her to join Qalam was her triumph at the three-day jam session on scriptwriting held by indiantelevision.com earlier. Currently working as an associate screenplay writer for Kittie Party, Bhatia regrets not taking enough inputs from the guest faculties during the course. Other than Kitty Party, Bhatia has also concieved and co-written an yet-to-be featured telefilm called 30 Day Trail for Sahara with her Qalam batchmate Rajan Makhijani.

    Makhijani, on the other hand, is involved in another Sahara telefilm and is also scripting an untitled feature film.

    Priyanka Khimani, another ex-student, who is co-writing Tamanna, a daily serial for Zee Telefilms, (it will be telecast by the end of this month at prime time, 10 pm) is also establishing herself in the film industry. She has written the dialogues for Basma, an inter-country movie produced in collaboration with Muscat (Sultanate of Oman). Khimani’s batch-mate, Madhuri Kamat is associated with the screenplay of Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi.

    Aspirants will first have to clear an entrance exam which will test the language, perception and ideation skills of the students.

    The questionnaire for the examination has already been put up on this website along with eligibility criteria, course content and other details.

    The fees are set at Rs 12,000. For further information call Abhishek at 022-2673 0986/659.

  • Nimbus’ Khurana introduces Qalam 2003

    MUMBAI: Indiantelevision.com’s scriptwriters’ course Qalam was officially flagged off today at production house Siddhant Cinevision’s office in Mumbai with an introduction by Nimbus Communications CEO Dr Akash Khurana.


    An orientation by Khurana, course coordinator Aditya Seth, and Vinod Ranganath set the tone for the first day of the course. Emphasising the importance of close interaction of students with the coordinators as also within themselves, the faculty managed to create a relaxed atmosphere for preliminary introductions of students and faculty alike.
    As quite a few of the students were holding jobs, concerns of convenient timings and schedules were discussed and worked out. The introductions and discussions threw up interesting insights into the backgrounds of those present. The class of Qalam 2003 came across as a diverse mix of people – some with extensive experience in related fields and others fresh from college – each hoping to bring in their own perspectives to the hands-on and interactive learning approach.
    The faculty took due care to ask each one of them and assess what each wanted or expected from the course and what they planned to do with the education Qalam would impart them. The coordinators also explained what they as media experts looked for in terms of performance, dedication, and ethical play.
    As Khurana aptly put it to the students, “We’re sharing our hard-earned knowledge with you and we expect you to respect and learn from what we’ve accumulated over the years – quite like in the gurukul system.”
    Looking at the enthusiastic response from the participants, Qalam, the only course that fills the need for trained television and film writers, is on and well on its way.

    Also read:
    Scriptwriters course Qalam 2003 kicks off Saturday

  • Scriptwriters course Qalam 2003 kicks off Saturday

    MUMBAI: The television industry’s constant cry for trained scriptwriters is getting a hearing and how. With positive response from channels as well as production houses, television and media services company Indiantelevision.com flags off a three-month comprehensive TV Scriptwriters course tomorrow.
    Qalam, which is what the course is called, has been ideated, created and executed by prominent television writers and media personalities.
    Qalam will open tomorrow, in Mumbai, with a valedictory address by award winning writer and Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana.
    Addressing a press conference today at The Taj Hotel in south Mumbai, Dr Khurana reiterated the general feeling in the television industry saying that, “While everyone feels the need for such a course, very few people do anything about evolving writers and training them.”


    “I would have done better if I had similar training facilities in my time,” he reflected.
    Siddhant Cinevision creative director Vinod Ranganath, who’s the force behind the structuring of the course, feels that Qalam is about getting quality writers into the industry. He believes Qalam will provide structured and specific teaching for aspiring writers to cater to the growing and demanding television industry. “Qalam has more to do with the technique of writing than linguistics. Language can be trained,” he explained.
    With more than 20,000 hours of programming generated every year in only the Hindi entertainment television channels, Indiantelevision.com CEO Anil Wanvari believes, “That’s a lot of plots, stories, tracks, and dialogue. And we don’t have enough trained talent.”
    Emphasising the value of hands-on learning experience, Dr. Khurana said the course would focus on a practical learning-by-doing approach. He said companies like Contiloe Films, Star TV, Neo Films, In House Productions, and Nimbus Communications, which have come forward to sponsor scholarships, will invite students to come and avail of the infrastructural and other facilities in their offices.
    This, he stressed, would not only give them an idea of the real working terms but will also help them to put together their own body of work by the time they are through with the course. This tangible profile of hands-on experience, he said, would also help them in jump-starting their careers. The sponsors also indicated that they would be interacting closely with the students and would consume some of the skilled products that the course will throw up.
    The course is slated to run for 12 weeks with three interactive sessions a week, spanning two to four hours. The longer weekend sessions would focus on illustrating the educational experience with the help of video sessions. Additionally, participants will be urged to take part in the discussions, ideation and analyses. Interactivity will be the keyword for the entire course. The course fees have been set at Rs 10,000.
    Qalam has on its governing board Dr Khurana, Ranganath, Wanvari, writer-director Aditya Seth, and writer-director Vijay ‘Victor’ Acharya.
    The guest faculty includes television luminaries like eminent scriptwriters and directors including Sanjay Upadhyay, Atul Tiwari, BM Vyas, Ashwani Dhir, Vivek Agnihotri and many more. Aditya Seth will be the course coordinator for Qalam.
    Khurana sees Qalam as a vicarious personal victory as he believes that Wanvari has delivered what he had only dreamt of. He also expressed hope that Qalam would act as a catalyst for other corporates to come in with their own initiative.
    Answering a question, Khurana commented that hindi television writers were not drawing much upon their literature unlike Bengali and Marathi television which draw a lot from their respective regional literatures because, for one, most writers had poor awareness of literature. Secondly, it was a market driven industry and market responses ultimately reflected in their bottomlines.
    For the organisers and the faculty, Qalam is an exercise in giving back to the industry. And as Ashwini Dhir recounted Wanvari’s words, “If you write so well, what’s the use if you take it with you. Pass it on.”

  • Scriptwriters course Qalam 2003 kicks off Saturday

    MUMBAI: The television industry’s constant cry for trained scriptwriters is getting a hearing and how. With positive response from channels as well as production houses, television and media services company Indiantelevision.com flags off a three-month comprehensive TV Scriptwriters course tomorrow.
    Qalam, which is what the course is called, has been ideated, created and executed by prominent television writers and media personalities.
    Qalam will open tomorrow, in Mumbai, with a valedictory address by award winning writer and Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana.
    Addressing a press conference today at The Taj Hotel in south Mumbai, Dr Khurana reiterated the general feeling in the television industry saying that, “While everyone feels the need for such a course, very few people do anything about evolving writers and training them.”
    “I would have done better if I had similar training facilities in my time,” he reflected.
    Siddhant Cinevision creative director Vinod Ranganath, who’s the force behind the structuring of the course, feels that Qalam is about getting quality writers into the industry. He believes Qalam will provide structured and specific teaching for aspiring writers to cater to the growing and demanding television industry. “Qalam has more to do with the technique of writing than linguistics. Language can be trained,” he explained.
    With more than 20,000 hours of programming generated every year in only the Hindi entertainment television channels, Indiantelevision.com CEO Anil believes, “That’s a lot of plots, stories, tracks, and dialogue. And we don’t have enough trained talent.”
    Emphasising the value of hands-on learning experience, Dr. Khurana said the course would focus on a practical learning-by-doing approach. He said companies like Contiloe Films, Star TV, Neo Films, In House Productions, and Nimbus Communications, which have come forward to sponsor scholarships, will invite students to come and avail of the infrastructural and other facilities in their offices.
    This, he stressed, would not only give them an idea of the real working terms but will also help them to put together their own body of work by the time they are through with the course. This tangible profile of hands-on experience, he said, would also help them in jump-starting their careers. The sponsors also indicated that they would be interacting closely with the students and would consume some of the skilled products that the course will throw up.
    The course is slated to run for 12 weeks with three interactive sessions a week, spanning two to four hours. The longer weekend sessions would focus on illustrating the educational experience with the help of video sessions. Additionally, participants will be urged to take part in the discussions, ideation and analyses. Interactivity will be the keyword for the entire course. The course fees have been set at Rs 10,000.
    Qalam has on its governing board Dr Khurana, Ranganath, Wanvari, writer-director Aditya Seth, and writer-director Vijay ‘Victor’ Acharya.
    The guest faculty includes television luminaries like eminent scriptwriters and directors including Sanjay Upadhyay, Atul Tiwari, BM Vyas, Ashwani Dhir, Vivek Agnihotri and many more. Aditya Seth will be the course coordinator for Qalam.
    Khurana sees Qalam as a vicarious personal victory as he believes that Wanwari has delivered what he had only dreamt of. He also expressed hope that Qalam would act as a catalyst for other corporates to come in with their own initiative.
    Answering a question, Khurana commented that hindi television writers were not drawing much upon their literature unlike Bengali and Marathi television which draw a lot from their respective regional literatures because, for one, most writers had poor awareness of literature. Secondly, it was a market driven industry and market responses ultimately reflected in their bottomlines.
    For the organisers and the faculty, Qalam is an exercise in giving back to the industry. And as Ashwini Dhir recounted Wanvari’s words, “If you write so well, what’s the use if you take it with you. Pass it on.”
    For further details on the course, contact Rinku Nichani at Indiantelevision.com on 26730986/0969.

  • Qalam runs full house second day in a row

    Qalam, a three day television scriptwriter’s workshop conducted at Time & Again Banquets in Mumbai’s Lokhandwala Complex in Andheri ran to a packed house on the second day too. The event backed by Sony Entertainment Television and Multimedia Company UTV saw veteran scriptwriters and directors guiding the participants on how to write and present an actual script .
    The keynote of the day was obviously the much awaited writer’s pitch assignment . The participants were given a brief sketch of a story to ponder on.
    Act: 2… day: 2… scene: 1
    Eminent actor, director, dialogue and scriptwriter Ishan Trivedi jump-started the day with a discussion on the practical aspects of being a writer. “Keep the episode to a minimal as most of the time it is usually dictated by economic considerations,” said the scriptwriter of shows like Mr. Yogi, Mrignayani, Ek Kahani, Darshan, Samay and the award winning Justujoo. Some very interesting points came out during the course of discussion.
    Ishan offered some rather shocking observations of the television industry. His talk about screenplay was revealing – “There is no such thing as script and what is often termed as script is screenplay and story idea bound together.” The screenwriter managed to keep the participants – professionals and students’ alike – curious and intrigued by offering a few of his trade secrets.
    Ishan offered tips on screenplay and story writing. “It creates an impact if you play with the structure,” he said. When asked how to create an interesting screenplay, he said, “Always have two-three parallel lines, obviously related, running along the story line”. Later he added that unlike the common notion ‘flashback or nostalgia is a good tool to make the story look interesting. As an endnote to his discussion, he offered a practical perspective and very interestingly even discussed the economic realities.
    The creative director of Siddhant Cinevision and well known scriptwriter of popular television soaps like Swabhiman, Sukanya, Kittie Party, Itihaas, Kartavya and Lekin Vinod Ranganath, picked up from where Ishan left off. He offered a practical tutorial on the nitty-gritties of writing dailies.
    While charting the journey from ideation to story to screenplay he said that it is important to have a perspective but what is most important is the opening scene of a story. According to him, “it helps if the writer has a back story ready for a few of the characters”.
    While offering his views on writing a daily, he said that there were three sure shot methods a writer can adopt to help stay put – firstly a back story, secondly, identifiable characters and thirdly, an archetype. He offered some practical tips on how to co-ordinate in a multiple-writer scenario. “A writer should understand the importance of both break point and the hook point,” he said. Concluding his energy-packed interactive session, Ranganathan disclosed his best-kept secret, ‘to ensure that the story is gripping structure minimum of three hook points’.
    “Let’s face the reality, the writer in the television industry is assisted by everybody,” joked the next speaker for the day, Rajesh Joshi. A noted regional theater actor-director, Joshi came into the limelight a few years ago as screenwriter of serials with phenomenal mass appeal like Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi, Kasautii Zindagi Kay, Koshish ….Ek Asha and Smriti. Continuing in the same vein as the speakers before him, he fielded a variety of questions. He narrated the difficulties a writer faces when writing for a daily and also explained different methods to counter them. He also candidly admitted that a daily writer usually adopts a trial and error method, by playing with the character according to the audiences’ demand.
    Award-winning scriptwriter Ashwini Dhir was joined by Vinod Ranganath for a Q&A session. The multifaceted Dhir, who began his career in television as technical director of Thoda Sa Aasmaan, answered all the audience queries on how to write sitcoms and comedies.
    Act: 2 ….Day:2 ….Scene: 2
    Continuing the comedy vein, highly acclaimed king of one-liners, Sanjay Chhel elaborated the nuances of writing sitcom scripts. Citing examples from his personal life he discussed ‘how writing comedy is a serious business with hard work, creativity, willingness to look at the flip side of life and the ability to spring a surprise as essential requisites’.
    The writer who is best known for works like Nukkad, Filmi Chakkar, Philips Top Ten, and Dekh Tamaasha Dekh, warned the budding writers against usage of cliché characters and dialogues. “Sitcom is the art of presenting daily life in a precise yet funny manner with the ingredients to provide wholesome entertainment to viewers who primarily constitute the middle class,” said Chhel offering the entire craft of writing sitcoms in a nutshell.
    Speaking on the thriller genre, Anurag Kashyap, the celebrated writer of blockbuster movies like Kaun, Satya and Shool accentuated the need to ‘let one’s imagination run wild’. Sharing his trade secrets with the audience, he elaborated on the need to constantly update oneself by reading related news, books etc. and the necessity to write continuously.
    Sameer Modi, writer of select episodes of X-zone, Thriller at 10, Saturday Suspense and serials like Deewar ,Rahat, Captain House and Yehi Hai Zindagi discussed the crucial elements required to write supernatural , horror and thriller shows. By showing an episode from one of the thrillers as an example, he highlighted the importance of camera angles, visuals and dialogues in creating the desired suspense in the minds of the discerning viewers.
    The workshop concluded with a talk on the ‘essence of an idea’ and the importance of characterisation by renowned scriptwriter Atul Tiwari. The screenwriter who has serials like Kab Tak Pukaroo, Kadam and the much awaited Kashmeer to his credit, emphasised on the need to be well read . Elaborating on it he said ” getting an idea is easy but developing a plot is not if one runs out of ideas “. According to him, ” Ideas can come from history, classics, mythology and even day to day issues”.
    Come tommorow and the participants, guided and tutored so far, will have to deliver a story woven around the brief outline given to them by Vinod Ranganath followed by the screenplay of an episode. The lucky 10 shortlisted participants will get the golden opportunity to present their scripts to the panel comprising Star Plus’ Shailja, Siddhanth Cinevision’s Manish Goswami, Sony’s Saurabh Vanzara and Anupama Mondloi, Cinevistas’ Prem Kishen Malhotra, UTV’s Zarina Mehta and Doordarshan’s Mukesh Sharma to name a few.

  • Qalam 2003 – annual writers workshop starts 9 Jan

    MUMBAI: The countdown to Qalam 2003 – the second annual scriptwriter’s workshop and forum has begun. After the grand success of Qalam 2001, it is back to score another first by holding “Writers Pitch”, a golden opportunity for participants to present their concepts directly to the channel executives and representatives of production houses.
    Qalam 2003 will be a comprehensive workshop and will cover everything to do with scriptwriting for television: such as the fundamentals of scriptwriting; the essence of a script’s concept, story, screenplay, dialogue and characterisation.
    The Indian scriptwriting community and budding aspirants will gather at Time & Again banquet hall in Mumbai’s Lokhandwala complex, Andheri, from 9 January to 11 January 2003 .
    Qalam 2003 will also have individual instructional sessions on writing for the various genres of television programming such as daily soaps, comedies, thrillers, game shows as well as writing for news.
    “For the first time in India, writers – some of them first-timers – will get an opportunity to present their story ideas and concepts to creative professionals from major production houses and television programming executives who will be part of a judging panel at the “Writers’ Pitch”. It is quite possible that that some of the work may be picked up if the writing measures up to the requisite standards,” says Indian Television Dot Com founder and chief executive officer Anil Wanvari.
    The cr?me de la cr?me of India’s TV scriptwriters will participate in the panel discussions and training sessions over a three-day period. The list includes stalwarts such as : Atul Tiwari, Anurag Kashyap, Ishan Trivedi, Kamlesh Pandey, RD Tailang, Rajesh Joshi, Rekha Nigam, Sanjay Upadhyay, Sanjay Chhel, Shishir Joshi, Sutapa Sikdar, Vinta Nanda and Vinod Ranganath.
    The Qalam initiative has got the kudos from senior scriptwriters who are part of the forum-cum workshop. Says Sutapa Sikdar: “Qalam is a very nice platform. It will help writers to actually understand what contemporary writing for television involves.”
    Ace comedy writer Sanjay Chhel has this to say about the effort in his inimitable style: “Writing is a taxing job. I welcome participants to the heart attack club. I look forward to doing an open heart surgery on scriptwriting at Qalam 2003.”
    Indiantelevision.com is coordinating its Qalam efforts with leading production houses and television channels. Sony TV has given its consent to be the principal sponsor. The event has also got participation support from UTV, Balaji Telefilms, Cinevistaas, BAG Films, Nimbus, InHouse Productions, Creative Eye, Siddhant Cinevision, Contiloe Films, Firework Productions, Tracinema, TV18. Several programming executives from television channels such as Star, Sony Entertainment, Zee TV, Sahara, B4U, MTV will also be attending Qalam.

  • QALAM 2001 SIGNS OFF WITH A FLOURISH

    QALAM 2001 SIGNS OFF WITH A FLOURISH

    The second and concluding day of Qalam 2001 saw a variety of well known film and television personalities holding forth on a variety of issues related to the art and commerce of scriptwriting in Mumbai’s western suburb of Andheri, the venue of the first ever TV scriptwriters’ workshop in India.

    The day started with film magazine Screen editor Bhavna Somaya and Screen TV section editor Piroj Wadia speaking on media and scriptwriting. Journalists, Wadia pointed out, were uniquely blessed with daily interactions with a variety of personalities who can be effectively used as script characters. In a comment that soothed budding scriptwriters in the audience, Somaya noted that even established writers have to face several hurdles before their work is approved.

    TV talk show hostess Kiran Joneja, who followed, spoke about the exhaustive applied and selective research that goes on behind the success of chat shows. “The director, writer and the anchor all have an equal responsibility of making the show a success”, she said. Unfortunately, talk shows are still treated as fillers in India and not accorded the importance they are in the West, she noted. An admirer of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Joneja said tight budgets often hampered the making of truly quality serials in the country.

    Veteran scriptwriter Sandhya Divecha followed with an interesting interactive session on scriptwriting a docudrama with participants pitching in with storylines, plots and scenes and shot possibilities. “It is important to know the different points of view, characters’ backgrounds and focus of the story before fleshing out the script”, she said.

    Well known actor turned producer Soni Razdan held forth on the producer’s perspective towards scriptwriting. Reiterating that the key to a serial’s success lay with the producers, writers as well as directors, Razdan maintained that every scriptwriter should approach the producer with a kitty of possible storylines, do their research beforehand, think up a USP for the script and finally, be flexible to possible changes in the script. “The only way to succeed is to be open to feedback constantly”, she added. It was also necessary that writers be paid development money for the time that the serial is under production so that he does not suffer financially, she noted, a suggestion taken up enthusiastically by other speakers.

    Dr Achla Nagar, a scriptwriter with a vast radio, film and TV background, spoke on the necessity of respecting Indian sensibilities while scripting serials for an Indian audience. “One has to experience emotions oneself in order to convey them to viewers”, she said, adding that writers should keep their eyes open to changes in society and adapt themselves constantly. “Mumbai is not the whole of India”, she pointed out, maintaining that writers should write for the vast multitudes who live in small towns and villages too.

    Scriptwriter Sridhar Raghavan, who spoke on developing thrillers as a genre, regaled audiences with his experiences in the field, and also gave some guidelines to budding writers. “Check your ideas thoroughly, try and innovate within existing structures, do variations of story outlines and counter criticism constructively”, he said. Stressing on the importance of research, he said a writer has to think about practical aspects involved in the actual making of a serial while visualizing scenes. Tools specific to the thriller genre include timing your script well, increasing the pace to create the necessary drama, creating false drama to keep up the suspense within a scene, using hooks and teasers like dramatic opening sequences and keeping twists and turns for the ad breaks all go to make good thriller serials, he said.

    A writer, he said, needs to ‘boil a scene’, meaning keeping a scene at simmering point just enough to hold viewer interest by extracting the maximum dramatic potential out of a scene.

    Director Vivek Agnihotri who spoke after Raghavan, said that often the best source of stories is newspapers, history, myths and legends, family and childhood stories and travel. Dreams too are a rich source of potential stories, he said. “A well crafted plot should have a series of rising and falling action, tensions and climaxes … a good suspense plot is a roller coaster ride”, he said.

  • Adwise 2001 : Namrata Gulani

    Adwise 2001 : Namrata Gulani

    A wealthy urbane sophisticated woman inherits a farm in a village far away from the city where she lives . On going to the place ,visiting the rustic surrounding she falls in love with it and decides to stay on .The scenic beauty seems to embrace her .

    The only neighbour she has for miles is a male …..this does’nt change her decision to stay . The charm has worked on her .On moving about, she discovers an old bridge by a lake side .On standing there , breathing air like no one has .Her vision of perfect life comes true only later so have realize that perfection implies existence.

    There is a thought at the back of her mind, its about her only ‘MALE’ neighbour .she goes to visit him, only to find out that he is young in his early 20’s , chiseled face ,well-built in teen language called a ‘ hot & sexy ‘ guy after been invited inside , she finds out that he lives all alone

    Sam: (male) – How were you wandering in a no man’s land .

    Cindy:- My uncle gift me with all his property including the farm nearby the lake . I was the only family he had.

    Sam:- (smiles) you must be rich now. In reply she only giggles. She invites him for dinner at the farm .

    At the dinner they have vegetable stew boiled chicken &mushy mouse .Over dinner he tells her all about achy he lived alone here ,his experience .she finds out that he says something so small that fits right into the empty space of her heart .And then they live happily ever after ,fall in love ,get married & then it goes on and on and on and finally off.

    That small thing he said that he was not from this world, he belonged to her race .