In Conversation With Piyush Mishra: Talking To The Fire (Part-2)
Print
Contd from Part 1.
Your play ‘Gagan Damam Bajyo’ on which the movie ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ was made for which you had also written the dialogues. There was a lot of controversy regarding the issue of credits. Also, recently there was a row between Chetan Bhagat and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. So, what do you make out of this recent controversy when you juxtapose it with your situation? Why does it happen like that in Bollywood?
I had written the complete screenplay for the movie and I wasn’t credited for that. Yes, I was credited for the dialogues, but they could have at least shared the credit of screenplay, but that is an old thing and I don’t think much about it now. I have read that novel of Chetan Bhagat, and they (Vidhu Vinod Chopra and co.) could have given the credit for story had they wanted to, but not the entire screenplay, in my opinion. These guys have really worked hard over the screenplay and I personally don’t think the credit for screenplay should have been given to Chetan Bhagat. But, things of these sorts are not uncommon in Bollywood, I am not talking about 3 Idiots here specifically, but things of these sorts are very common here. People tamper with your scripts a lot and you can’t say anything. Moreover, there is no law and copyright actions to protect the writers, however, these days there are some work going on with respect to the copyright laws. Moreover, here people are not even concerned about these issues and they are not even bothered about what kind of movies you are going to make. For instance, nobody cares if you are making a movie on Bhagat Singh or not. Who is Bhagat Singh? All people care about is money. They made a movie on Bhagat Singh because prior to that Gadar was a big hit. Had Gadar would not have been a hit; people would not have bothered about it at all. That play (on which the movie ‘Legend of Bhagat Singh’ was made) is still with me even now and many major scenes were taken from the play itself in a completely unaltered form. So, here it is not a big thing to steal someone else’s idea or for that matter even the entire story. Plagiarism is something that will stay in Bollywood, flinching people’s credit would continue. And after a couple of jolts people learn their lessons the hard way as to how go about in protecting their works, for instance, getting educated on the importance of getting one’s work registered and how can one be strict and attentive so that no one takes away the credit.
In Conversation With Piyush Mishra: Talking To The Fire- Part 4
So, in this kind of situation when new writers come to Mumbai to capture their vision on celluloid, don’t you think it is a much unprotected environment for them? What do you have to say to budding writers in this regard?
Initially everyone has to face similar kind of obstacles (the ones with respect to plagiarism) and I want that new writers face this kind of struggle, because people learn from these experiences a lot. Because, this is a professional world and there will be a constant fight over credit. So, such kinds of things are bound to happen. There are very less fortunate people who have things going toward their favour, right from the beginning. For instance, my friend Manu Rishi Chaddha who wrote dialogues for the movie ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’. He was lucky because the team with which he worked had couple of people as his friends. The music director was his friend, Dibakar was a friend of his, and he has written such dialogues in the movie that he is protected now. But, not everyone is fortunate like him and it must also be noted that he has not written a single screenplay till now. When he will write a screenplay, he is bound to face similar problems. So, people generally tighten up after getting conned a couple of times and the people who don’t come on track even then, I have really no sympathies for them.
We have been seeing of late, that there has been increase in mainstream convention defying movies, and therefore a term ‘New Wave Bollywood’ has been coined and has been used often recently. Do you think this trend is here to stay or will it fade away like the movement of 70’s?
The movement of 70’s and 80’s was more concerned with movies of Manmohan Desai where Amitabh Bachann used to rule the roost. That phase never came to stay. Before that there was a nice phase for cinema, but cinema had been distorted to a great extent in 70’s and 80’s…
(Interrupting) Actually I am talking about the cinema of 70’s and 80’s spearheaded by directors like Govind Nihlani and Shyam Benegal where they were making different kinds of movies…
What different kind of movies were they making? Nobody used to come and see those movies. It was that phase whose permanence was not even justified. I am not a big fan of that phase. Although there were people like Saaed Akhtar Mirza who used to make some quality movies, and right now we have people like Vishal, Anurag, and even his assistant, Raj Kumar Gupta, there is Dibakar, and Imitiaz Ali who is although making commercial movies but at least there is something worth watching in his movies. These guys are making quality cinema and I am very hopeful that this phase is here to stay. Most importantly, these guys are original, although even Ketan and co. were original but I do not know what happened to them with time. Dibakar has made a movie called LSD in which there are no stars, in fact why a star, there is not even a single guy whom you can recognize. But, let me tell you honestly cinema is not the major thing in my life. There is something else that is yet to come in my life, I don’t know what, but I have been made for something else too. And even now there is that same confusion in me; I am still a bit unstable. The cinema is there all right, but there is something else. I don’t’ know what that is. I am confused.
In Conversation With Piyush Mishra: Talking To The Fire- Part 5
What is the role of movie critics in elevating the standard of cinema in our country?
Movie critics play a great role in elevating the standard of cinema in our country, but there are very few good movie critics around. All these critics somewhere down the line get profited by the stars in some capacity, so they tend to compromise somewhere and therefore can’t maintain an objective stance while critiquing a movie. I won’t take names, but I have seen even the best of critics being swayed. Everything has become commoditized now. Everything is sale-able in today’s time. There are many things with which you compromise.
In the late 80’s, you were considered for a lead role in ‘Maine Pyaar Kiya’ which somehow never materialized. More than 20 years down the line, how do you look back at that? Was it a conscious decision? Do you have any regrets about the same?
It was that phase of mine that I told you about where people used to call me names, and I was really unstable and confused as to what I needed from life. This happened in 1986 in the month of March-April and I was studying in third year of NSD, slated to pass in June. The director of NSD at that time was Mr. Mohan Bakshi, and he called me once when I was sitting in a class, and when I went to his room, Mr Raj Kumar Barjatya was sitting (Sooraj Barjatya’s father). And he said that he was launching his son, Sooraj Barjatya as a director and he had come here to look for male leads. Bhagyashri had already been decided as the female lead by then. So, he gave me his personal card and told me to report to their office. He also asked me when you will graduate, so I told him I would pass out from here in the next two months. Now, after that my mind was not in the right place, why it was not, I do not know all of that. I did not go for the next three years. 87, 88, 89, I did not go in for three years. I have no reason to say why I did not go. I was an aimless wanderer who just used to loiter around here and there. God knows. Three years later I got to know that the movie was Maine Pyaar Kiya, and I also came to know later that there was a very strong recommendation for me and had I tried I would have even got it. But, at that time I was not ready for cinema. In fact, why cinema, I was not ready for anything. I was a hopeless case. And then Act I came as a glorious phase in my career. I consider myself to be born on 1990. Everything before that is waste. I came to my senses in 1990. I think everything is destined and this thing was planned in this way to happen. When others see me now, they think that compared to my early years, I am very stable now, in fact, even I think that I have become a bit stable, that’s true. But, the bigger question is what next? Do I visualize myself doing cinema all the while and being in Bombay all the time? My house is a bit far from Bombay, and I like to come back to my house by 7 or 8. If cinema is treated as a profession only then it’s ok, but if you start eating, drinking and living cinema and you have no life beyond cinema, then those kinds of things that disturb me. It used to disturb me a lot in the beginning so much, that I thought that there must be something beyond cinema. So, right now I am in constant search for that. The meaning of my life…. beyond cinema.
In Conversation With Piyush Mishra: Talking To The Fire- Part 6
As you were saying that your final destination in life is still uncertain, I would like to ask you something on the similar lines – whether you have plans to direct movies in future?
Yes, if I want to fulfill my ambition through cinema then it is through direction only. Because it’s the only thing where you have all the command in your hand. Likewise, there is an actor in a theatre similarly there is a director in cinema. Of late, I have gone into a comfort zone and have started relaxing a bit and I often think that if one does not have money in life then there is an excitement to do so many things in life, but then there is a certain confusion too which I can’t explain. If, somebody asks me what is that something which bothers you the most ? Why are you worried? Then, I won’t be having an answer to the question as to why am I so worried. Because I have no reason to be disturbed. In fact, even my fans out there would be wondering why I would be disturbed. In today’s time I have the recognition, I hail from a small town, and I had huge expectations from my life, and I have even been successful in realizing them. Almost everything is correct as of now, but what is the reason for such a disturbance? But, I know that disturbance. There is something lurking around. So, for the time being I have submitted myself to almighty and I have stopped thinking so much. Let’s see what happens and what doesn’t ……..
Tags: dil se, Gulaal, piyush mishra, Piyush Mishra Interview
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Rahul Dholakia
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Varma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Sachin Kundalkar
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Interesting conversation indeed.Still wondering what would have been the fate if Mishraji had done MPK.I also like the way he’s been honest and upfront on what he feels on so many things.
loading...
And interestingly, what would have been the fate of Salman Khan had he not done MPK. Would he still have become such a huge star?
loading...
Brilliant and honest guy, brilliant and honest interview.
Who’s the interviewer? We shouldn’t take the credit from him either.
loading...
@ Ronak- the interviewer is one of our esteemed editors who’s also a veteran PFC author-Tanul Thakur.
loading...
terrific and insightful interview…both part 1 & 2. great job, tanul.
loading...
Thank you PFC for this
loading...
Great work Tanul. I’ve sat next to him a couple of times at screenings but always felt too intimidated to initiate a conversation, although all my buddies say he’s a very sweet bloke.
loading...
superb interview, was waiting to read one of his interview, he lyrics are really hardhitting, in gulaal he was really terrific, I have been his fan through films like maqbool and mainly gulaal, piyush rocks
loading...
gr8 wrk tanul…
loading...
Lovely interview.
loading...
Wow. Thanks a lot Tanul for this. Keep up the good work.
loading...
Guys, we must thank Neeraj too, our editor bro who had to spend long hours on a Sunday, the only holiday he has in a week, editing and improving the audio quality and breaking it into manageable pieces, while the rest of India was boozing and watching IPL. The image credit goes to him as well.
All because of his passion for cinema- nothing more, nothing less.
loading...
Hey thanks Uh! Humbled! It was such an awesome team effort and the passion just came in to capture the talk with one of the most underrated artists of our times.
loading...
Bang on Uh! And thanks a ton to you too for helping in editing. It was a team work and it clearly shows! And lastly to Piyush Mishra for letting his heart out!
loading...
Thanks PFC team for such effort…and -uh- was right but sunday ko peena to banta hai naa boss
loading...
A lot of confusion and glorification of confusion in this interview by Piyush Mishra. The statement that New Wave cinema (after not understanding the term used by the interviewer) was not ‘quality cinema’ because no one watched it is highly problematic and factually incorrect. Who watched No Smoking and Gulaal? Both epic flops. Flops or hits are standards set by the market and do not necessarily attest to ‘quality cinema’. And btw Basu Chatterjee’s Sara Akash (one of the three films that flagged off the New Wave moment in Hindi Cinema along with Uski Roti and Bhuvan Shome) was a commercial success. Imtiaz Ali’s films are worth watching because they are commercially succesful candyfloss but films like Nishant,Ankur,Bhumika, Mammo, Making of the Mahatma, Samar (Benegal)and Ardh satya, Aakrosh, hazaar Chaurasi ki maa, Tamas (Nihalani)are not quality cinema. Mr. Mishra, wake up to the history and roots of this current phase of Hindi Cinema you are celebrating right now. It would not have been possible without the New Wave of the 70’s and 80’s.
loading...
Absolutely. Wake up Piyush. Smell Coffee…
loading...
Interesting to note that the person who claims to have written Bhagat Singh is talking in the language of corporates ( The Neo-Imperialists as Bhagat Singh would have put it). Mr Mishra you need to learn to differentiate between market driven intoxicating entertainment and ‘worth a watch’. As Gargi rightly points out the audience of love Aaj Kal did not think your Gulal was ‘worth a watch’ does that make it irrelevant? No one wants to read Bhagat Singh. So is he not worth a read? If only you had understood Bhagat Singh a little more you would have comprehended the society and the market forces and how it has come to rule our minds. (Your for sure!)No wonder you have no anti-American feelings!I suggest you go back and read some original writings of Bhagat Singh it will definitely help you to sort out your confusions. Good Luck for your worth a watch films!
loading...
So Govind Nihlani and Shyam Benegal are not worth a watch
loading...
I find it strange that the person who claimed to have written Bhagat Singh is talking like a CEO of some film production house. Good cinema does not necessarily draw crowds and the cinema that draws crowd is not necessarily good. Isn’t it very simple Mr Mishra? Your arguments are market dictated. For the market only thing ‘worth’ is that sells…but good Art does not come with the guarantee of a good sale…but that does not make it irrelevant or unworthy of appreciation…
loading...
Ok this man is going on and on about the Legend of Bhagat Singh…I think it is time that this bubble was burst. Not many people know that Piyush Mishra was brought into write the lyrics of Bhagat Singh and only after several drafts of the screenplay had already been written by Anjum Rajabali. Piyush then began to ‘re-write’ the draft that Anjum R had already written and that too only a few scenes not the ‘complete screenplay’ as he claims, without the knowledge of Anjum Rajabali. All those scenes were rejected for being historically incorrect and typical- like a scene where Bhagat Singh and his lady love are singing to each other across a river. Eventually approximately three and a half scenes from the Act One play Gagan Damama Baajyo were incorporated in the film for which Act One was given due credit. The 6-7 scenes for which Piyush wrote the dialogues landed him the credit of ‘additional dialogues’. Anjum Rajabali is the sole crusader for rights of writers in this industry. He is a man who has taken on producers of the film industry singlehandedly to ensure that writers receive a reasonable minimal amount and credit for their work. He has rallied people together regarding the issue of Model Contract for writers and has gone to the Central government to ensure that the producers lobby does not oust writers from their rightful dues of royalty and remuneration. Anjum’s work is invaluable and this kind of a baseless slander campaign discredits the one man who has consistently and unequivocally stood up for the rights and dignity of hapless writers in this industry. PFC should have the integrity to verify the claims made by those it interviews and not get star struck and overwhelmed by ‘struggling- artist- conned- by- the- big- bad- world’ stories. In this case PFC why not ask Anjum Rajabali for his side and verify it with Rajkumar Santoshi, his AD’s and other people on board this project instead of blindly supporting an opportunistic slander campaign that only harms the cause of all writers within the Industry.
loading...
RV,
Appreciate your expressing your concern and writing in a detailed manner. But, no where in the question have I taken a stance. If, you listen/read carefully to what I asked, I specifically said “there was soem controversy regarding the issue of credits” , now where does that say have I taken anybody’s stance? Come on! don’t be provocative just for the sake of it. The question could be called vague, if at all anything. It was just to juxtapose with the current situation. And please clarify what do you mean by “PFC should have the integrity to verify the claims made by those it interviews and not get star struck and overwhelmed by ‘struggling- artist- conned- by- the- big- bad- world’ stories” . An interview is a point of view. This interview was Piyush’s point of view. Take it or leave it. Period. If, you want Anjum or anyone else to coem and speak here, they are sure to. We are not taking anyone’s side here, it is all transparent. The audio is for you to listen, I just probed, I wasn’t sure, and I did not veil my confusion.
loading...
“In this case PFC why not ask Anjum Rajabali for his side and verify it with Rajkumar Santoshi, his AD’s and other people on board this project instead of blindly supporting an opportunistic slander campaign that only harms the cause of all writers within the Industry. ” Why such a puerile grievance again? Now, what makes you think it is a slander campaign, and on top of it, do you really think this is the way to go things. Interview x, x says something about y, go and ask y, and the loop continues…Your questions are valid my friend, but not in the way you dress them. That’s all I have to say. Of course, it is a free forum and let me make myself clear, I am not declaring who is right and who is wrong. You are free to negate my by putting forward suitable views by the concerned parties. And thanks again for writing in!
loading...
blah blah blah .. what’s ur crtedential sir , why should we take everythinh ur blabbering as cardianl truth .
loading...
[Editor's Note: Comment Partially deleted. Refrain from making personal comment]
Well said. I was a bit perturbed to read that bit as also other parts about Shyam Benegal/Govind Nihalani not being worth watching…………
loading...
My god! He thinks cinema was distorted in 70s…is he trying to reject the entire new wave cinema? What is he talking about? he obviously has no clue of what he is talking about…Piyush Bhai agar 70s ne cinema ko distort kiya tha to us logic ke hisab se aap aur Anurag bhi wahi kar rahe hain aaj…wo cinema bhi mainstream aur market ke parvah kiye baigar bana tha aur aap ka bhi…pls see more of 70s ka cinema…and then make a comment…
loading...
Dear Tanul
You start your interview by saying (not asking) – “Your play ‘Gagan Damam Bajyo’ on which the movie ‘The Legend of Bhagat Singh’ was made for which you had also written the dialogues “ What does your question imply? Don’t you assume that the film is indeed based on the play and that all the dialogues were written by Piyush? I am not saying that you have done that intentionally, but unfortunately your assumption is not neutral. Let me clarify that I did not mean to say that PFC is carrying on the slander campaign. Here I was taking about Mr Mishra, who for the last eight years has been spreading this vicious lie. My intention is not to provoke you or anyone else. But yes! I am very angry and frustrated because I think that it was unethical on the part of Mr Mishra to have started writing something on the sly without informing the original writer. And it is still unethical on his part that he is abstaining from telling the entire truth and shamelessly laying claim to the entire script. Can he deny that the first narration of the film was given to him by none other than Mr Rajabali? We cannot take this lightly and we cannot let it pass because tomorrow this can happen to us – we would have put a lot of time, energy and hard work into a script and then one fine day we will discover that some one else is ‘re-writing’ our script on the sly, and later he/ she will lay claim to the entire script. Will we give him the credit? Or will we call him an unethical cheat?
loading...
Thanks!! A very nice read indeed, I would say it was due from long, I guess people like Mishraji are very rare species in Indian cinema.
loading...