One of the questions that we – as media professionals – ask each other is where are the writers?<\/p>\n
Where are the writers who penned amazing narratives. that made for such compelling viewing. Where are the men and women who could write with such insight and incisiveness. Just look at the classics of film – Pyasa, CID, Black Market, Deewar, Zanjeer, Shakti, Sholay – the great TV shows – Hum Log, Buniyaad, Khandaan.<\/p>\n
It’s not me being nostalgic – the stories were truly better. The characters a lot better etched out.<\/p>\n
And then it came to me with a flash. almost like a revelation. Those who wrote, lived life. They struggled. They moved with people apart from the “film\/tv” crowd. They exchanged ideas, they were intellectuals – without being distant, and they were populist without being crass. And they made a socio-political comment. The entertainment was still there, as was the song and dance. It is just that it suddenly got a reference to context. They were politically aware. They were politically active. Their songs, their dialogs, the structure of their work reflected their own biases. their own opinions. Their own POV. And it doesnt matter if that view was right or wrong. The very fact that they had it made their work interesting.<\/p>\n
Today when we programme or produce – there are some basic facts we have to keep in mind regarding our characters\/story lines. No one faces month ends. No ones kids fail their exams. No one goes for a job interview. No one travels by bus any more. No one falls ill. People die, but they then come back to life.<\/p>\n
Our writers act accordingly. They don’t read or live life. they watch DVD’s. The number of times this year i have been told : “madam, yeah usa mein bahut achi tarah chali hai, isko humne alag hi se indianise kiya hai” is not funny<\/em>. If i had a tenner for everytime i heard that i would retire to the beaches of the east coast:)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the questions that we – as media professionals – ask each other is where are the writers? Where are the writers who penned amazing narratives. that made for such compelling viewing. Where are the men and women who could write…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,27,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india","category-media","category-tv"],"yoast_head":"\n