’I want to leave behind wonderful movies and good screenplays’

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra tells Sunday MiD DAY why it's a tragedy that Hindi cinema doesn't publish its screenplays

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra tells Sunday MiD DAY why it's a tragedy that Hindi cinema doesn't publish its screenplays

Why did you start with Lage Raho Munna Bhai, instead of Munna Bhai MBBS as the first screenplay in book form?

I started with Lage Rahou2026, but I intend to bring out screenplays of all my films, right from Parinda and 1942 A Love Story to Parineeta, Eklavya and 3 Idiots. This time, I found an in-house person to get it done and I'm doing the corrections myself, so I need to hire more writers.

When Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) came home, I told him, 'I know all about you because you belong to a country that believes in documenting your work.' Why don't we have a single work of Guru Dutt's available? Our students have to study English screenplays, even though Lage Raho Munna Bhai is as good as any international comedy. We have to preserve our heritage Mehboob Khan, K Asif, V Shantaram, Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt what are we doing about their works?

My Eklavya has been compared to the work of David Lean, but where is it? Parinda's original copy is damaged; it's like it's dead and gone. I want to print every screenplay so that they are read by students and writers use them as reference points.

Is it also because Lage Raho Munna Bhai came up with the whole idea of Gandhigiri that took off so well?
Yes, I did pick Lage Rahou2026 first because of Gandhigiri and because it's simple. Eklavya was about dharma, but it's too hard. Munna Bhai MBBS also had the jadoo ki jhappi and Parinda spoke of how violence kills. I want to remind students of the cinema we have. Books have a sacred feel to them and are quieter than movies. They also have a life beyond films.

When I was a student at FTII, all the other snooty b**gers there went behind French cinema, while I wanted to study Hindi films. My student film Murder At Monkey Hill was an attempt towards that. Hindi cinema is my karam.

Over the years, students must have asked you for Parinda's screenplay.

Thousands of them, as Parinda is regarded as a cult film today. Yet we may own Pulp Fiction, but not Parinda. We have not read Indian screenplays, though we have wanted to. Is it not a tragedy that we do not have them? This is our culture, it's forever. Writers should come forward and this includes my wife (author Anupama Chopra); after all, you know English. I only learnt English when I was 16, which is why I give my gaalis in Hindi.

Amongst your personal collection of screenplays, which are your favourites?

I own so many screenplay books that are great, like (Michelangelo) Antonioni's L'avventura, M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and (Quentin Tarantino's) Pulp Fiction. But my top three are (Orson Welles's) Citizen Kane, Fredrico Fellini's 8 u00bd and Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless.

So will you publish the screenplay of 3 Idiots?

Hundred per cent. When I die, I want to leave behind wonderful movies and good screenplays. When I'm old, I want to lie on my bed, read the screenplays and think, "Life was worthwhile. We did well."u00a0

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