Interview with Bobby-Sanjay part 1

I have got an opportunity to take an interview of script writer Sanjay who is one of the most promising young writers in Malayalam cinema. He started his career along with his brother Bobby by scripting a TV serial named Avasthantharangal which was directed by Jude Attipetti. Which won the state awards including best serial, screenplay, director etc. Afterwards, Bobby Sanjay team wrote scripts for movies like Ente Veedu Appoontem and Notebook. Now Bobby Sanjay duo is doing the script work of their new film Casanova, which will be directed by Roshan Andrews with Mohanlal in the lead.

Q: Sir, How did you get into the writing field? Can you please explain the way you started this career.

A: As most of you know my father Prem Prakash is a producer/actor. It was in 1978 when I was just 4 years old, that i got to see a film’s shooting for the first time in my life. The film was Peruvazhiyambalam directed by Padmarajan and my father as its producer. After some years, I got a chance to be there as a full time member in a film’s set, as it was my summer vacation time. The film was Koodevide which was also produced by my father and directed by Padmarajan sir. It was a new information for me that apart from the stars whom we see on the screen, there are people working behind a cinema. It was only then that i got to know that the actors speak the dialogs only which are written in the script. As a boy, I related the script to comics in which the characters speak the written dialogs. In that film’s set, I got an opportunity to read some parts of its script, which was written by Padmarajan sir and it had fascinated me a lot.

During that days, cinema became an ambition for me. I had never dreamt of becoming a doctor or engineer during my school days. All during my time of education, the only dream was cinema. After my post graduation, i joined as an assistant director with director Kamal sir. Ayal Katha Ezhuthukayanu was the first film which i assisted him. It was Shri Sreenivasan who was the script writer of that movie. It was my duty to take fair copies of the script which he writes. Through that I got to learn how a writer creates scenes and dialogs. After that film, Kamal sir’s next project was Niram. Through these two films I got a deep insight in how a cinema is getting made from its pre-production work till it reaches the screen. During my days as an assistant director, i never thought of becoming a director. It was all the screenplay writing which i was fond of.

After Niram’s work, I tried to write scripts as my own and wrote around five complete scripts. But none of it got a chance to get converted into a cinema. That time, my father was about to produce a tele-serial named Avasthantharangal based on a short story by N. Mohanan. I got the responsibility of writing its screenplay, and worked it along with my brother Bobby. After telecasting the second episode of Avasthantharangal, I got a call from director Siby Malayil to have a discussion of a new movie. That’s how we got into the project Ente Veedu Appoontem.

Q: How did you get the main thread of Ente Veedu Appoontem? Have any real life incident influenced you in developing such a story?

A: Its a common thing happening in almost every family that the elder child may feel some kind of rivalry towards the younger child. I had felt that emotion a lot in my childhood days. When I suggested this theme, it was completely acceptable for Siby sir. For the sake of the movie, we had added lot more factors and incidents to depict the depth of this rivalry factor. Actually no such real life incident had influenced me in the story formation.

Q: Then, your second film was Notebook. Why did you choose a story of three teenage girls?

A: Actually there was a real incident which had influenced me in choosing the story of Notebook. A boy and a girl studying n the same school happened to have a physical relation. When the school authority came to know about this, they dismissed both the students from the school. I know both the boy and the girl personally. And I know the case of a girl who was studying in a famous school in Trivandrum got pregnant in a teenage affair. More details were added for the movie. And I think there are many such incidents which our society hesitate to have an open discussion. I felt the root cause and effects of this teenage affairs should get relevant discussion among the public.

Q: How much effective was the involvement of director Roshan Andrews in the discussion and development of Notebook’s script?

A: Actually I have no words to describe it. It was an amazing combination with him to have the story discussion and script development of Notebook. Earlier, we had worked together as assistants of Kamal. When I describe a situation, what he replies would be its visuals. That feed back can inspire me a lot. If a writer is not getting necessary feed backs from the director during the script development, it will become a script writer’s movie which may not have a soul. Actually a cinema is always a director’s cinema and it should be.

Q: One of the most catching factors in Notebook was its opening scene and the ending scene which were symbolic and almost similar in nature. Why did you choose such a pattern for the opening and ending scenes?

A: It was purely intentional. We had a plan to depict the main theme of the film in the opening scene itself . That is, the friendship among three girls and a problem that happens among them. Jumping over the fence was meant for overcoming the life’s difficulties. Saira and Pooja jumps the fence easily. But Sreedevi couldn’t jump over it easily. She was having many fences in her life. Its Saira and Pooja who inspire her to jump over her life’s hurdles. Similarly, it was Pooja who was facing a hurdle in her life at the end of the movie, and Saira and Sreedevi inspires her to overcome that. The plant which they plant in the night has an aim to become Sreedevi in the end. A symbolism was brought for showing that there is no death for friendship. But unfortunately I witnessed a lot of booing for the opening scene in theater.

Nik: But when I watched Notebook after the first week, there was not much problem for the audience in the opening scene. Three girls escape from a prayer and runs for doing something special. People expects something cunning, like whether they may be going to have some celebration or something like that. But they made a risky escape for planting a tree. It might have created a good anticipation and feeling about the movie’s treatment at-least among a few number of viewers.

San: But in the opening days majority of the people couldn’t digest the opening scene. As Nikhil pointed out, people had their own expectations while watching the opening scene. If that girls had taken out a beer bottle after reaching a safe place, there might have been claps, or if the had met their boy friends and there started a song sequence, it might have
been applauded among the mass. But I think the concept of planting a tree had created confusion among the mass.