Skip to main content

The Power of a Progressive Pen - by Jaideep Sen

Top post on IndiBlogger, the biggest community of Indian Bloggers
Week S of the Authors' Tips Series is proving to be a pathbreaking one. 

In a second post for Alphabet S, Jaideep Sen writes about the significance of social messaging in films, particularly the kind of progressive writing as categorised in Master Screenwriter Salim Khan's films.

Read on...


When my writer friend, Adite Banerjie, mentioned that her blog is doing something called “Week S” which is celebrating any Phenomenon starting with the Alphabet S, I thought it was only apt that I did my next piece on Phenomenal Writer, Salim Saab.


Cinema breaks the time barrier, becomes timeless and its respect is etched in stone when along with the required ingredient of entertainment it also deals with socially relevant issues and progressive characters. This has been the hallmark of Salim Saab’s writing – both as an independent writer as well as in his writing partnership with Javed Akhtar.  
Satyen Kappu in Deewar
The dialogues spoken by Satyen Kappu Ji in Deewar: “Hamari shikayat yeh hain ki hamare aate ke kanastar khali kyon hain” and Kumar Gaurav in Naam:  “Zameer aur pet ki ladaai mein zameer sirf kitabon mein jit ta hain,haqiqat mein jeet pet ki hoti hain” bear testimony to that by equating social and economic disparity to hunger. This is the most raw, naked and hard-hitting expression that a pen can deliver. This outcry is born out of angst and progression out of sensitivity.


Kumar Gaurav in Naam
In their incredible body of work, perhaps the most progressive character that comes to mind is Thakur Baldev Singh in Sholay. On one side, he’s the man seeking revenge for the brutal massacre of his family and on the other we see him as the extremely understanding and sensitive father-in-law who not only senses his widowed daughter-in-law Radha’s sorrow and loneliness but also her tilt towards Jai. He proposes to her father that Radha should get married again.

This scene is remarkably overwhelming because Radha’s own father is hesitant and embarrassed at even the thought of her remarriage and how sensibly and sensitively Thakur Saab explains to him his reasons for the proposal and convinces the Father.
 
What has stayed back with me is how progressive this piece of writing is which can only be a product of extremely noble minds who through art influence society to become a better place to live in. This in turn raises the contribution and respect of cinema to a dignified pedestal.

Sanjeev Kumar and Iftekhar in Sholay
This quality of Salim Saab-Javed Saab’s inspirational writing found its voice in last season’s KBC TV show, where one of its contestants from Himachal Pradesh mentioned that one sad spot in their family was that her younger sister (who was in the audience along with their parents) had lost her husband at a young age and that though they were trying to get her remarried, they were finding it difficult because even today it’s not a very socially accepted norm. The family was in tears at this point and to reassure them Mr. Bachchan had mentioned how he and his fraternity of performing artistes try to do their bit for society through their films. He had also quoted none other than the Epic film Sholay and his track in the film with Jaya Ji as an attempt to create awareness that a widow is entitled to remarry and live a happy life once again.

This just shows how foresighted the Masters of Writing were -- what they wrote in 1973 (released in 1975) is even in 2019, and shall always be, the reference point of the power of a progressive pen. 

Jaideep Sen is a filmmaker and a connoisseur of the art of storytelling












Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree - Review of the International Booker Prize Winner

Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree My rating: 5 of 5 stars Geetanjali Shree's original book in Hindi is called Ret Samadhi and the translated version by Daisy Rockwell is Tomb of Sand. The writer's style is lyrical and captures the essence of an Indian family completely and evocatively. In fact the amazing thing about the author's style is that it goes above and beyond the cast of characters, roping in inanimate objects (like the door, for instance), the natural elements, crows and invisible things like borders. The story lies not so much in the plotline of an old woman and her journey to find the house and man she has left behind as in highlighting the nuances of families, countries, borders, neighbourhoods, galis and mohallas , the environment, the smells, sounds and landscape, the past and present and everything in between (including a delightful treatise on the silk sari as narrated from the point of view of a crow!) that makes up the heart and soul of India. The writi

Bombay Heights: The perfect Diwali read is now available in paperback

Reading romance during the festive season adds to the fun and sparkle, doesn't it? So, for Diwali 2021, I decided to bring out a Paperback edition of my rom-com Bombay Heights: Sleepless in the City of Dreams .  The best part is that the story takes place during the festive season. What's not to love! So, get ready to be immersed in the spirit of the festival of lights!  Blurb: Small town girl Sanjana Kale wants a fresh start in Mumbai. A challenging job and some much needed distance from her ludicrously over-protective family could get her life under control. Forced to team up with video game designer Ashwin Deo, who is too attractive for his own good, she finds life becoming a whole lot more complicated when he turns out to be her new neighbour. How can she maintain a professional distance with this charming troublemaker who believes in getting up close and personal? To make matters worse, her ex tries to manipulate her loved ones to work his way back into her life

Book Review of Where Did You Go? by P.L. Jonas

  The popularity of novels like Gone Girl and T he Girl on the Train with an intriguing premise, unreliable narrators and plot twists, has put the spotlight on psychological suspense stories. Such stories have a thriller like urgency about them and yet are rooted in familiar, real life situations. A well crafted, edgy psychological suspense can keep the reader hooked till the very last page.  The novella Where Did You Go ? by debut author P.L. Jonas begins with an intriguing set up. Sammy, a successful but reclusive ghostwriter, is offered a chance of a life time. The project involves completing a half-finished manuscript by her favourite writer, Margaret Mitchell, the celebrated author of  the all-time classic Gone with the Wind . Her brief is simple: she needs to follow the outline that the author has left behind and submit a draft within a tight deadline.  Her publisher, James, is confident that Sammy has what it takes to finish the novel. The chance of having her name on the book