Lessons in Adapting a Novel to Screen

It has been an interesting two months and I still feel we have not got anywhere in adapting my novel to screen. Everytime it appears that it's over in a couple of days but it simply stretches longer and longer. Anyway these are what I learned so far. Will add to it as we go along.

) The novel was very heroine centric and the hero appeared only in patches - had to create hero story parallelly and fill in gaps

2)To think in terms of action, of external instead of internal dialogue

3) To be more out there, make everything big, not subtle and unsaid, expecting then to understand, hit it hard and big

4) To think metaphor alongside, to add layers

5) For non linear narrative to figure how to reveal the story in little well thought out bits so it all adds up in the end

6) To check the actual story and break it down in terms of scenes ... And then see if it makes sense as a film

7) To check scenes and apply filters of Conflict, Stakes, Goal and Value Change and change accordingly.... it's important to keep it going

8) That each scene comes to life when you put yourself in the shoes of the character as you search for conflict

9) That there are many characters and each can contribute to the scene if one can use them right, each brings a new dimension

10) That each layer needs to be addressed differently - structure, drama, humour, conflict, metaphor, setting, music, songs

11) That despite getting all the scenes together, the whole should hold true to the actual premise, the actual emotion should hold and entertain

12) To bring in new characters who may not be part of the original story but who will help in taking the story forward

Well, that's it for now. But will certainly organise it better and add to it as I go along.

Nice Quote in the book 'Four Screenplays' by Syd Field

Syd Field seems deeply influenced by Hindu scriptures and quotes from them every now and then. Such as this one; 

'A river doesn't drink it's own water, 

A tree doesn't eat it's own fruit, 

A man who gives his life for another

Is God

Walking this earth'

Makes you want to consume yourself in a bigger purpose.

Writing Insights - Conversations With Krishna Shastri Devulapalli

 This one Krishna sent by WhatsApp

"I would add after 4

Why did they choose that particular path? And not some other."

This is really good stuff. Unless and until you can answer these questions, you won't have a clear path.

Thanks Krishna.

Writing the Column and Getting it Right

 I have written three columns so far - one for The Indian Express in 2010 titled 'Un Intended' which was a humorous take on life. I did it for a year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I did a column called 'Life's Like That' for HANS India which was a satirical piece centred around two characters, the narrator and his imaginative friend Subbu. I did that for two years and enjoyed it. We only recently stopped it when the lockdown began. A year ago I started writing 'Canteen Fundas' a column for the education page of The New Indian Express.

My 10 drafts!

Writing a column is interesting work. You have a strong core or kernel of an idea and go with it. Many times finding that strong kernel is not easy. I note down thoughts as and when in my phone because those gems don't stay too long. More so when you are writing humour or satire and trying to connect two different ideas to provoke laughter. In the normal columns its easier because you can pick a subject or topic, or even an idea in a bigger topic and talk about that. Since I use characters in the column, their dialogue lightens things up a bit.

Sometimes columns flow easy and sometimes they don't. I realise that the core area can get hijacked by more information. By trying to say too much we can dilute the main idea and the whole purpose is lost. I have messed up like that a few times. At times however the idea and the flow just goes through like a bullet.

The other day however I was stuck with an idea that I wanted to express well. I got the basic research done, it looked pretty simple, answer a couple of basic questions, give a couple of new ideas and we are done. So the first draft looked reasonably there. But I checked with a couple of friends and associates and took their feedback and realised that there was a difference in opinion on the most basic stuff too. So it was back to more research, more notes, more clarity and more discussion until I arrived at a decent draft by the fifth draft.

I sent it of but I knew there was still something not right. It was saying a lot of things fine, but somewhere it did not align much into my thinking and beliefs. So I had more discussions, more feedback and more research and kept on working on more drafts. By draft ten I felt I had something close to what I thought was good enough. However since I worked at it from 6 am till 10 pm, with breaks of course, I knew I had to keep it aside for a while. I slept over it after asking my editor time.

Next morning, I sat in absolute peace and looked at it. As it happens after good effort, it clicked into place, A word went here, another got changed, an idea got added here, and voila, it was perfect.  Not a word more, not a word less. All ideas in. Just perfect. I felt like how Nawazuddin Siddique's character must have felt in 'Bombay Talkies' after delivering his 10-second performance.

Bliss. 

The Sunday HANS - Loony Bins

Loony bins! Let's claim the moon!

https://epaper.thehansindia.com/c/43878999

The Sunday HANS - Colony President Forever!

How Subbu plans to be Colony President forever!

https://epaper.thehansindia.com/c/38694870

Column in the Sunday HANS - The Great Indian IIIPL!

Here comes the Great Indian Political League!

https://epaper.thehansindia.com/c/37869546

Column in the SUNDAY HANS - Lit Fest Terrorists

Beware the Lit Fest Terrorists!

https://epaper.thehansindia.com/c/36593778

My Column in the Sunday HANS - The Great New Renaming Technology

The Great New Renaming Technology!

http://epaper.thehansindia.com/1890951/SUNDAY-HANS/SUNDAY-HANS#page/6/2

A Lovely Review of This Way is Easier Dad by Komal

I really liked this review because Komal absolutely 'got it'. Got the intent even - that small voices matter and we must listen to them.

That's more than I could have ever wished for any reader with this book.

Thanks Komal.

http://livingbynietzche.blogspot.com/2018/10/this-way-is-easier-dad-review.html

Column in the HANS - The Great Divide

We are divided by roads!
http://epaper.thehansindia.com/c/33112800

Column in the Sunday HANS - Emotional Indicators Wanted

Emotional Indicators in Traffic Wanted!

http://epaper.thehansindia.com/c/32683568

My Story, Part 2 - Dr. Nalini Nargundkar

Chapter 2 of the story.

---
1934 - Jaipur

We did not have electricity in Jaipur. I think we got electricity in 1934. Till then we were using kerosene lamps. We used to cook on coal chula or kerosene stove.

In 1934 Jaipur had its first cinema theater. I saw my first cinema in theater in Jaipur. I think it was Raja Harishchandra or Achhut kanya.

In 1934 on 14^th December Shashi was born in that house. One day when Shashi was crawling she went to mother who was making tea on the stove, the boiled tea was kept on the floor where Shashi reached and before mother could pick her up, Shashi hit the tea-pot and spilled the hot tea all over her body and got badly scalded. It took quite some time for her to recover from that accident.

Another thing in Jaipur was all tongawallas at Jaipur station used to bring any Maharashtrian family getting down at railway station was asked if they want to go to Oak sab’s house and invariably they used to come to our house. That way we used to get plenty of visitors in Jaipur who used to come to see Jaipur. It had almost become a tourist guest house. Those days there were no servants in the house. Only one bhisti used to be there, who used to bring water from across road from a public tap. He used to bring water in a leather bag, called pakhal, tied to his back. We got taps in our house, for the first time after we went to big bungalow next to zoo.   

Pune Days

In 1936 we landed in Pune on the Tulashi-lagna day. We had rented a house opposite to my grandfather’s {my mother’s uncle, N. C. Kelkar’s house} in Sadashiv peth. I started going to Bhave School along with my cousin Leela. She was in 3^rd class, I was in second class. That was my first experience of school. On our way to school, every day we had to face lot of cows and buffaloes. It was very frightening. But I managed it with the help of Leela.

In those days traffic was almost non-existent. So, one day we went to Laxmi road, bought one tricycle and Indu and I came home on Tilak road riding on the tricycle. Indu was very fond of wearing saari. That too, nine-yard saree. So, one day Akka took us to market and bought us one sari each. as soon as we came home, Indu wore that sari. Next day it was put in the water and all its colour gone. So Akka returned my sari. Anyway, I was not much interested in wearing sari.

In Pune there was electricity and there were number of cinema theaters. We saw quite a few Marathi pictures those days.

While we were in Pune, thread ceremony of my cousins Gajanan and Vinayak took place. It was the first time I saw such ceremony. A big pendal was erected. Lot of relatives and guests had come. we enjoyed it a lot. That was the first time I saw and met my grandparents and babumama. That was also the first time we enjoyed ice-cream.

Kelkars had a very big courtyard next to their house. We used to play cricket and vitidandu there.

In that summer we met Mai mavashi and her family in Pune. They normally stayed in Nagpur.  Brought out one As Nagpur is very hot in summer they used to come to Pune for the summer holidays.

 We had one atya in Pune those days. Her name was Varanatai. One day we went to see her. She was living in a small room. She entertained us very well. There was a small tin lying about. Shashi was playing with it. Shashi liked it very much. She asked Atya can I take this tin home? Atya asked her why do you want that tin? She said she wanted it to drink buttermilk. Atya got very emotional. She said your atya is not so poor. She opened one trunk and brought out one silver droni. e. a bowl shaped like a leaf bowl. Shashi brought it home happily and for a long time she used it for drinking buttermilk.

Our Pune stay was short, but very memorable. We met lot of our relatives in Pune whom we had never seen or met before. First time we came and stayed in Maharashtra where everybody was talking in Marathi. It was new to us. In Jaipur everybody outside our house was talking in Hindi. There were only a few Maharashtrian families where we could talk in Marathi.

Kolhapur days

Next year we shifted to Kolhapur where my aaji and bhaukaka were staying. First, we stayed in Shiralkar’s house for a few months and then shifted to Deo’s house on main road. Kolhapur jail was very near to our house. Laxmibai girl’s high school and Rajaram college were also very near to our house. When we left Jaipur, tai was left in Ahilyashram school in Indore. After we shifted to Kolhapur tai came to Kolhapur and joined high school there. Mai also joined the same school. My primary school was a bit far away. But I met a few friends staying nearby who could come with me to school. I did my third class there.

Kolhapur was not a very big town those days. The central jail was very near to our house. Mahalaxmi temple is famous in Kolhapur. There is a legend that it was erected overnight. It is a very big and beautiful.

There was a film studio near our house, just outside the big veshi i. e. a big stony gate of old town. We saw some pictures in tent as there was no cinema hall those days. Like that, we saw one picture in Panchgani in tent called Kunku. We had been to Panchgani to visit Dattukaka, Akka’s uncle. Panchgani is near Mahabaleshwar, a hill station.

While we were staying in Rahalkar’s house, one evening when Akka was cleaning kerosene lamps, to be lighted at night a big nagoba i. e. a big snake was sitting coiled in the corner of the place where we used to store all our lamps in day time. Akka got frightened and shouted for help. But before anybody could come the snake went away and we were saved from a big calamity.

When we shifted to the house on main road, that house belonged to a Deo family. Incidentally it happened to be Ramesh Deo’s family who became a famous film star later in life. Those days he was also a school going boy. There were three brothers and one eldest sister called Indu. She used to make big jowar roti i. e. bhakari on hand roast it on tawa and later in wood chula. As in Jaipur we never ate bhakari.It was a great fun to watch her make it on hand. Later on, Akka started making it on parat or polpat. 

My Story, Part 1 - Dr. Nalini Nargundkar

Dr. Nalini Nargundkar, 89 in a fortnight, has a clear memory of her journey from the town of Amalner in Maharashtra to Jaipur, Bihar, Vellore, Pune, Kothagudem and so on. This is the first chapter of her story, of her childhood.

Will add some pictures as and when I find them.

----

My Story

 Dr. Nalini Nargundkar

I was born in 1929 at my grandmother’s place at Dhule.

I spent my childhood in Jaipur. We went to Devas in 1936 where Manik was born. There I went to a school for a few days. But, it was just a time pass. My kaku sent me and mai to school so we should not trouble her. But it was a fun for me, Mai did not like it.

My real schooling started after we left Jaipur and shifted to Pune in 1936 after Diwali. I joined second class in BHAVE school. Then we shifted to Kolhapur in the month of May 1937. There I did my third class. My father who had gone abroad after we left Jaipur had returned to India and taken a job in Amalner. So, we shifted to Amalner in 1938. I did my schooling and college upto inter-science in Amalner. After that I went to Pune for my medical college. I passed my M.B.B.S. from B.J. Medical college in 1953. After that I went to Vellore for my house-surgency. I stayed there for one and half year till the end of January 1955. After that I worked in Pulgaon maternity home for a few months. In October 1955, I joined Central Hospital Dhanbad in Bihar. I stayed in that area till November 1961.Then I shifted to Kothagudam in Singareni collieries Andhra Pradesh. I worked in different hospitals like Bellampalli, Ramgundam and retired as Additional Chief Medical Officer in 1989. Since then I am staying in Pune.one

Jaipur Days

I remember quite a lot of things from Jaipur days. We used to live in the market place in a three-story building. Ground floor was shops of rangaries. They used to dye cloth or clothes. First floor was for Dada. He used to have his office and his bed room in one wing. On the other side of staircase, it was children’s wing, where we used to play, sleep, study etc. One day I was following tai to her study room, when I fell down in a staircase which was closed and not in use. It was full of junk. I got injured when a they had to take me to the hospital as I had become unconscious. It took quite some time for me to recover completely. Earlier to this time, when I was too small Tai carried me to the terrace of the house and put me on the parapet wall and I fell down from there two floors below on the first-floor chowk. That time also I had injured myself and had become unconscious. It took a long time for my complete recovery. In the same house Indu was born. I still remember Akka lying with a small baby, that was Indu.

Next year we shifted to another big house in Mishrajee’s galli. Three stories plus terrace. there were thirty-two rooms in the house. On the ground floor my father used to have his club. His friends used to come to play cards and carrom. Some of the other rooms were used by servants. We used to live on the first floor. Second floor was not in use. Once only a room there was used when my father had imported lots of oranges from Nagpur. We used to go to that room whenever we wanted and eat as many as we liked. It was a great fun.

While we were staying in the same house, one afternoon while we were having our afternoon tiffin, all of a sudden, the house started rocking, the utensils started falling. we did not know what was happening. we started crying, calling mother. She came and pacified us and told us not to worry. It was earth quake. That was my first experience of earthquake. Next time I experienced much later while we were in Kothagum in 1962 or 63. That we felt earthquake in the night while we were having our dinner. We ran out of the house with the children. We stayed out of the house the rest of the night. Soon the electricity also disappeared. We felt many more attacks of earthquake the same night and the next day too. But all of them were mild. So, no harm or any damage was done.

Next, we shifted to a big bungalow when my father became principal of the college. It was quite huge with very big garden and big compound. There were pink roses for the border. A basketful of rose flowers we used to collect every day. They were used for pooja on the first day. Next day we used to take out petals, crush them a bit, add crushed khadisakhar or plain sugar to it, put it in a glass jar, put it with a lid and put it in sun for a few days and we used to get gulkand. This way we used to get lot of homemade gulkand which we used to eat in summer. It used to be nice and cooling.

In our back yard we used to grow lots of vegetables. In winter we used to have lot of cauliflower and green peas. We used to have aloo, mutter gobi as vegetable quite often for our lunch or dinner.

While we were staying there, I used to get lot of boils all over my body in summer. Akka used to give me neem patta juice every morning to drink. It used to be very bitter. My mother put multani mati all over my body. When it dried up she used to bathe me by cold water of the well.

In winter it used to be very cold. We used to keep milk with sugar in an open vessel on the terrace at night. Early morning the next day, we used to churn it. A lot of thick foam would come on the top. Which we used to call amrut and eat it very cold. It was very tasty.

While we were there I got one big boil on my left arm. It burst open one day and formed a big ulcer. From that ulcer lot of pus used to come out. I was going daily to the local hospital for vaccination dressing. But it was not healing. Ultimately our driver took me to a zarra i. e. one hakeem. With his dressing and medicines. It healed completely in a few days. It left a big scar on my arm like a vaccination mark permanently.

There was a big zoo next to our house. There was one big well with mot for drawing water, separating our house from the zoo. First night after going to that house we were very much frightened when we heard the roaring sound of lions and tigers. Then slowly we got used to it.

There was a very big backyard. We used to grow lots of vegetables there. We had lots of big Neem trees under which we used to play in summer afternoons. We had plenty of Phalsa shrubs near the fence. We used to pluck and eat as many as we want.

In Rajastan, there used to be Ramleela around Ramnavami. One year we enacted Seeta haran in our garden. Tai, Mai and I had become Ram, Laxman and Seeta. One of our friend had become Ravana. He picked me up and carried me to Lanka I. e. behind a big tree. Then Ram and Laxman come to fight with Ravana and take away Seeta after killing Ravana. It was a great fun.

We used to have plenty of monkeys in that area. One day, the door of our storeroom was left open by oversight. So, lots of monkeys entered the storeroom and ate a bagful of groundnuts. Those days we had to shell out groundnut seeds at home. Whoever wanted sago khichadi had to shell out a cupful of groundnuts.

Why Writers Write - Thanks Komal

Komal aspires to be a fiction writer and is well on her journey what with sharing stuff like this - why do writers write. It's a collection of quotes she researched and picked from various sources on the net and it's too wonderful not to share. Komal will make a writer surely because she patiently typed the whole lot for me when I said I would like to share it on my blog. Patience is number one quality. Thanks Komal for sharing and the effort.

All the quotes do not have the names but the thought is good enough.

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. Why did the oil refineries around Carquinez Straits seem sinister to me in the summer of 1956? Why have the night lights in the bevatron burned in my mind for twenty years? What is going on in these pictures in my mind?” - Joan Didion

“I chose to write because of the experiences I faced growing up in an environment that was very suppressing, oppressing, racial, secretive, etc. There were many lies, secrets and deceit that were a part of my family life as well. I also was dealing with my sexuality and coming out as a gay woman. This was not going over well in an Italian, Catholic Family with a father who was the boss of the Genovese Crime Family in Manhattan. Regardless of who my dad was, I experienced many hurtles that people could relate to and wanted to share my experience with them so as to help them in any way I could.”

“ I have been living inside my imagination since I was a child. I don’t have a long attention span and when I was bored in class, my mind would drift to some world from my imagination – rich with characters and conflict.”

“In general, I love to exercise my imagination when I’m working on my novels. These are worlds that are escapes from my day job!”

“In a way, writing is a tribute to all the authors and works that have fed my imagination — it’s a “giving back” to the creative world for all it’s given me. I once got the following advice, which I think feeds into why many writers do this: Write the book/movie/play you’d want to read/see if you weren’t the creator. That sums up all I’ve ever done.”

“ To leave behind a legacy so that those who did not survive will not be forgotten and those who are facing what appear to be insurmountable obstacles, will have hope. (This answer was kindly provided by Bruce Hurwitz” – Rivka Cohen’s Publisher)

“The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it’s about and why you’re doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising… and it’s magic and wonderful and strange.”

“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”

“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.”

On her website, Judy Blume shares a number of tips and personal stories with would-be authors seeking advice and a starting point. “Those of us who write do it because there are stories inside us burning to get out. Writing is essential to our well-being,” she shares. It’s a sentiment that many of the authors on our list have explained, but a PBS interview with the Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret writer describes something more revealing and equally, beautifully honest. She told the network about her struggle searching for books she could identify with as a child — ” families like my family,” she explains, “Which wasn’t perfect; it was a loving family, but it wasn’t perfect. And I knew, you know, there were secrets within families.” Blume “wanted to write what [she] remembered to be true,” especially since she admits that the “voice in [her] head was the voice of a child.”

“I write to dream; to connect with other human beings; to record; to clarify; to visit the dead. I have a kind of primitive need to leave a mark on the world. Also, I have a need for money.”

“I’m almost always anxious when I’m writing. There are those great moments when you forget where you are, when you get your hands on the keys, and you don’t feel anything because you’re somewhere else. But that very rarely happens. Mostly I’m pounding my hands on the corpse’s chest.”

“I start all my books on January eighth. Can you imagine January seventh? It’s hell. Every year on January seventh, I prepare my physical space. I clean up everything from my other books. I just leave my dictionaries, and my first editions, and the research materials for the new one. And then on January eight I walk seventeen steps from the kitchen to the little pool house that is my office. It’s like a journey to another world. It’s winter, it’s raining usually. I go with my umbrella and the dog following me. From those seventeen steps on, I am in another world and i am another person. I go there scared. And excited. And disappointed – because I have a sort of idea that isn’t really an idea. The first two, three, four weeks are wasted. I just show up in front of the computer. Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up.”

“Why do writers write? We write because it pushes us beyond the barriers of everyday existence into a world of what might be. A world of opportunity. An infinite variety of maybes and what ifs. A vast plain of words that might help describe the world in which we live.”

“For a writer, no two days are the same. The path may not always be smooth and predictable, but there are always new sights to see. There is always more to explore.”

“ Like any great journey, writing is full of its ups and downs. Sometimes, it feels like riding a roller coaster; other times, it’s like riding a donkey. We can be taken from Byzantine riches to Ethiopian droughts — from good to bad and dark to light — in the flash of a feature or the length of a short story. There’s no comfort in a thrilling story, and the same is true for a writer’s life. It is an isolated — but far from lonely — experience. With our words and fellow “travelers” to keep us company, adventure lurks around every corner.”

“There’s a lot more to the writing life than what we earn — or don’t earn. After all, it’s not our possessions or paychecks that make for a fulfilled life. It’s those moments we choose to step into discomfort that our stories begin to be interesting.”

“A trip to the Australian Outback taught me that being away from your routine and placing yourself in a strange environment is challenging. Each moment is full of excitement and anticipation about what could happen next. It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey. Just like writing. Just like life.”

My Article In the Sunday HANS - His Leadership's Problems

On the problems of leaders!
http://epaper.thehansindia.com/1655378/SUNDAY-HANS/SUNDAY-HANS#page/13/1

My Column in today's Sunday HANS - Faking Ownership!

Faking Ownership - My article in the Sunday HANS today!
http://epaper.thehansindia.com/1565429/SUNDAY-HANS/SUNDAY-HANS#page/21/1

My Article in the Sunday HANS - What's Up

What's Up...and the dangers of whatsapping
http://epaper.thehansindia.com/1478770/SUNDAY-HANS/Sunday-Hans#page/15/1

My Article in The Sunday Hans - I Know, I Know

I know, I know - Sunday Hans Dec 10, 2017
http://epaper.thehansindia.com/1461874/SUNDAY-HANS/SUNDAY-HANS#page/9/1

Writers on the Prowl - Doing What We Do

Here I will let out some writerly secrets. So we went to Crossword the other day to buy some books for Anjali who got her a gift voucher from her cousin Miskil. The first thing obscure writers like me do is to scan the shelves to see if the book is someplace. Obviously when you are looking you will never find it. A stab of disappointment will course through. The marketing and sales department comes to mind and after a small mental conversation with them I moved on to other things.

Life's little pleasures - TWIED prominently placed (by me) in bookshelves

Anjali came running. 'Nanna, Jaico books are here.'
She showed me a couple of books, from people I know or have heard of. Hmm. Too bad.

The initial disappointment over I moved on looking at other books, sending pics of my friends books on the shelves to them and adding to their joy and happiness.

In this slightly elated state I noticed that a copy of 'This Way Is Easier Dad' was lying in one of the bottom shelves well hidden from public eye. But my eyes saw it and I pulled it out. Aha. The heart leapt skyward. They have not forgotten me yet. There is a copy, hidden, but somewhere in the book store jostling with the others. I felt happy.

Of course the first thing we do when we see our baby lying in some obscure corner is to pick it up, dust it and surreptitiously place it in some prominent position. I suspect the bookstore fellows are used to this kind of stuff all the time and they probably have some in house detectives who instantly go and replace the books to where thy originally were but we have to do what we have to do.

I quietly glided over to another part of the bookstore feeling very pleased with my work. Anjali was still busy checking out books and fountain pens.

Surprise, surprise, two more copies of TWIED showed up in two separate places, well hidden from the public eye once more. Why would anyone want to hide such a beautiful book? So I called the family and showed them the book in all its glory. We placed them in prominent positions in the shelves and feeling very pleased with our work paid the bill and left. I am sure all three would have been picked up within an hour after we left and sales is now rising rapidly to the million copies mark.

Such are the things that we do. We are unhappy if the books show up - no one is buying. We are unhappy if the books are not there - how will we sell if there are no books. We are unhappy if they are prominent and unhappy if they are not. Only after we do what we do, are we happy.

We celebrated with some ice cream. Job well done. Now for the next book store - it is always one book store at a time, one shelf at a time, one copy at a time.