The ‘write’ move: Anuraadha Tewari - a fierce & unique voice in a crowded marketplace

Writer Anuraadha Tewari’s latest show, ‘Dil Dosti Dilemma’, released on Amazon Prime recently and has been receiving good response. The writer started her journey with Mahesh Bhatt and went to work with Prakash Jha, Madhur Bhandarkar, Subhash Ghai and others. She has written many shows for various channels and platforms.

In an exclusive interview with Adgully, Anuraadha Tewari speaks about her new show, connecting with the young generation, her transiton from writing for films to TV to OTT, how she tackles writer’s block, and much more.

Could you tell us about your new show ‘Dil Dosti Dilemma’?

It is a sweet little coming-of-age story based in Bangalore, adapted from a book by Andaleeb Wajid. While it is essentially a teen drama with its usual ups and downs, the show is really about class differences and returning to your roots. The set-up just happens to be a Muslim one. In that it cuts across generations as well as cultures as a story to, what I believe, can be a pan-Indian show.

How are you to connect with the new generation so well and write their character?

I have actually always been great friends with younger people. Most of my friends are at least 10 years younger. I also make sure I spend time with the children of my friends to know what they are thinking, where the world is headed next when shaped by them. In general, I also hire youngsters as part of my writers’ rooms and a lot of the interns are straight out of college. So, it is really easy for me to connect with Gen Z. In fact, I feel I have a lot more in common with them in terms of thoughts and goals than people older or then the millennials.

Thus, to write their characters was not that tough. It was an extension of what I know and what I see. In essence, I find them a very exciting mix of being tech savvy and yet grounded in ancient values that they want to rediscover in their own style. There is a renaissance happening right there.

How was the transition from films to TV to OTT?

It was gradual and it came with some resistance initially. You see, films have a certain freedom in a way because they have a two-and-a-half-hour run time and they finish at one go. There is no carryover and the graph you have to follow is at one shot. When you switch to TV, you have to do that five times a week, four times a month, eternally. The pacing is vastly different. For a lot of people, that’s just something they can write on the fly with just drama points inserted here and there, but being a bit of a Structure Nazi, I found it difficult to not follow a narrative structure in every episode and then a weekly one and then a monthly one. Not to mention the quarterly and then yearly one. But naturally, that became exhausting.

So, I decided to simply set up TV Shows. Do the whole show bible and the first 20 episodes to set the tone and hand over. That kept me sane and interested in the medium. From TV to OTT was a smoother journey, because in many ways it was an upgrade. TV gives us a lot of discipline as well as mental rigour. You know you are capable of delivering something sensible in just a couple of hours every single day. So, when the OTT platforms gave us the requisite 3-6 months to research and create bibles and then another year or so to actually write the show, it almost felt too good to be true. In OTT writing, I find myself expressed best as it has the right length to narrate a story and the need for structure to hold it through.

What has been your inspiration behind writing stories for youngsters?

I don’t look at it as about youngsters or oldies. Most writers don’t. I think we do two kinds of work – one, which you create and birth; and the other is what you are hired for and give shape to as a professional writer. So left to myself, I like to create what is bothering me about the world – a comment that I may want to make through a story; a message or an experience that I may want to share. Now, very often all of this can be said in a newer way through a youngster. Hence, the interest.

As far as work for hire is concerned, there is a whole genre by itself, called YA or Young Adult, which is in vogue right now. I’m happy I fit into that seamlessly, since that is pretty much what I did during my TV writing phase as well. So, I guess the youngsters will keep changing, but my lens of looking at their stories will depend on what I want to say at that point.

As a writer, how do you deal with writer’s block?

I do have a process for that. There are two kinds of writers’ blocks, and both of them block the flow. One in when you are exhausted and simply need a break and recharge. The other is when you have run out of ideas and need to reinvent. You need to feed your mind with new stimuli. I first figure out what kind of block it is and then simply choose a travel plan that suits the need. If it is just a break, then I go to a nature driven, chill place and do largely nothing for just 2-3 days. That does the magic. But if it is a re-invention, then I plan a long holiday of at least 2 weeks. I go, what I call, civilization exploring. I go to a country with a deep culture. I study its people, its history, its architecture, its art, music, cinema, food, the works. I do, what I call, art guzzling, like my last tour of Italy that covered 9 cities. That cannot not rejuvenate you. More often than not I find myself writing an entire script right there in a span of days. The block disappears magically.

It is often said that writers don’t get enough credit? Do you agree? Why?

Well, yes and no. I think most people are getting the actual credit on screen now. There are contracts and agencies involved, and the Screen Writers’ Association is very active. So, to mess with writer’s credits is not something people are going to do anymore. Having said that, I think the lines are still blurred. For example, the top OTT platforms don’t even have opening credits anymore. All writing and writers are often clubbed together as well. So, the intern and the senior writer are all under one umbrella. There is no credit yet for creating a show bible, which is still the most important job in the creation as well as selling of the show. And most of all, while the credits may be in place, writers often don’t know what they are going to see on screen. How much of their work will be messed with, changed, shaped differently by other writers brought in. It may have the credit correctly, but it may not really be how you wrote it or what you wrote.

What kind of influence have you had on your work after working with directors like Mahesh Bhatt, Prakash Jha and Madhur Bhandarkar? Would you want to direct something in future?

Well, the three directors are so vastly different from each other and such legends in their own right that one can’t not be influenced by them. Each one has their own genre. Naturally, I garnered different things from each one of them as I was working with each at different points and different life stages. While their film craft is distinct, I wouldn’t say I imbibed any one, because I have my own style, but I learned at their feet in terms of storytelling for an Indian audience, remaining a fierce and unique voice in a crowded marketplace and surviving a tough medium. I really learned mental strength from each and how to be a marathon runner in a long race.

As for direction, well I have a Masters Degree in Filmmaking, majored in Direction from a Film School (Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi) and my Diploma Film won the Gold. I really have no business not directing a film. I will however, do it only when the filmmaking environment supports my vision.