The Cinemawala

Alfred Hitchcock had once said-

‘To make a great film, you need three things:

the script, the script and the script !’

Script is the heart of a film. It’s that organ that breathes life into the movie. At times, good scripts are marred by inconsistent direction or ineffective acting. However a good script, along with effective direction and good performances turns into a great movie. A script is just like bricks, essential to build a house. Without a good script, it’s only mere effects that appears on screen. This year, we had some great films, conceptualised on equally great scripts. Curiously, some of these films didn’t have takers at the box office, thus confirming the fact that when it comes to the audience, nobody knows what’s going to work!

Nevertheless, the scripts which found their place on this list, is the indication of the changing perception of the audience. We, at The Cinemawala curated the list of the movies and their script writers, which had amazing scripts, irrespective of the fact whether the movie worked at the box office or not. Read on-

10.Pervez Shaikh, Abhinav Deo – Blackmail

An unsuspecting husband stumbles upon the fact that his wife is cheating on him. He figures out a way to blackmail his wife and her paramour, for money. The paramour, in turn secretly blackmails the wife and hires a detective to identify the original blackmailer. Even the detective joins the bandwagon like other folks and start to blackmail the husband. Phew! Just like a maze in a maze, the script of ‘Blackmail’ was about layers and full of quirk. Writer Parvez Shaikh and director Abhinav Deo, who’s credited for writing the dialogues as well, weave a simple story and then add layers of confusion and quirky characters. A husband who asks for a ransom amount only equal to his monthly EMIs, the paramour asking for double the ransom amount so that he can pay his own blackmailer and keep the rest to himself and above all, the curious case of missing photos from the office ! The movie may not have exactly set the cash registers ringing, but Mr. Parvez Shaikh, you do have our attention now !

9.Anand Tiwari, Sumeet Vyas – Love Per Square Foot

If you remember the movie ‘Gharonda’ or ‘Dhup Chanv’, you get the gist of ‘Love Per Square Foot’. A house. A place to call home. A place where dreams are nurtured so they may evolve into something worthwhile. But what does it take one to make one? What makes a brick mortar building, a place to stay? Director-writer Anand Tiwari and co-writer Sumeet Vyas come up with a script that in the garb of a sweet love story, discusses one of the most common problems of the 21st century metro cities – getting a house of your own. This film is about a young couple, who get into a deal of sorts to stage a fake wedding so that they can buy a house. The beauty of the story is that though you know the oft-repeated and obvious climax, you still wait for it, because there’s so much love in it. And hats off to Mr. Tiwari and Mr. Vyas to have pulled off such feat. Starring a fabulous Vicky Kaushal and an effervescent Angira Dhar, the film is bolstered by the presence of stalwarts like Raghuvir Yadav, Ratna Pathak Shah, Supriya Pathak Kapoor, Gajraj Rao who bring the house down with their antics about a catholic girl getting married to a brahmin boy.

8.Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Abhay Koranne – Bhavesh Joshi Superhero

That ‘Bhavesh Joshi Superhero’ will stand the test of time, is an unspoken truth. The movie may not have done well, but it’s one of the most intriguing film of the year 2018. Set in the contemporary times, it chooses to draw attention towards the most sought after natural resources of the modern times – the scarcity of water. The protagonist here takes up the mantle of a vigilante after he sees his friend getting killed while fighting against corrupt forces. The writers trio of director Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Koranne gave enough depth to the character of Bhavesh Joshi, who from a mere mortal, eventually evolves into a sign of hope. A major portion of the film has the protagonist working on his skills, working on his fighting style, before he goes all out on the enemy, which constitutes credibility about the character. It’s a shame that the movie couldn’t do well.

7.Abhishek Banerjee, Prosit Roy – Pari

These are exciting times for Indian cinema and people like Prosit Roy and Abhishek Banerjee take a calculated risk with a story that could’ve been told badly had it been somebody else. ‘Pari’ is a story to be seen, felt, creeped out and loved. It may or may not appeal to you, considering how big a fan of the genre you are. But more than the horror, it’s the humane story that will make your eyes moist. As the film gets over with one of the most beautiful end credits, these last lines from the film ‘King Kong’ resonates the most with ‘Pari’ ~ ‘It wasn’t the airplanes, it was beauty killed the beast’. And I wondered who’s the beast? The ghastly souls who openly seek for blood or the ones who claim to be humans?

6.Anurag Kashyap, Vineet Kumar Singh, Mukti Singh Srinet, K D Satyam, Ranjan Chandel, Prasoon Mishra – Mukkabaaz

Sports movies, especially movies made on the sports of Boxing are something that have been in vogue from time immemorial. Any underdog boxing movie, gets compared with ‘Rocky’ or the ‘Raging Bull’. What separates ‘Mukkabaaz’ from these stories, is the issues that sportsmen face in our country. Actor Vineet Kumar Singh who’s primarily credited for the idea and the story of ‘Mukkabaaz’, conceptualised the story about a boxer, struggling between rampant casteism and other problems. Inspired from various real incidents, Vineet wrote the initial script with her sister Mukti, which was finally made into the movie, with four different writers contributing to it, including Kashyap himself. The movie draws attention towards casteism, cow vigilantism, corruption, nepotism and many such problems those are faced by the sportsmen of this country. One of the best sports movies to have come out of Hindi cinema, ‘Mukkabaaz’ is a movie for ages.

5.Kanika Dhillon – Manmarziyan, Kedarnath

To be honest, there has been many movies on the concept of love triangle or for that matter, the forbidden love. But none of them were written by Kanika Dhillon! The way she looks at love, perceives heartbreak, nobody does that ! For her, love still remains that feeling, which makes one go weak in the knee, be it the sharing of tea from one glass or whispering sweet nothings amidst the hullabaloo of this world. It’s that feeling, that inspires people to do the unimaginable, the unthinkable. In both her works this year, ‘Manmarziyan’ and ‘Kedarnath’, the later which she co-wrote with director Abhishek Kapoor, the concept of love is explored through different lenses. ‘Manmarziyan’ talks about the whimsical mood of the heart where as ‘Kedarnath’ is about the love that grows despite barriers such as religion and status. While the former is a contemporary love story, the later breathes of an old world charm. And the credit solely goes to Kanika. The way she understands, portrays and enunciates human psyche, that’s really rare in today’s time.

4.Shantanu Srivastava, Akshat Ghildial, Jyoti Kapoor – Badhaai Ho

Located in a middle class locality of Delhi, the Kaushiks get a bolt out of the blue, when they discover mommy Kaushik to be pregnant. Papa Kaushik, a Railway employee by profession and a closeted poet is horrified with this news, amidst a constantly rebuking ailing mother and two stunned sons, one of them old enough to get married. As it happens in the middle class households, the news spreads like wildfire, sending the locality into a tizzy, leaving an embarrassed family. How the Kaushiks face this upheaving task, forms the crux of the story. This cracker of a story is written by the trio of Shantanu Srivastava, Akshat Ghildial and Jyoti Kapoor. It’s a wonderful satire about the mentality of the contemporary society and how it perceives people.

3.Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK – Stree

A town where men fear to roam alone on the streets, for a ghastly spirit of a woman wanders and takes away the men, leaving only their clothes behind ! ‘Stree’ will make you roll on the floor with laughter and probably will also make you ponder at the preconceived notions and prejudices of men about women. This unique story, based on an urban legend ‘Nalle Ba’ was written by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. Aided by some great dialogues by Sumit Arora and some great acting by the entire star cast, ‘Stree’ became the biggest grosser of this year, considering the ROI. Most notably, ‘The Washington Post’, a leading publication of the United States praised the premise on which ‘Stree’ is based and drew parallels with the recent heightened activities of atrocities against women.

2.Rahi Anil Bharve, Mitesh Shah, Adesh Prasad, Anand Gandhi – Tumbaad

Greed. The sin that pays. And it makes people pay too. Sometimes with their lives. Human nature, the ficklest of all of God’s creation, often finds itself in the crossroads of life. On one path, strewn around are countless thorns, hardships and obstacles. The other path is rosy and seemingly easy. The fickle mind always chooses the later one. That’s the road of greed. Easy, quick and dangerous, often leading to annihilation. ‘Tumbaad’ tells the story of greed and how the human nature falls for it, despite being aware of its ultimate outcome. Based on the concept of greed, ‘Tumbaad’ is the perfect amalgamation of thrill, fantasy and horror. Inspired by the work of Marathi writer Narayan Dharap, the director Rahi Anil Bharve wrote the initial script, which over six years, got shaped into the final product, including additional writing from Mitesh Shah, Adesh Prasad and Anand Gandhi. One of the best films of 2018, the script of ‘Tumbaad’ is one of its kind.

1.Sriram Raghvan, Arjit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti, Yogesh Chandekar, Hemanth Rao – AndhaDhun

So was the rabbit story all made up?

Was Ayushmaan Khurrana really blind at the end?

Did Tabu die of the car crash or Ayushmaan took her eyes?

Was everything a lie?

Google ‘AndhaDhun’ and you will see many such theories doing rounds of the cyberspace. If one has to see the impact of a powerful and well written script, well, look no further! ‘AndhaDhun’ is the film of the year and the script of the year too. A blind man, who may or may not have been blind, a woman who may or may not have killed her husband and a rabbit, which may or may not have existed at all ! ‘AndhaDhun’ will keep perplexing people and the credit goes to the cerebral insides of the mad genius Sriram Raghvan and his co-writers Arjit Biswas, Pooja Ladha Surti, Yogesh Chandekar and Hemanth Rao.