FilmIndia (1940)

September 1940 FILM INDIA We have purposely used the word 'construct'. Scenarios are not 'written' but 'constructed'. It is not a literary process but a highly involved and specialized technique which requires, besides fertile imagination and flair for drama, a close acquaintance with every stage of the process of film production. This technical knowledge is of the utmost importance because the scenarist, while writing the script, actually produces the picture on paper! He must be able to split the story into sequences, sequences into scenes and scenes into shots, yet smoothly dovetailing one into the other and giving the whole drama a natural rhythm and flow. He must know the use and significance of technical terms like "fade-in", "fade-out", "dissolve", "wipe", "montage", "symbolism" etc., and must be able to utilize all these cinematographic 'tricks' to convey the ideas of the author in the most effective manner. On the screen, we do not see what the author | writes. We see what the scenarist wants us to see. i Therein lies his importance. The world's best story . can be 'murdered' by a bad scenario but a good scen| ario can redeem and improve the weakest possible story. That elusive 'Hollywood touch' which we admire so i much and find so difficult to achieve is nothing but the , efficiency of their scenarists who, by their skilful mani1 pulation of incidents, make .the dullest subject interest| ing and create an illusion of reality in the most absurd and fantastic story. Compare the British with the Hollywood produc; tions. With the same stars, the same directors and i equally good technical equipment, why are the British studios unable to give polished slick pictures like Holly| wood? Because the British scenarists still hugging a literary tradition, have not yet acquired the technical perfection of his American brother. No doubt, until recently even Hollywood pictures were all screen-play and no story — brilliant but superficial and inconsequential. That, too, should not be our aim. We want our pictures to be slick and smart but, even more than that, we want them to mean something, to have a better design than crazy comedies or cheap exhibition of sex. Our ideal should be to have good, purposeful and progressive stories and to ensure their most perfect presentation on the screen by entrusting the work to efficient scenarists. But how many of our studios realize the importance of good scenarists? Indeed, how many of them believe in getting scenarios written at all? One — two — three — four — not more! Even in these studios, usually directors themselves have to work on their scripts which may yield good results for the time being, some of these directors being versatile and clever, but as a general policy it is dangerous, almost suicidal for the director to do the nerve-exhausting paper work which a scenario involves. A commendable example has been recently provided by Bombay Talkies who have organized an efficient group of young and educated scenarists. The result is "Bandhan" which proves our contention that an intelligently constructed scenario can turn even a weak story into a polished and popular picture. In most of the other studios, the six-pice exercise book may have been replaced by a thick and swanky file but the technique of scenario-writing seems to have advanced very little beyond the studio Munshi stage. No wonder, then, that a few flukes notwithstanding, even the general standard of their pictures has not progressed any further! The foreign screen first invented the stars. Then it realized the importance of the Director, who could make or unmake stars. To-day the screen has discovered the writer— original writer as well as the studio scenarist— and restored him to his rightful place of eminence. The Indian producers have tried the star as well as the Director, both of whom continue to draw huge salaries inspite of repeated failures of their pictures. Let them now give a break to the writer. May be, this humble individual will still save the industry and build a new future. t/ Leela Chitnis looks younger with every scene in "Bandhan" the latest hit of Bombay Talkies. 5