Vijayendra Prasad feels that unless writers in India aren't treated and paid well, Indian movies cannot compete at the international level.
'RRR' scriptwriter Vijayendra Prasad addressing people during the online conference as part of the Bengaluru Film Festival. (Supplied)
The writer of several blockbuster movies including the latest Oscar sensation RRR and nominated Rajya Sabha member Vijayendra Prasad on Saturday, 25 March, interacted with moviemakers and movie lovers during the 14th Bengaluru International Film Festival.
During an online masterclass — RRR: Behind the Screenplay — he shared some of his insights into what goes into writing an effective screenplay and a lot more.
As to what inspired him to pen the screenplay of one of India’s most commercially successful movies, Vijayendra Prasad shared that his son, SS Rajamouli, approached him for a story that could be presented with two of the biggest stars of the Telugu film industry — NTR Jr and Ram Charan.
“Writing the screenplay for a film with two big heroes is a challenge not only because of the obvious reasons but also because of the task to create characters that would rightfully balance each other’s stardom, and at the same time retain the ‘soul of the story’, which would not be influenced by the presence of the star actors,” he explained.
Directed by SS Rajamouli, RRR eventually went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Naatu Naatu”, written by Chandrabose and composed by MM Keeravani.
His thought of creating a completely new storyline based on two freedom fighters — Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem — that could create a magical experience gave birth to RRR.
However, when asked about the controversy that claimed that the presence of two people from different timelines in the same space may result in altering history from a layman’s point of view, he presented a simple answer.
“It is clearly mentioned in the disclaimer that the story, which is set in the pre-Independence era, is purely fictional and so are the characters and a few other aspects,” Vijeyandra told South First.
He also went on to reiterate his statement that it was because of Mahatma Gandhi that Jawaharlal Nehru became the prime minister of India instead of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was chosen by 15 out of 17 Pradesh Congress Committee members back then.
“I have my own reservation about Gandhi as Mahatma. If he had any sense of respect for democracy, he would have chosen Patel as prime minister instead of Nehru, who was his personal choice to be the prime minister,” he said.
He added that though he doesn’t question the capabilities of Nehru, as per democracy, Patel should have rightfully become India’s first prime minister.
About one of his finest creations, yet again for his son, SS Rajamouli, the writer revealed that Stephen Spielberg’s ET (1982) inspired him to create Eega (2012).
“I came to know that Spielberg, while working for ET, asked his writers to sketch the ugliest character ever, which went on to make one of the most loved and iconic characters in his career,” he said.
“I considered two things, a mosquito and a fly, and eventually drafted a story with commercial elements for a movie with reincarnation as the peg,” he explained.
Soon after the release of Bahubali: The Beginning (2015), there was only one question on every mind: “Why did Kattappa kill Bahubali?” And it remained unanswered for around two years.
He was mentioning Kattappa at the masterclass to a question on which among Bahubali’s characters was his favourite.
Kattappa stabbing Bahubali. (Supplied)
“Though it is difficult to pick one as all of them are my own creation, I would choose Kattappa as number one, for the sole reason that the character had great emotional depth,” he said.
“He killed Amarendra Bahubali, for whom he had great love, with a heavy heart since he didn’t want Shivagami to have Bahubali’s blood on her hands,” explained the master.
Vijayendra Prasad went on to share a lighter moment relating to the question of why Kattappa killed Bahubali.
“It was soon after Bahubali had released, and I was hurrying to board a flight when I realised that my boarding pass was missing. I somehow could see an officer holding the pass, but he wanted to know the answer to why Kattappa killed Bahubali,” he recalled.
“However, I said with a smile that the answer would cost him ₹100 crore,” he quipped, adding that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi apparently wanted to know the answer when Prabhas met him on an occasion.
Further, the writer said that Bahubali was in fact a tale of two women — mother-in-law (Shivagami) versus daughter-in-law (Devasena).
“Rajamouli emphasises a lot of women with stronger characters and roles to play in his movies. He also loves action so much that he makes movies to showcase action on a different level. I only give him the base and the rest are his own creations,” the writer noted.
Bahubali 2 poster. (Supplied)
Even as he shared that he never had any formal training in writing a screenplay, he follows some of the basic principles like keeping it well within minimal pages to fit 2-2.5 hours of movie time.
“It is necessary to see to it that every scene paves way for the continuation of the story and also enough experience to keep the suspense going. One should always be the harshest critic of one’s own work and should never get attached to the creations. If the work doesn’t excite the writer at some point, they should let go of it and work on something which has been unheard of,” he advised, adding that when a writer goes blank, they must simply go for a solo long walk.
“My all-time favourite is Sholay, which I often keep revisiting for inspiration. It is my guiding light,” Vijayendra Prasad further said.
He signed off by saying that he has plans to write on various subjects, based on historically significant people and events like Chhatrapati Shivaji, Azad Hind Force, and Article 370.
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