How The Team Of Qarib Qarib Singlle Took Bollywood One More Step Qarib To Gender-Neutrality | Verve Magazine - Part 2
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November 24, 2017

How The Team Of Qarib Qarib Singlle Took Bollywood One More Step Qarib To Gender-Neutrality

Text by Ranjabati Das

The movie presented yet another chorus of voices chiming in to confirm the relatively new status of women in the industry — as pros taking on retrograde notions with élan

Sutapa Sikdar: Producer 

On her favourite project… Khamoshi, because of its silences. Sanjay Leela Bhansali and I were new in the industry, and it was another kind of an adrenaline rush to be able to work for the celluloid. I have also written the dialogues of Shabd (2005), which was directed by Leena Yadav.”

On her transition from writing to producing… “The latter is tougher, and I am still learning. Turning producer was a natural progression. In Madaari, I was only involved in the scripting, but in QQS, I was involved from the beginning till the end. QQS is a moderate-budget film, which will be easy for us to recover. I was creatively involved with Shailja (producer) in almost every department. It was a great learning experience and I am sure I will be handling future projects in a much better way, especially the marketing aspect.”

On catching a break as a writer… “I never struggled or anything…life has been too kind to me. When (director) Deeya Singh approached me for writing Banegi Apni Beat (BAB), I was translating scripts for Govind Nihalani. It was a weekly and so I didn’t have an army of writers. I had not seen any TV shows before. Kamlesh Pandey, who was programming head at Zee at that time, felt that that was the very reason why my writing was fresh. I have also produced some episodes of Star Bestsellers for Shailja, who is my partner in crime in this film.”

On taking long breaks between writing gigs… “I kept writing on and off but since I wasn’t cut out for saas-bahu dramas, it took a backseat. Also, as I had children, the on-off situation suited me well. I am an avid traveller and a bohemian. I like many things and I am not embarrassed to not be a working woman all the time. I like to get surprised by life but now that my children have grown up I will be more active in exploring TV, films and web series…both as producer and writer. Life has just begun for me (laughs).”

Next: Shailja Kejriwal

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