Filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala: Bollywood has made romance a necessity on screen

Filmmaker and scriptwriter Sooni Taraporevala, best known as the screenwriter of

Mississippi Masala

, opined that Bollywood has made romance a necessity on screen. "Any time there is a girl and boy in the plot, there must be a budding romance between them. We need to realise that the power of friendship is far more than any romance which tends to fade over time," she said.


Sooni was speaking at an interactive session titled ‘The Pleasures of Friendship’ that also had author

Siddharth Dhanavat Shangvi

and

Nitasha Chordia

, chairperson, FICCI FLO Jaipur, as the fellow panelists. The event was organised at

Hawa Mahal

by the Department of Archaeology and Museum, FICCI Flo and curated by Rajat Book Corner. Siddharth, on the other hand spoke about love and how it is perfect when it is not realised. “The threat of departure of love is what makes us sit up and take notice,” he said.

He also spoke about his new book titled

The Rabbit and the Squirrel

. Speaking about a part from the book where the squirrel tries to eat her children, Siddharth said, “The squirrel was fed up with her conventional marriage and thus she threatened to kill and eat her children hoping to scare her husband into labelling her crazy and then the man would set her free. After being deemed as crazy by the husband and society, that crazy woman would then have the liberty to do anything she likes.” The discussion was followed by a live Rajasthani musical performance.