Audience should be shown the real India: Gulzar

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Gulzar, writer and film-maker, on making a TV serial based on the works of Premchand:<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">After </span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Mirza Ghalib</span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold=""> and </span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">Kirdar</span><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">, what inspired you to make a TV serial on the works of Munshi Premchand?</span><br />I feel that people should know about him.People must realise that what he wrote decades back is relevant to our society even today. I wonder why no effort is being made to bring the real India to the audience. The people in villages are so innocent... but rural India is so badly neglected. This is why I find Munshi Premchand and Sadat Hasan Manto very exciting —they captured the essence of India in their writing and are relevant even today.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">What will be the nature of the stories you plan to adapt for the small screen?</span><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Idgah</span>, a story which has stood the test of time, will be one. Then, there will be<span style="" font-style:="" italic=""> Kafan, Namak Ke Daroga, Bade Ghar Ki Bet</span>i and other stories which are heavy in emotion and strong enough to force people to think. I will try and get one film star who will act as the thread linking all the episodes.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">When and how did the idea for the serial take root in your mind?</span><br />I began working on the idea about three years ago. Ratan Shah, the then CEO of Prasar Bharati, wanted to open a literary window on Doordarshan for which he wanted the works of great writers in various languages to be explored.<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">You reportedly wanted to adapt the works of Rabindranath Tagore before the responsibly was entrusted to Gautam Ghosh.</span><br />I fail to understand this. Why can’t I do good work on Bengali writers? I have proved with my earlier work that I can handle the work of Bengali writers well. I have made <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kitab</span> and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Namkeen</span> based on the works of Samaresh Basu; <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Khushboo</span>, which is based on Sharat Chandra’s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Pandit Moshay</span>; and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Ijazat</span>, which is based on a Subodh Ghosh novel.</div> </div>