Real 'himmat' lies in making big, bold films: Shagufta Rafique

When a writer sits to pen a script, he or she does draw inspiration from his or her own life, circumstances and experiences – it may be a relationship one has gone through, the way one has made love to another or how one has observed different characters, from a rickshawallah to a cop. For that period, where character definition is the focus, script writers say homework is the most important.
Juhi Chaturvedi, who has been lauded for her Vicky Donor script, says she is working on a few stories. “They are relationship-based,” she says, adding, “In-depth observation is very important.” Writer Shagufta Rafique, known for films like Raaz: The Mystery Continues, Aawarapan, Jannat 2 and Murder 2, agrees. She says, “Homework is very important. When I’m writing, I am locked up in my room. I sit with my characters alone. I know and understand what kind of a person he or she is. Whether I’m creating a cop or a killer, it is important to fully understand what the character entails. It makes the job easy then.” Shagufta doesn’t like any disturbance when she is writing a script and developing her characters for a film. “I don’t like disturbance so I usually write at night. I have to develop each nuance of the characters,” she says.
Juhi reiterates that one has to fully understand the task at hand. “Everything needs to be explored. Like, if I’m writing a relationship-based story, I can’t say that, ‘Oh, in my relationship, the guy did this so I’m going to write just that.’ It doesn’t work that way,” she says.
Shagufta also brings to the fore another issue – that of writing commercial films. “Lately women writers are doing well in the industry. Earlier, they would stick to mainly women-oriented subjects which were boring the audiences. They were not getting commercial,” she points out. In the same way that male writers have explored women characters in films, women too should take that step and be bold with their scripts. “See, the biggest audiences are the rickshawallahs and tangawallahs. They make the stars. You may make a niche film, but won’t be a star. Real himmat lies in making big, bold films,” she asserts.
However, by bold, she does not literally mean skin show. “In the ‘bold’ scenes in films today, there seems to be no difference between the man and woman. There’s no beauty left in the women. I believe that ‘less is more’. The body language of the actresses is not of a demure woman. I don’t know whether it’s because of women lib or what, but women are shown as very dominating in the films today,” Shagufta feels. But the writer hopes to get it all right in her directorial debut. “My whole being tells me that I should branch out. I don’t feel like writing for others anymore. So hopefully the film I direct will release by the end of next year,” she says.