Rajesh Saksham and Saima Ahmad on getting their dues in TV: ‘Writers have to fight for their rights’

Asmi Deo and Yash Gera

Should a story's success go to the filmmaker or the writer? It's a question often debated in entertainment circles. While OTT platforms have given good writing and writers centre stage, television lags behind. However, producer Guroudev Bhalla hopes to change that with his show, Jagriti - Ek Nayi Subah. At the show's launch, the producer introduced the writers, Saima Ahmad and Rajesh Saksham, on stage and credited them for their contribution - a rarity in the world of television. In conversation with mid-day, screenwriter Ahmad and story writer Saksham discuss the show's origin, the state of writers in the television industry, and why change is long overdue.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

How did the story of Jagriti - Ek Nayi Subah germinate?
Rajesh Saksham: It started with my desire to write a story that is [connected to the soil] and I wanted to base it on those who were ignored by the [progressive] society. Being a writer on many historical shows, I had learnt that there are nearly 150 to 200 tribes in India, who fought wars alongside Maharana Pratap and Shivaji Maharaj. In the early 1780s, the tribes and kings coexisted peacefully because they never ventured into each other's domain. However, the British were keen to explore the forests and the tribes rebelled against it, an example being the Chuar rebellion in Bengal. At that time, many tribes were criminalised and defamed [until] the Criminal Tribes Act [CTA] was repealed in August 1949, which decriminalised nearly [2,300,000 tribals] in India. However, after a few years, the Wildlife Protection Act was issued which made hunting illegal. That was a massive setback for the tribes who earned their living from hunting. The story of Jagriti [played by Asmi Deo] is based on one such small tribe and their exploitation. In the show, the tribe provides the animals they've hunted willingly to Kalikant Thakur [played by Arya Babbar] in exchange for a small amount of money and protection. While they are safe from the law, they are kept away from society. They stay away from education because they feel if they are exposed to it, they will lose the identity of their tribe. One voice rises against it all - Jagriti. We've shown her as a part of the fictitious Chitta tribe. She is born to a modern and educated woman, a magistrate. Jagriti's aim is to change the fate of her tribe and unite them with the rest of society.

What are the themes you're exploring through the story?
RS: The story throws light on social discrimination, lack of education, freedom from the oppressor and from a rigorous mentality. In today's society, we are trying to eradicate another kind of mentality of patriarchy, especially in light of some of the heinous things they do to women. We are making people think and maybe help free themselves from such an attitude.

Do you think such shows really influence people's mentality and their views?
Saima Ahmad: After watching the show, if your views about the help working in your own home change, if you ask them whether they have voter ID and you include them in your society, then I believe we would've accomplished our mission. People in the lower strata are dissatisfied about how society excludes them. In so many buildings, there are different elevators for residents and the service staff. If the show makes you wonder, why should there be a different lift for everyone, then it has successfully conveyed its message. If the urban audience stops treating the under-privileged as invisible, we would have achieved something.

Have you seen daily soaps effecting change in society?
RS: I don't have any personal experience of seeing drastic changes. However, I have heard that after Udaan, [there was renewed focus on bonded labour]. People are bought from Bihar, Bengal and Jharkhand to work in the brick kiln. Parents sell their daughters and sons to work in factories. It's a kind of bonded labour. There was a report about it in NDTV, after which the police raided the place. I am not saying the change happened because of the daily soap, but when the domestic help in people's homes are underage, we ensure to send them to school. It could be our consciousness or fear.

SA: What was normalised 10 years ago, we are at least questioning it now. I remember our house help had separate utensils and would eat in the kitchen. When I had asked my mother why her utensils were kept separate from ours, she claimed it was a habit, which she later changed.

This is the first event I attended where writers are introduced and given as much importance as the lead actors. Do you think writers are now getting their due?
RS: When writers Salim [Khan] and Javed's [Akhtar] Zanjeer [1973] came out, they wrote their names on the posters. I believe writers have to fight for their rights. The [director] might be making the film, but it is written by writers. It's not that after we've written it, it becomes someone else's intellectual property. It will always belong to the writer who wrote it.

On TV, every show has the same flavour today. Some writers are only concerned about the paycheque that comes their way. When a writer sees themselves like that, they don't attempt to do something new, nor are they allowed to do something new. It's a bold step for this show's makers to take a stand for the writers and introduce them. Most channels don't entertain such exposure.

SA: Despite it often being said that film is a director's medium and TV is a writer's medium, daily soap writers [rarely get their due]. It's true that you have to fight for your place in the world. Women began to get liberated when they stood up and fought for their rights.

Do you think churning out episodes from Monday to Sunday is hampering writers from penning good stories? Should we have seasons like in the West?
SA: [Some channels] are taking this initiative now, where they are looking for a [strong] story and are not changing it, irrespective of the TRPs.
RS: If this happens, the fate of television will change in India. We worked on Jagriti - Ek Nayi Subah for six months in detail. We will not change our story, irrespective of the TRPs. You cannot bring math in storytelling.

Past works

Rajesh saksham
>> Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii
>> Udaan
>> Jhansi Ki Rani
>> Maharana Pratap

Saima Ahmad
>> Divya Drishti
>> Baghin
>> Kyunki Saas Maa Bahu Beti Hoti Hai >> Ikk Kudi Punjab Di