Now, Boman Irani teaches you how to write films

Actor and aspiring screenplay writer Boman Irani has been using every day of the lockdown to mentor young writers in a novel learn-some, teach-some experiment

When you hear the name Boman Irani, you think, ace actor. Although a late start in the movies at age 44, he held his own from his very first film, the 2001 indie venture, Everybody Says I'm Fine!

And yet, it's in fact screen writing that he says, that has held his fancy from the start. "I had always wanted to write my own screenplay. When you do movies, and want to do something different, sometimes, you end up helping with the writing, here and there. But when I started to write a screenplay, I knew I needed to reinvent myself. Working in the industry as an actor doesn't automatically make you qualified to be an actor-director. You have to work at it."

And so the prep began. For the last eight years, Irani has been studying screenplay writing; researching the subject, and working with 2014 Oscar winning screenplay writer Alexander Dinelaris, who wrote Birdman. "I met Dinelaris when he hadn't yet written Birdman, and we became friends. He has been helping me with the craft since. I speak to him every day. In 2019, when I launched my production house Irani Movietone, I decided that instead of having a party, why not fly him down for a huge writing workshop. So many screenwriters, and students attended. It was a great time. And then just when we were going to start filming, the lockdown began."

Pandemic or not, the participating writers weren't about to leave him alone. Requests from amateur screenwriters poured in, so one day, he collected a bunch on Zoom.

Ever since, in the last six months, Irani has been holding a daily free screenwriting masterclass, called Spiral Bound. He has gone through 160 sessions with over a hundred students. Irani is helped by his nephew, novelist Anosh Irani, who the actor says, is his partner in crime. "He helps distill everything I say, and sometimes makes it more comprehensible."

Alfred Hitchcock once said, "To make a great film you need three things—the script, the script and the script". But what should the script centre around?

For Irani, it's all about the hero, or the central character. "Don't tell me a story via the plot. Tell me a story through the hero's journey. We have to get to the heart of the lead character. The story is not about incidents. It's about the anguish and challenges that the hero faces." He's certain that every good movie has almost always been about the central character's journey and struggle. "Lagaan is not about the British rule and a cricket match. It's about a man who dared to rebel, and then had to rally the troops. What's your favourite movie?" he asks this writer.

"A Few Good Men."

"Right. That film is not about a fight between a lawyer and an army officer. It's about a young man who has to rise beyond the shadow of his father. This is such a fun game! Every good movie ever is about the character."

Irani also corrects us when we say that the focus on the script is a new development in Bollywood. "No, think of movies like Anand. It's not about a man who has cancer. It's about his attitude and his passion for life depicted in every scene."

Other than the main character, he places importance on structure. "The structure starts from the moment you say the story will end," he says. And, it's all about dividing the script into three parts. "Act 1 is setting it up. The day he accepts a challenge, that's when Act 2 begins." It's here where he gets the most questions from students. "They want to know what happens in this empty marshland, the space between Act 1 and 3. How do they write it? We have been watching movies to get a hang of it. We have to start the journey, start working around the obstacles, maybe there is a new obstacle. We all fall into trouble in that marshland."

From his own career, he remembers the scenes from Khosla ka Ghosla, written by Jaideep Sahni, as magical. "The scenes in this movie are so tight and correct in how the action rises from each moment."

The sessions have also seen some big names from the industry pop in as guest lecturers. Other than Denelaris, Raj Kumar Hirani, made an appearance. "With Raju, we all went on a journey. He said when he wrote Munnabhai, he would go and sleep with his friends who worked at the hospitals. He saw the real patients. So he said, observe life around you, and make it personal. Write about something that moves you, and not just something that will sell."

With Dinelaris, the focus was on keeping the conflict alive in each scene. "He spoke about the character surprising you as a writer. He said, 'Yeah, the character gave me the line. He spoke back to me'. That's truly fascinating."

Irani also sees the workshops as a bonding exercise, especially in the times we live in. "Apart from learning, we are sticking together as a family. The circumstances we find ourselves in have been debilitating. And this has helped us know we are all in it together."

Want to attend a session? Drop a mail to yash@iranimovietone.com

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