Ritesh Shah, has been in the industry for some time and has some memorable films to his credit as writer like Kahaani, Namaste London, BA Pass, D-Day, Teen and Airlift. Ritesh showed a clear and firm take on saying 'No' in film Pink.
Film Pink's success and appreciation is well known and Ritesh has collected award after award for its hard hitting dialogues . The film had a mix of reality and imagination and successfully broke stereotypes.
Speaking with Anita Barar on his visit to Melbourne, Ritesh said that these stories are all around us. He added that it was a fortunate situation when like minded people came together and felt the same about stereotype norms prevailing in our society.
In the beginning, Ritesh had worked in the theater. Once he used to work with - Act One theater group in Delhi. There was a time, when the group toyed the idea of converting one of act in a film but it could never happen. He entered in television too but " ... I could not cope with the kind of writing I was asked to do as a different genre came in Television...," he had told in another interview.
There had been a null period for him between Namatey London and Kahani. But it has paid off well.
As it says, films reflect society. So whose responsibility is to create the right screen medium - writers or producers?
"For me as a writer, it is very easy to put blame on producer about the lack of films of some substance but the fact is that we writers have to shoulder the responsibility too," said Ritesh Shah.
TUNE IN TO POD CAST ON TOP OF THE PAGE FOR HIS INTERVIEW
He further added that since 2014, the scene has changed.
" We had films which have been breaking the set norms. Also ... a different breed of people have entered the Hindi film industry and are writing and directing films. People like me who would not be a part of the industry in another time, are now in the industry. So the things are changing now", said Ritesh.
While today we do see films on various issues which were perhaps taboo to talk about few years ago, yet there are still some areas, which need a serious thought e.g. the issue of gendered infidelity. In our films, male infidelity continues to be celebrated while female infidelity is being web caught in social norms. It either attracts punishment or must bow to the system.
" ... Today, you have raised an important issue. We were discussing about it too. So see, a question is already floating in the air, somebody would certainly tap it. As I said, when time is changing, stories are also changing; women characters would also have to be changed for sure", said Ritesh Shah.
TUNE IN TO POD CAST ON TOP OF THE PAGE FOR HIS INTERVIEW
