Rajesh Dubey, the screenplay writer of Balika Vadhu on Colors, who has been a part of the television industry since 1995, is thriving hard to bring about a change in this kitchen-oriented television programming. Vice President of the Writers Association, Rajesh has been fighting hard for the rights of writers and is working to bring about a concrete change in television unlike the one mooted under the 5-year government plan. Wanting to know more about the interesting gentleman, Tellychakkar.com visited to his office and cornered him for an interview for the ‘Behind The Lens’ segment. Excerpts: Tell us something about yourself? I hail from Indore where I did MA in Economics besides doing my LLB side-by-side. Frankly speaking, I used to write, act and direct from early days. I have a very good experience working in theatre as well. Besides, I was good at debating and was a prominent orator of my college. In my want of exploring my writing skills in a better and broader way, I came down to the city of dreams Mumbai where I did my first show P A Sahab for Doordarshan. Talking about shows, I have done shows of all kinds be it action, drama, comedy etc. I have done it all and have left no stone unturned in the field of writing for television. How has your journey been so far? At every moment of life, it has been very nice and satisfying. I have written numerous episodes with innumerable concepts; some worked while a few didn’t, but every show had played an important part in my life. Earlier, they never used to employ different people for story writing, script writing or dialogue writing. As a matter of fact, in the period when I started, I was the only one who did all the work related to writing. How do you work once you get the storyline? Firstly, I make it a point that I understand every bit of the story that I come up with. Then, I take things forward. I always try and enhance the story to make it understandable and more eye-catching. Even at times, I add some element if it strengthens the concept. At times, I even have to think according to director’s perspective making a point as to how the overall execution would be like. I always try and see the story from start-to-end instead of just a scene or a part of it. I give my 100 per cent input on every work on my table and make it a point to present it in a very presentable manner for the director to understand it perfectly. What role creativity plays while writing screenplay? Well, the whole job on TV is based on creativity. Take it from writing, to execution, to acting- everything works on the mantra of creativity. Side-by-side there is also some kind of limitation barrier which keeps one away from exploring his/her talent. There is always a production pressure from above which cannot be unheard. There is commercial part that plays on television which also need to be given importance because no matter what, the commercial aspect plays a major part in this industry. I would say that more than creativity, production is important. What is your take on television today? Today, television is working like a machine and the drawback which television is facing is in its working pattern. The whole execution is done on daily basis, which many a times, bypasses some important changes to be brought about. My only opinion for today’s television is that it has become stereotype and this may lead to one’s saturation level. How do you handle different style of writing? Obviously there are different ways to look up at different concepts. Like for a comedy show, you need to look up the whole scene like one story or a movie as a whole because the execution of the whole comic scene will only convey the joke. Drama, on other hand, is looked up as a scene and not as a story on the whole, because it is based on an episodic format which requires a continuous change related to execution. So this is the way different kinds of stories are handled. How is television different from films as a medium? Television and films are very different as far as writing is concerned. Television is watched by 2 out of 3 people in India while films, on the other hand, are based on certain amount of audience frame. Of course, television has one priority that the shows are based on the response of audience. You can bring about an effective change in coming episodes but, as far as film, once a film is released, then no matter what, you cannot save the film from getting a beating at the box office. Television carries some social responsibility which needs to be kept in mind. You cannot show anything catering to adults, or make an obscene show on television, a place which is enjoyed by individuals of all ages in the house. What would you like to create on television? I would love to bring some realistic approach, something from actual life drama on screen for the pleasure of my viewers. What are your future plans? Though I would love to write for movies, but right now I would focus on writing for television. What advice would you like to give to new aspiring writers? Firstly, do your homework well and come in this field and try to experience the essence of literature. Take a good training by working under some professional writer. Learn different techniques of writing, also try and attend different workshops which might teach you different spices of writing.