Author and scriptwriter Advaita Kala tell us what it takes to keep her creative juice flowing
Her debut novel Almost Single may have won her rave reviews and got her a big fan base, but that didn’t make Advaita Kala sit back and take it easy. In fact, she decided to take up all the challenges that come with fame and popularity.
Who, after all, would expect a writer who wrote the script for the award-winning movie Kahaani to get into television? But when it’s a maverick that you are talking about, expect the unexpected. For Kala who has lived in three countries and six cities, it’s always about something new. “I like to constantly challenge myself. Where’s the fun in repeating what you have just done?” she retorts. Thus the decision to turn to television. “Of course my agent told me I had lost it, especially since I was bound to get a lot of scriptwriting offers after Kahaani. But I wanted to write across genres and so TV it was,” she says, matterof- factly.
What followed were the first ten episodes of Airlines - Har Udaan Ek Toofan on Star. The journey was an exhausting one, but it taught her a lot of things. “For once, I must confess I had a narrow view of women in TV serials, but since I was writing a script for TV, I ended up watching quite a few. It was an eye-opening experience for me,” says Kala, adding how it might looks strange when these women in the soaps sleep with their makeup on, and move around all dolled up. But in reality, several of them are strong women who have a mind of their own. “And I loved seeing that. My respect for television actors has grown tremendously,” she says.
The bigger challenge, of course, is to write for television audience, which is a pampered lot. Unlike watching a movie, where most people will sit through it because they have spent a certain amount of money, in television one has to find ways to keep them hooked. Kala tried hard: “I did some serious research. It was one year of hard work but I must say I enjoyed it thoroughly. One of the big things I learnt, for instance, was flying is a very passion-driven industry.” Now that Kala has tasted the fun of writing for different media, it’s her first love, books, which she plans to return to. Kala’s Almost Single took the literary world by surprise — not only did it get published in India but also the US and France.
Kala wasn’t expecting this either. Having studied in Mumbai, Dehradoon and in Delhi, it was her four years of studying liberal arts at Berry College, Georgia, USA, which changed her world. “I can easily say that was the most liberating time of my life. I have always been a free spirit, so being in the US really helped me engage with the world differently.” From working at restaurants to working as a librarian, she did it all to fund her studies. So finally when she came back to India, her parents thought a job in the hospitality sector would be best suited to their girl. So off she went to the City of Joy, Kolkata, to study at the Oberoi School of Hotel Management. The city took her by surprise. “Kolkata has this underlying aggression. Also the smell of fish, the noises, the poverty, the food — everything hits your senses. It was a brilliant experience,” she shares. And it’s this experience, the little nuances about the city that one notices in Kahaani.
And when the maverick in her told her six months in Kolkata were enough, Kala moved to Dubai to work in a hotel. A few months there and she decided to move to Delhi as her parents were moving base from Mumbai. It is then when she decided to work on a book. “ Almost Single was more about my experiences. Life in India for a single woman isn’t easy. I guess I was just trying to make sense of things and people around me,” she says, adding how she had no idea how her experiences would resonate with so many of her readers as well.
She sent a copy of her manuscript to Penguin — who rejected it — and one to Harper Collins. It was a blind submission, like they call it. The next morning she got a call from the publishers. And the rest, like they say, is history. Although the book was a success, Kala continued to work in the hospitality industry and took up a communications job at a five-star hotel. “Well I liked the job, I needed the money and so I took it up. I am pretty spontaneous”, she says.
Despite a demanding job, Kala managed to keep her passion for writing alive and kicking. So, when a little while later, the challenge of writing a movie script in the form of Anjaana Anjaani came up, Kala was ready for the adventure. “It was a thrilling experience and I loved working on it with Siddharth Anand. Ranbir Kapoor joined in. I always say he is my first hero,” she giggles. The movie did a business of just Rs 500 million but it had its share of admirers. Kala defends it and says, “The movie was special for me and as far as success is concerned, I am not used to a lot of it so when a high comes, it’s a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, I manage pretty well with regular life.”
So a regular life it was after one movie script. Until one day, Sujoy Ghosh came to Kala with the idea of Kahaani, and she was ready for it. “Mystery-thriller is a genre I have always enjoyed reading, so I loved the idea of a script around the theme. The fact that I had myself experienced Kolkata as an outsider was something that helped me a lot.” she shares. What also helped was a little something she had read about former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and how she was initially referred to as gungi gudiya (dumb doll) by a few Congress doyens after Nehru’s death. “Yet, it was this gungi gudiya who turned everything around. So in a very abstract sense I took that essence to create Vidya Bagchi’s character.”
And did the success of the movie change her life around? “Well to be frank, I went off to Rangoon for a job within three months after the movie released. It was a lovely job and I loved that place. In fact, I could still go and live there forever”, she chuckles. A painful wisdom tooth brought her back to India and then her parents just asked her to stay put. Although she has lived in Delhi for nearly two years now, getting a sense of movement is very important to Kala. So she treats herself to at least one holiday month. “I like seeing new places. For me, it’s being out and meeting people and interacting with them at different levels that matters the most. We live in the times of social networking yes, but it’s something else to have a face-to-face conversation”, she says.
Apart from travelling, she is working a new book. “Too early to say much, but yes, I need to have a book out soon. It’s been rather long wait”.
We are waiting!