Mere shehar ki hawayeinjo meri taareef ki khushboo lekar beh rahin hain Toh saansein lena aacha lagta hain—- This is how writer Prakash Kapadia describes his emotions while enjoying immense praise from critics and audiences alike for his power-packed dialogues in Gangubai Kathiawadi. In real life, the 60-year-old is a man of few words but for the silver screen he has always penned impressive lines that have struck a chord with viewers.
After having worked with acclaimed filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali on blockbusters such as Devdas, Black, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat, the duo has struck gold once again with the Alia Bhatt-starrer. It was SLB’s immense faith in Kapadia that prompted him to approach the writer in a war footing situation to make the lengthy script more compact as Alia had already given her dates for the project.
Kapadia attributes the success to teamwork and a good understanding of characters as well as the pulse of the audience. He says, “While working on Gangubai Kathiawadi, SLB and I were clear that though it was a heroine-oriented subject, we had to treat the protagonist as the hero. Her power should shine through in every scene. As Gangubai, Alia makes you laugh and cry, so the dialogues had to do justice to her character. Also, since she stays at a place where there are powerful people like goons and politicians, she has to tower over them. The best way to do so was by giving her hard-hitting dialogues.”
‘Kehte hain Kamathipura mein kabhi Amavasya ki raat nahin hoti kyon ki wahan Gangubai rehti hain,’ this was the first line that the award-winning writer penned on the first day of Gangubai Kathiawadi’s shoot. Narrating the thought behind it, he states, “The moment I saw Alia dressed in a white saree, these words came to my mind. SLB loved it so much that it was used in the trailer as well. It set the tone for the film. If we had taken a realistic approach, then the movie could have trodden another path and the dialogues could have sounded obscene. I had the freedom to do so, but I didn’t want to. Since I hail from a theatre background, I believe kuch galat bhi bolna hain, toh achi tarah se bolo.”
In order to give a larger-than-life persona to Alia’s character, he sought inspiration from the films of the ‘70s and ‘80s. “We wanted to lend an old-world charm to Gangubai. There is a shot wherein Alia lights a bidi while she is seated for Rajiabai’s (Vijay Raaz’s) bhashan (speech). It establishes the fact that she has finally arrived! Then, she mouths a powerful dialogue, ‘Zameen par baithne ki aadat dal de’, Ab teri kursi toh gayi, through which we wanted to showcase her sass and I-care-a-damn attitude.”
Gangubai Kathiawadi boasts of dialogues that are not only hard hitting but also thought provoking. Case in point is the line, ‘Arey jab shakti, sampati aur sadbuddhi yeh teeno hi aurtein hai, toh in mardo ko kiss baat ka guroor? Kapadia, who has written 22 one-act and 12 full-length plays, took these words from his 1996 production Manusmriti. “As it was about women empowerment, it fitted here perfectly. We wanted to showcase the different facets of women and also drive home the point that why do we take pride in staying in a male-dominated society in which females have no identity. When I narrated this line to SLB, he found it so effective that he was moved to tears,” he explains.
Kanwari kisine chhoda nahin aur shreemati kissine banaya nahin is another seeti-maar dialogue that aptly describes the plight of sex workers. “This dialogue came from a conversation between SLB and me. We used a clever play of words to capture this truth,” he adds.
Bhansali’s trust in Kapadia’s craft is the mantra behind their successful partnership. The duo, who has worked together for over two decades now, first met in 1999. “SLB came to see a Gujarati film, Dariya Chhoru, for which I had written the script. As it was the 100th day of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, he wanted to drop in for just 15 minutes, but he decided to stay back and watch the entire film. Later, he paid me a huge compliment stating, ‘The movie’s actual hero is the writer,’” says Kapadia.
Bhansali gave Kapadia his first break with Devdas for which the latter not only wrote the screenplay but also the dialogues. “SLB took a gamble by giving me a break, putting Rs 50 crore at stake and giving me an opportunity to work with stalwarts like Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai,” states the writer.
Kapadia says that collaborating with Bhansali has been a learning experience. “You have to be alert while working with SLB. You should know how to improvise so that you can alter scenes or dialogues as per requirement. Director is the captain of the ship, but a writer is the ocean of emotions. SLB never pressurises me. I love to work with him as I enjoy the collaborative creative process and he gives me the liberty to write,” signs off the writer who is now working on SLB’s next ambitious musical venture.
