Tollywood In Dire Need Of Writers

Telugu film industry is in dire need of good writers. Time and again, it proves that a film’s strength lies in its writing, and audiences brutally reject films with mediocre writing. Despite knowing this, many directors blindly push ahead with their vision, intending to translate it to the screen without the support of a proper writer. Many directors today take credit for writing, but the director in them dominates the writer, resulting in films that taste like duds. The recent release, The Paradise, also proved that the film lacks strong writing, and an experienced writer could have added more strength to it.

We have separate story, screenplay, and dialogue departments. Although we have writers specialized in each department, some can also do the work of all three. The industry currently lacks a Paruchuri, a Posani, a Vijayendra Prasad, a Kona Venkat, an Abburi Ravi, and many such writers who were the backbone of several blockbusters over the decades. Especially in the last few years, we have seen directors write for themselves without the support of any established writer.

Basically, writing is a different job while direction is an altogether different job. We have directors like Puri Jagannadh who write their films. For instance, Sukumar writes his films himself, and Trivikram does the same. On the flip side, directors like VV Vinayak, Boyapati Srinu, and SS Rajamouli hire writers specifically for writing and focus entirely on direction.

In the young generation, we have Shiva Nirvana, Anil Ravipudi, Vivek Athreya, and a few others who do a fine job with both writing and direction. That said, every writer-director has to struggle to suppress the writer and director in them, depending on the situation. But if the job is given to a writer who specializes in the craft, the film would make more sense.

Even today, all those writer-directors are hiring writers, but the director himself takes the calls, which is where the problem arises. The industry has many talented writers waiting for opportunities, but they are either limited to a few scenes or not given enough. In the name of writing and directing, directors are letting their directorial skills dominate their writing, resulting in many films failing, which is clearly visible on screen.

Unless someone has a strong sense of writing, new-age directors must stick to the craft and let someone specialized do the writing. Writing a story, a screenplay, or even dialogues is a different job altogether, and the effort that goes into it is totally different. Only when the film takes shape during the writing stage can the director see the vision clearly and bring it to the screen. If the director is also a writer, the vision often gets sidelined or blurred.

If the producers and directors do not realize the importance of writers today, if not immediately, at least in the next few years, the success rate will further go down, evolving into an entirely new scenario of going back to olden days where the project gets initiated by the writer and then the director gets picked by a production house or an actor. This is the successful model being implemented in Malayalam cinema today, which is why its success rate is admirable.

In Malayalam cinema, a writer comes up with a story or screenplay and then approaches an actor or producer, who then picks a director to bring the project to life. We also must adapt that model, giving due importance, credit, and a partnership in success to them.