Computer Engineer turned Highest Paid Writer
Now here is one guy who keeps impressing me one project after another. The programs are bug free and if any of them, do run slow or break down, blame it on the project manager who keeps modifying his work.
No I’m not talking about a Computer Engineer. Well, ok I am. A former computer engineer, now one of Bollywood’s highest paid Screenwriter.
Jaideep Sahni. A Gen 21 marcher.
If you haven’t seen his latest written “Khosla Ka Ghosla”, you are missing something. Check the review out on DT. Besides writing the script, Jaideep was the creative producer for the movie.
According to DNA India
Former computer engineer Jaideep Sahni is amongst Bollywood’s highest paid screenwriters… …Jaideep, incidentally, began his career in the IT industry. He did computer engineering. He later worked in the advertising field . Jaideep however found his true calling in writing. ‘Jungle’ was his first major work and since then he hasn’t looked back.
Jaideep made an impressive debut writing for Ram Gopal Varma’s Jungle. Though the film failed to hold the attention of my ADD brains completely through the movie, there were quite a few scenes which showed his intelligence and creating-an-impact acumen.
And then came Company. Impressive very impressive.
Followed by uh-huh just not there Bunty Aur Babli. According to someone in Bollywood, I recently spoke to… the script of B&B was much much much better than the movie. Quite a few of the intelligently written con scenes were deleted in the final version.
So what’s his next project?
Shah Rukh Khan is acting in this one. Chuk De India.
DNA India reports… What makes Jaideep proud of his work is that all his films have been different. “Saari filmein alag hai. I feel more committed to work better because of that,” he smiles. Meanwhile, Jaideep has also scripted ‘Chak De India’, the Yash Raj film starring Shah Rukh Khan. Interestingly, it has the game of hockey as its theme.
SRK plays a coach for a Indian Woman’s hockey team in this one.
Jaideep looks well grounded with his head firmly planted on his shoulders…
“Success isn’t constant. You may be up some day and down on others. The idea is to work hard, and write well,” says Jaideep… For him, writing is something he does for himself. He says, “I don’t relate to storytelling as a competitive activity; it’s personal time spent on something that would hopefully grow into something special.”…
“I came to the film business as a tourist,” he says, explaining, “I got interested in writing after reading the screenplay of ‘Gandhi’ by John Briley. I was stunned by the whole idea. It grabbed me. I taught myself by watching films and reading screenplays.”
Ask him why like other writers, he doesn’t believe in churning out drafts, and he explains, “I like taking my time on a project. You can write lyrics in a limited time, but never a script. Multi-processing is not my forte.”
What makes Jaideep proud of his work is that all his films have been different. “Saari filmein alag hai. I feel more committed to work better because of that,” he smiles.
October 11th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Chak De India sounds agonisingly close to Tom Hanks starrer “League of their own”. Hope it is not the one!!!
October 11th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
There’ve been many sports films …. and of course any sports film in india is bound to be similar to to one of them …
Any way am pretty happy for the guy … What’s more … he is also from Lodhi Colony -New Delhi (Mera gaon .. mera desh !!!) :d
October 11th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
@ Karthik.. Interestingly there havent been many sports movies in India.. the one that comes to mind instantly are Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, Awwal Number, Lagaan, one mithun movie which i dont remmeber where he was a boxer, it had danny as his dad i guess, Ghulam to some extent and Ghayal( Damn i could do an article on PFC on this topic).. and Sye(telugu). Sye had some edge of the seat sporting moments. Another director from telugu industry.. Rajamouli.. i wanna see more from him(his next movie sucked).
The closeness between League of their own and Chak De India is both Hanks and SRK are coach of ladies sport teams. Softball for Hanks and hockey for SRK
October 12th, 2006 at 12:55 am
Of course - Iqbal ….
And yeah Chak De India is directed by Shimmit Amin.
It also could be like Bend it like Beckham since it is an all girls’ team …
Intrestingly Bend it like Beckham itself sounds like “League of their own”
Yeah sumeet … how about an article on the same … ????
October 12th, 2006 at 2:48 am
Search and watch out guys, Hip Hip Hurray(HHH) perhaps one of the early film of Prakash Jha. Raj Kiran was the sports teacher and his one of the student ( never saw this actor again) was fascinated by one of his lady teacher( Deepti Naval) who loves Raj Kiran, so it ws basically tussel between student and teacher. Some shades of “To Sir with love” were also there. A nice movie to watch. Doordarshan produced some nice movies in mid 80s, like Holi by Ketan Mehta, HHH by Prakash Jha and Janam by Mahesh Bhatt, Janam may be best work of Kumar Gaurav till date. Watch this film for a nice presence and performanmce of young Shernaz Patel.
October 12th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
- RK, Hip Hip Hooray was a wonderful movie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It didn’t do too well on its release (it wasn’t made for Television or produced by DD). I forget the name of the boy who played the “rebel” so excellently - he later appeared in a small role in Shyam Benegal’s Trikaal. Can’t seem to remember the song in Hip Hip Hooray where Raj Kiran and his first girlfriend (who later leaves him) are riding a bike. It was a lovely tune and had some beautiful lyrics. Unfortunately I’ve never heard it again anywhere. Also loved the way Prakash Jha maps the relationship of the characters. Watch specially for Raj Kiran and Deepti Naval who start off as two strangers, that come closer and closer and fall in love. The stamp of their love and trust for each other is sealed when in the absense of Raj Kiran, Deepti Naval without any hesitation opens the letter for Raj Kiran (which in turn is his appointment letter).
Holi was good. A shaved headed Aamir Khan with Ashutosh Gowarikar and the “in” comedy writer of today - Neeraj Vohra, all the biggies of today - playing college students. I think the movie was shot in Pune University. I liked the way student problems were brought out - though still in a very subdued way - in Holi. But, I found the flow choppy, perhaps the movie suffered the hangover of “art” cinema which was on its last legs during the making of Holi.
Undoubtedly Janam is Kumar Gaurav’s best. Yes, I fell in love with Shernaz after this and kept dreaming about her for two straight weeks. Inspite of all her insecurities and vulnerabilities, she gives so much strength to Gaurav’s character in the movie. Don’t forget Madan Jain (WHERE THE HELL IS THIS GOOD ACTOR?)… and of course this movie was Akash Khurana’s big leap into Bollywood, playing the role of Gaurav’s friend in good times and bad. Watch how he sells his personal belongings to produce Gaurav’s film in the movie and when Gaurav questions him about it, he casually uses his eyes and head movement to convey “Forget about it”
Zindagi Zindagi - the song sung by Amit Kumar is a personal favorite.
- Oh and this was Mahesh Bhatt’s “second” of his many “auto biographical” movies (His first was Arth). The relationship between Anupam Kher and Kumar Gaurav could be equated to Bhatt and his father. Do you remember who played Anupam’s second wife and Gaurav’s mom in this movie?
Aneeta Kanwar. Lajjoji from Ramesh Sippy’s tele serial Buniyaad.
October 13th, 2006 at 4:20 am
Yes Oz, Now I can faintly recall the boy in Trikaal after reading your reference. I dont know why but in those days I misunderstood him as son of Shashi Kapur.
Re: Holi, Its interesting that earlier Aamir was to play the lead role but he shaved his head just before the shooting and Ketan Mehta gave Ashutosh Gowrikar the lead role and AAmir was like supporting cast. When you mention student problems and Madan Jain then I am forced to reall excellent movie” ye manzil wo to nahin”[Sudhir Misra-dir.] where Pankaj Kapur and Madan Jain played roles of students and Naseeruding Shah played the corrupt Trustee of the college. its watchable for brilliant performances of PK, MJ, Nasser, Manohar Singh, and Habib Tanveer. and recall the song” aa chal ke tujhe hum le ke chale ek aise gagan ke tale” sung by PK and MJ and gang on the roof of their hostel.
Yes I can recall Anita Kanwar, sitting on her chair in a dark room and then I was not knowing another surprise element Kitu Gidwani and got to know her more in air Hostess serial by Vinod pande. Janam was a treat to watch. Scene where Kumar guarav holds Shernaz patel from back on the roof and they watch sun, it was such a romantic scene.
Madan Jain is lost somewhere as Pawan Malhotra has been reduced to very few roles.
October 13th, 2006 at 9:15 am
@ RK Pawan Malhotra is acting in telugu industry off late as is Sayaji Shinde. Pavan Malhotra gave a rocking performance in one telugu movie called Anukokunda Okka Roju. He plays a psycopath who is in search of a totally different world. This movie too is a must watch.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:43 am
How much does it take to write a ‘Bunty aur Babli’ by putting together Arthur Penn’s ‘Bonnie & Clyde’, George Roy Hill’s ‘The Sting’ and the Tarantino written Tommy Lee Jones character from ‘Natural Born Killers’? Not much!
I’m a little tired of Jaideep’s script having been much better than what eventually became of it. Barring any other instance, this snippet came about between the formidable trio of Anurag kashyap, Sudhir Mishra & Jaideep himself. It goes like this: at the Screenwriters’ meet at FTII [that DT has covered] Sudhir Mishra is supposed to have taken a dig at Jaideep’s latest work ‘BAB’ by granting it a poor film And then Jaideep, in his defence, reminds Sudhir Mishra that he(SM) has never read the final draft of his(Jaideep’s) script [very probable despite being asked on many occasions]. It is then that Anurag Kashyap testifies to Jaideep’s screenplay being much better than the final film.
Since he had already decided about his opinion of the film & also to take a dig at Jaideep, is this the best Mr. Sudhir Mishra could come up with? Or is it an acknowledgement of a code that says ‘no too much publicity for the original films’. It is this silence that i find very disturbing & unnerving. And it seems to pervade here on this otherwise very-fun, very-irreverent forum. A little more open would be nice.
The original film(s) themselves OWE their existence to a long genealogy. But it is very mo’fuckin interesting how they have managed to legitimise themselves, every single one of them. The most popular & canonical of them all 1967’s ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ started as an inspired version of the 1965 Godard film ‘Pierrot le Fou’ that was offered to Francois Truffaut to direct. Truffaut finally made-up his mind to pass the oppurtunity but not before recommeding his NewWave colleague Jean-luc Godard, the inspiration himself. Godard, in his turn, ideosyncrasies-ed his way out of the film, having just done Pierrot. But what ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ had going for it is that it’s screenwriter Robert Benton based the film on the actual ‘Clyde Barrow-Bonnie Parker bank robberies & killing spree of the depression-era in the mid-west’ while Godard’s ‘Pierrot le Fou’ is based on an American Serie-noir novel ‘Obsession’ by Lionel White [it's possible that Lionel White himself might've used the depression-era killer-couple as his inspiration]. Terence Malick’s ‘Badlands’ (1973) is based on the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950’s and also serves as the inspiration for Tarantino-written ‘Natural Born Killers’ (1994).
And what does ‘BAB’ have, as it’s claim to legitimacy?
1. The film is in an Indian language.
2. Small-town India stands-in for mid-west America/ French Riviera, and
3. Indian cinema’s already ever-constant asexuality replaces Clyde Barrow’s impotency (bi-sexuality with the real-life Clyde)/ Pierrot’s infidelous love for Marianne.
By this measure any and every film can be lifted without being accused. Our distinctly different language(s), setting and quirks would ensure non-resemblance/absolution and thats exactly what’s happening. I don’t know if Indian cinema has seriously looked for a solution. But all that i’m saying is we don’t have to encourage this disturbing silence. Why can’t we, for example, when we meet Jaideep put an arm around his shoulder and tell him how interesting his latest film was?
“Hey Jaideep, your lifting of ‘x’ film is very interesting. Damn cool man. I really like the film but still…” “What are you going to be writing next?” [lifting still needs to be written]
Knowing some of them, and of the rest, I think their reactions will be like:
a. Appreciate it.
b. Tell you about how the project started initially as a ‘Analyse This’ meets ‘Patch Adams’ with gangster Om Puri in an hospital that became the MBBS film which is not bad at all considering how it began. And now hollywood has bought rights to re-make it.
c. How it’s not as corrupt as the corrupt ‘Black’. [It's true, you lose a little bit of your soul watching this vanity fair]
d. Ask you where you saw the source films.
I’m actually having a laugh listing out b, c & d. The point of my response is that it’s mostly going to be reaction a - Appreciate honest feedback.
thani.
p.s. Great work with Anurag’s No Smoking online Diary.
November 19th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Jaideep is not from lodhi colony but Lakshmi Bai Nagar in ND. We were class mates in DPS RKP of the class of 85. Only recently, I heard about his bollywood feats and confirmed that he is the same Jaideep that I knew. I am in the Indian Navy here in Mumbai and would be greatful if someone can help me to get in touch with Jaideep. My no 22177291
April 8th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Tarantino written Tommy Lee Jones character from ‘Natural Born Killers’?
uhhhh? Where did that one come from? The various movie references left me a bit overwhelmed, but even having seen a “directors cut” version of Natural Born Killers and Bunty aur Babli, I fail to see where that link with the Tommy Lee Jones character came from!
May 18th, 2007 at 9:44 am
So my girlfriend really loves your movie ‘Janam’. She saw it when she was a kid, in Albania ( her home country)and every time bollywood comes up ( i.e. Daily)she wouldn’t stop talking about this movie about how it is the best bollywood movie she has seen.
I have looked everywhere for this movie, in india and in US, but was unable to acquire a copy for the movie. I really am not exxagurating when i say everywhere, i have searched for it to the point that im so desperate to do what i am doing right now.
I feel if i could get her this movie, it will make her real happy. and i would deeply appreciate if any of you could point me to a library or store that you feel would have a copy for this movie.
May 18th, 2007 at 9:45 am
email me @ roy.jose@hotmail.com