Urmi Juvekar

The writer of Shararat unwinds on how the story germinated from a mere idea and evolved into a compelling full-blown script...

It is almost four years now that the idea of Shararat came rushing to us. Gurudev Bhalla and I were glancing through some books when we saw this photograph, which instantly caught our attention. "That’s the film I want to make," Guru said immediately. I think that is the only time we ever agreed!

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Ritesh Sinha

Sonali Kulkarni

Manish Malhotra

Akshay Kumar

It was a photograph of an old man and a young boy. It was bursting with a story. What fun it would be to put a young boy and an old man together. The story could be about the ‘unbridgeable’ generation gap. An old man and a young boy will forever disagree on everything. Just think about arguing with your grandfather about the merits of sleeping till late in the day, or the other way around, if you are the grandfather. I was excited about working on a story that had two such opposite characters. What will these two do? Will they get along well with each other or will they fight - if so who will win? I was having a grand time just thinking about their clashes. There were many situations I already knew of, either from personal, or friends’ experiences. If these two were to share a room, they would soon be at loggerheads. What happens, do you keep the fan on at night or not? What is wrong in not switching off the lights? Is it a crime to throw your wet towel on the bed?

Soon all the old people I had ever met in life wanted a share in the story. The first to land up were my neighbours, a lady and her sixty year old kid brother who could do nothing right. Then came the bragging friend of my father’s who did everything better than you. Next in line was the couple who hadn’t made their peace even after forty years of marriage. There was my great grandmother who could not remember what happened five minutes back but quoted fluently from the Scriptures!
There were some characters from Hindi films; Harindranath Chattopadhya from Bavarchi - that loveable thug, who hoarded his money and distrusted all, certainly belonged to Ashiyana, the old age home in the film. He is the best old man the Hindi movies ever created. Who will ever be able to forget that wicked grin and that plotting, cunning mind? In fact he is present in many characters in Shararat. Whenever the script was narrated, people instantly remembered him. Another character that found her way into the script is the senile woman from Garam Hawa, who refuses to leave her home during the Partition -- she wasn’t there from the start, but when I was writing the climax she found her place in the film. I also remember the three old men from Shaukeen who chase a young woman. I had to do something about them. These people had to be included in the story.

Then came the big question! How the hell does one get them all in one story? That is when the idea struck about setting the entire story in an old age home. That way, each of them could be accommodated along with a few real ones like the yesteryear actress Shanta Apte who spent her last years in an old age home forgotten by all.

It was easy, a young brat (Abhishek Bachchan) who thinks the world revolves around him, kind hearted parents (Romesh Sharma-Navni Parihar) who have been unable to tame their boy, were all around to be used. There were others like the DCP Bhosle (Om Puri), who is convinced about the ill effects of western culture on the young generation, Judge Murthy (Anjan Shrivastav) who wants recognition by the end of his long career. And of course a young journalist Neha Sengupta (Hrishitaa Bhat) who wants to ‘change the world’. All of them plot to send the boy to an old age home as a punishment to become a better human being.

All set and ready to go
Rahul reluctantly lands up in an old age home amidst all these people. He is not worried -- if he is used to getting his way with his parents, what can a few ‘oldies’ do to him? But he is in for a rude shock because these ‘oldies’ are not what he has expected. They are not his parents and there is no love lost between them. After all he is not their grandson. He is just a common criminal sent to serve them...

The setting was right for a clash. It was Rahul against all these oldies All easy, right?
Alas no! As soon as all those funny, strong willed people went into the old age home they became morose and depressed. They were too sad to react to the boy. I brooded for a long time. What was the problem? What happened to my lively, passionate people? How the hell was I going to complete the script? Where was the conflict, the backbone of any story? I was also visiting old age homes at that time to get the setting right. These visits too confirmed my belief. ‘Old age homes are sad places, people who live there are sad people.’ If a young boy lands up there, they would be too grateful for his company to trouble him. I saw my script disappearing even before it was even written.

I kept up with my visits, nevertheless, and then it happened
One day, an old lady greeted me as I entered. She had a big blue bindi on her forehead. ‘A blue bindi?’ ‘Yes, doesn’t it look nice? I was bored of the same colour.’ She smiled a toothless smile. What happened to the sad old woman... That was the beginning. Another world was slowly opening in front of me.

Then my uncle who had voluntarily decided to live in an old age home after the death of his only son greeted me with words I can never forget. "Good you came today. Last week was too hectic. We had too many deaths to handle. You know how it is. There is too much work. We have to call the relatives, get the bodies to the crematorium and also sort out all the post death nitty-gritty. It was very tiresome. But then some one has to do all this."

I gaped at him. He enthusiastically ran every errand or organised all family functions. He was the man who came into his elements only when there was work. Of course, he always complained about the burden of responsibility that he was forced to carry but this was going too far.
"Death means too much work?" What was my uncle in his eighties thinking as he spoke about the work that the death of his fellow residents brought? Where was the sadness that was supposed to be all-engulfing and the tears of parting? I was sure I had got it all wrong somewhere along the way. Old age and happiness? Old age and life? Old age and toughness and being practical? I had not heard that before. It was a moment. It was then that I realised I was the problem, my glasses were tinted with too many preconceived ideas as I looked at old people. Deep down, I believed that if you are in an old age home then you have to be sad. That old people cannot exist without their family. That being alone and lonely was one and the same thing.

Thus Prajapati (Amrish Puri) took form. He became the teacher. He told every one that nothing changed because of the old age. "This is the golden age without any responsibilities so enjoy it. You are free to live as you want here. Welcome to Ashiyana." All the residents of Ashiyana, the old age home of Shararat told everyone sternly not to treat them as dead just because they were old. They were alive and that was a good enough reason to be happy!

It was smooth sailing once again. So now, armed with real people I was back on track and so was the script. My job was done. I had to sit back and enjoy the show. The boy was bored with them. He hated them. They hated him back. He tried to create trouble and they set him right. Prajapati woke him up at the crack of dawn and took him out on morning walks. Rahul caused fights among them but they patched up and made him feel small. He laughed at them when they enjoyed the small pleasures of life. Slowly, a bond developed between them - a bond that was strong enough to survive even after Rahul’s punishment was pardoned...

That is the film, of course a lot was added in the process, a lot left out because it was no longer fitting in. What never changed was the basic belief that guided us through the entire process; around the time we decided to make this film, I came across a quote from Paul Galico. "Everyone and every thing in this story is fictitious. If, however, the characters herein do not resemble someone you have encountered somewhere sometime, then the author has failed to hold up a small mirror to life and extends his regrets to one and all."