Click to play videoMumbai: This year's surprising hits Rock On and Welcome to Sajjanpur are two very disparate films. One all about South Mumbai and the other set in Sajjanpur. These stories of the films managed to woo the audience in these days of international locations and item numbers.
Though both the stories are completely different the one common thing among them is that their strong story lines clicked with the audience.
The writer of Welcome to Sajjanpur Ashok Mishra doesn't remember when he last used the letterbox. But his story of a letter writer set in a village directed by veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal became a surprise hit.
Mishra wrote the screenplay, dialogues and three songs of the film. And interestingly, he went and stayed in the real Sajjanpur village for research where he picked up the actual dialect of the region.
"I visited Sajjanpur twice or thrice and I met people around there. I got ideas for characters from there, like the character of Subedaar Singh, the widow daughter-in-law, Munnibai the eunuch and Yashpal Sharma. The ideas for these characters I got from there," saya Mishra.
Not many know that Mishra, a graduate from the National School Of Drama, already has two National Awards in his kitty for films Samar and Naseem.
Mishra has also extensively written for the Bharat Ek Khoj series. But it's now at the age of 55, that Mishra has finally got the recognition he deserves.
Far removed from Mishra's world of earthy villages and dialects is stylish and urbane Rock On's writer Pubali Chaudhary's. Also her first big writing break, Pubali penned the screenplay and dialogues for the film in English.
"I come from Calcutta which has very active live music scene and there are lot of bands there. I have so many musician friends and I have seen the rock bands quite intimately. So it was a terrain that was a familiar side," says Pubali.
Pubali passed out of Film and Television Institute of India's (FTII) writing course in 2006 and has dabbled in journalism, advertising and event management.
But like Pubali, life after a successful film has changed for Mishra too.
"Many of the directors whom I met during my struggling days asking for some writing work, didn't bother about me. But now they are calling me and it's a big change," adds Mishra.
"Within myself I am more confident now, that people know you for your work and you have less to prove in terms of 'sir, give me a break type and I can write type'. Atleast now, I have a film to back up.
Mishra is currently writing a social satire for Benegal and another script delightfully titled Gud,Gobar Ganj Days has found a producer in Sanjay Gupta.
Meanwhile, Pubali is writing a romantic comedy for IDreams and is also in talks with the director of Rock On Abhishek Kapoor for his next venture.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.