EXCLUSIVE Interview! When story is the hero; screen-writer Biplab Goswami on Aamir Khan & Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies | Not Just Bollywood

For a successful film that touches the heart you don’t really need stars. What you need are good craftsmen and a story. Story is the hero in today’s cinema. Screen-writer Biplab Goswami in a candid conversation with Firstpost talks about the story of Laapataa Ladies.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

 What was the thought and the research that went behind the story of _Laapataa Ladies_?

 Ever since my childhood days, gender inequality and patriarchal notion came to my notice. After my basic education, I joined SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute) and all the things that I noticed and saw kept floating in my head. I used to travel to different places and saw a girl walking far away in a village one day. There was nobody there but still she kept walking and I kept thinking about her. I thought of writing about this concept cinematically and started developing the script. I also thought about where the story could be based. I have a filmmaker friend Ravi Kumar who said a lot of things used to happen in villages based on Ghoonghat. Years passed by and gradually, I completed the script.

How did your meeting with Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan Productions happen?

There were about 4,000 scripts in a contest and mine bagged the second prize. I came to know that Aamir Khan loved the script right on the day when he was giving me the prize. Everyone knows he’s really meticulous about the content he makes, and I was hopeful he would call me someday to discuss what I wrote. He finally called me and said he would produce it and Kiran Rao would direct Laapataa Ladies or Lost Ladies.

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What is Kiran Rao’s method of working and how did you match up with it?

The environment always used to be easy and friendly, it was really nice. It has been only a few years since I met them but it feels like I have known them for a really long time. I have seen Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat and I know she’s a brilliant filmmaker.

Laapataa Ladies doesn’t boast of big stars and yet it’s doing well commercially and critically. How did you think of the actors for the film?

It was Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao’s plan to decide whom to cast and the ensemble has turned out to be absolutely fantastic. I was also writing the script thinking about a real and true backdrop. And I felt the cast fitted perfectly with the story of Laapataa Ladies.