JOIN USEvery actor I have interviewed has told me that the script is an important factor in signing a film. So, naturally, when I had an opportunity to speak to scriptwriter Suresh Nair, I was going to ask him what he felt. And his answer did surprise me. “A lot of actors don’t really read scripts themselves. Only the big stars read scripts. Actors, like it or not, look at many other aspects beyond the story,” he smiles.
Teller of tales
A journalist-and-graphic-novelist-turned-screenwriter, Suresh has scripted and co-written popular commercial films including Kahaani (2012), Namastey London (2007), D-Day (2013) and Bang Bang! (2014), among many others. Looking back at his growing years, he reminisces, “I enjoyed writing and loved reading as a child and always made up stories, however, I never imagined a writing career in the movies. I did a journalism course and joined a newspaper and while I was always a movie buff, I got into movies quite by chance. My friend Sujoy Ghosh came up to me with a request to write for his film Jhankaar Beats and I did it purely for fun. In fact, I never even took Sujoy seriously then and never went on sets even once. However, when he showed me the rough cut of the film, I was blown away and was stunned to see how Sujoy had converted a concept to such a fascinating visual.”
However, it took Suresh three years to leave his cushy job to plunge into a full-time career in films. He had even told his employer that he would come back in case his career did not take off, but he never had to go back. Suresh is also part of Boundscript Productions, which produced Kahaani, and he has been on a roll ever since.
Despite having scripted several blockbusters, Suresh says that he is never under any pressure when he actually writes. “The beautiful part about writing is the actual process itself and I have never felt any marketing pressure. In fact, in Namaste London, the hero actually enters the film 20 minutes after the movie starts, so we just started the film with the hero in the first frame and did a flashback after that. For me, all that matters when I write is whether I can engage the audience.”
Down south
Having worked on his first Malayalam film Lailaa O Lailaa this year, I ask him about the experience as he is a Malayali himself. “I was planning something on similar lines in Hindi, but when I got this offer I said yes immediately as Mohanlal was going to be part of the movie and I am a huge fan of his acting.”
While he likes writing all genres, he says his policy has been to do what he enjoys the most. “I enjoy rom-coms and thrillers but I cannot do horror. And I really want to write for small films.”
Suresh hopes he can balance his time with both Malayalam and Hindi movies though he has still not signed any new Malayalam movies. “I would also like to write for Tamil films as I understand the language a little and also Marathi films as things are really changing on the story front.” And he admits that the changing scene in Bollywood augurs well for writers to work on scripts that can focus on specific markets.
Ask him if he would get into direction and he candidly admits, “Although I have had several offers to direct in the past, I have chickened out. But I feel I’m ready now and hopefully should direct soon.” He is currently working on Airlift that stars Akshay Kumar, and is a Nikhil Advani production as well, and a couple of movies with Sujoy Ghosh that are in various stages of pre-production. There are also other movies in the pipeline in nascent stages and he is certainly enjoying having his hands full — in more ways than one.