In Atika Chohan’s biography, whenever it is written, her life would probably be described as a mix of impulses and accidents. It was 2009, 14 years ago when she landed in Mumbai from Delhi to try her luck at screenwriting. “I just had Rs 5000 in the bank,” she reminisces over a video call with us, her ginger-coloured cat sprawling behind a couch’s headrest. Back in Delhi, she was a literature student turned “accidental” journalist, penning articles on art and culture, eventually expanding to interviewing artists. “We had to come up with innovative ways to make those video interviews interesting,” she shares. “During this process, before I even realised it, I was writing for the screen.”
Journalism couldn’t quench her thirst for expression for long, she wanted something more. It wasn’t just a career shift, personal factors were at play too. “I grew up in a dysfunctional setup. I eloped at the age of 21 to marry my college senior. At 25 or 26, I was going through a divorce,” she shares. “I had lived quite an eventful life at such a young age. It was the stuff for novels.”
The screenwriter has been keeping busy lately. She shares writing credits with filmmaker Kanu Behl on his recent Cannes outing Agra, a surreal take on sexual repression in confined spaces. Up next is Janhvi Kapoor’s Ulajh, billed as a patriotic thriller revolving around the world of Indian Foreign Services. There is also the relationship-drama KNOT which is being produced by British actor Dev Patel. The screenwriter speaks to us about her upcoming projects, her writing life and how to keep one’s ideology intact in the age of chest-thumping nationalism.
Pic: Ali Monis Naqvi, Atika ChohanAgra made some waves at Cannes this year. You co-wrote the film with Kanu Behl, how did you help shape the story? I brought some changes to the narrative and the structure. I think Kanu and I arrived at the idea of correlating space and sexuality. This is the story of a sexually repressed, perverted guy who works at a call centre. We needed a lot of female agency to act as a foil against him. The women needed to have dignity but also a sense of feistiness. I gave my input on making these women understand and use the resources of patriarchy to stay afloat in a male-centric world.
You have penned the dialogues for Ulajh, which recently commenced shooting. As a screenwriter how do you make interactions between people, from a world you have not experienced first-hand, sound natural? I think more than the world, it is important to arrive at the humanity of a character. At its heart, Ulajh is a story of a woman in her late twenties. What challenges does she face? She is a product of a certain kind of childhood, a certain kind of socio-economic experience, a certain kind of privilege or the lack of it. Before going for dialogues, it’s important to position your character in the world. She will have unique blind spots in her character conflating with her identity as an IFS officer. We have to dissect the human first.
In the current environment, where nationalism sells, when you are writing a patriotic-thriller have you ever been asked to write chest-thumping, nationalistic dialogues? No, at least not for Ulajh. The film’s politics are very clear in the sense that we can be patriots without knowing there is a bigger game at play that is beyond our comprehension.
For other projects? Yes. Actually, I had to let go of a project I was very gung-ho about. After the first few drafts, the brief kind of hinted at making the film more nationalistic and I was extremely uncomfortable with that. It was during the time of Covid-19 and things were really tough politically in the country. It was a phase where everybody wanted to portray themselves as more and more nationalistic so that they don’t get left behind. Now, I think the makers, in general, have come back to their senses.
Have you ever lost a project because of your politics? There was a time when I was extremely vocal on Twitter. I didn’t lose a project but I might have gotten less work. I think people need to understand that if I am secular and an idealist that doesn’t mean I want India to lose and Pakistan to win. My brand of nationalism is not about going after Pakistan’s blood.
This might sound a little philosophical, but where do your ideas come from? I guess by living deeply. I keep my eyes and ears open. As I am ageing, I am becoming less prone to judgement. When I hear sexist remarks on the news by our administrators, I feel more curious than angry. I think of where they are coming from, and what history led us here. My ideas come from unpacking the life around me.
