Ive just finished writing a film for Priyadarshan – Mushtaq Shiekh Part 1

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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USA: Free $30 Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…Mushtaq Shiekh Writing isn't anyone's cuppa tea. Having said that, Mushy (as we all love to call him), loves his coffee as he thinks and types a few words on his Macbook. In his reading glasses, he looks every bit a writer raring to put that one last word at the end of his screenplay draft that defines him and his movies – BLOCKBUSTER. It was a cloudy afternoon, almost a perfect setting for any creative mind to get into their act of writing the right thing. I was invited by Mushtaq Shiekh at his newly found inspiration, Bru World Cafe – that's where he brews Bollywood stories. He is all smiles and greets me with a hug followed by a lovely blueberry muffin and a special filter coffee served in South Indian style. Later I find out he has just returned from Chennai after writing Priyadarshan's next – 'an intense love story' is what Mushtaq tells me. All this while we've seen Shiekh's writing come alive on the big white screen but when he talks, he is alive and kicking – he knows the business of Bollywood, he knows that he wants to entertain and he knows he is born to write only 'super hit' films, and that is his true calling. Presenting you Part 1 of my interaction with the man who writes his mind and heart out – Mushtaq Shiekh on adapting a book to a film, why he is keeping a low profile, his forthcoming books, stepping out of his comfort zone and the one man he will never stop talking about, the indestructible Shah Rukh Khan.

Do you find adapting a book to a film challenging or a film to a film?
Adapting a book to a film is one of the most difficult jobs. But I think you already have a canvas where you can play around with. Invariably if you are buying the rights of the book, then it mostly is a bestseller and that it already has thumbs up of say thousands of readers. As a writer you aren't fighting the suspension of disbelief but fighting mindscapes of other minds, which is very difficult to match up to. I can't go like a dream catcher and see how you saw Dan Brown's Angel and Demons and how would you interpret it. I feel someone needs to get back the voluminous Shantaram to be made into a film. If you've read the book you'll understand that many things need to be there like they are in the book but with so much content, it becomes difficult to adapt it too. It's any writer's challenge to adapt a book into a film. Film to film adaptation is relatively easier than adapting a book. You just need to make a few adjustments as per your director's needs. That's our latest culture currently is. We take a South Indian film and make it and tweak it around as per the Hindi cinema's requirements.

It's unlike Mushtaq Shiekh to keep a low profile. Come on, what's stored for you in books and movies?
A lot of things are happening for me on the professional front. I can't divulge more details but I am planning lot of books. On the film front, I've just finished writing a film for Priyadarshan. It's an intense love story and a great space to be in as a writer. I've just come back from Chennai. I am working on various other films too.

Mushtaq ShiekhI insist, please divulge some details on the books you are writing and releasing soon.
I am still researching on series of books… many of them connected to cinema and the workings of Bollywood. But mainly there is a thriller I am releasing with Bollywood as the backdrop and I am releasing a children's fiction which is called 'The Blue Forest'. It's challenging to think, dream, touch and feel like a child while I was writing this one. I wanted to get out of the Bollywood zone and write something different. Then I am also writing a book on success stories of Bollywood – the highs and lows in an actor's life, the rejection, their acceptance, etc. So there are series of books lined up and I am excited and looking forward to each one's unveiling.

As a writer, have you ever thought of stepping out of your comfort zone while writing a film?
As a writer I don't necessarily play in my comfort zone. I do when I am working with people I'm close to. I am ready to try out to go beyond boundaries. I don't have a problem trying something exciting and something that I don't know. In fact it's fun to do that. When it comes to movie making, I am a little stuck up on making films that seem to entertain. That quotient of entertainment needs to be very high. Having said that, I am not here to shock the psyche of certain group of people or offer something that has never been offered before. Which in other words is pretentious! Why can't I offer something that is new and exciting yet entertaining-that's more exciting a proposition for me. I may not sometimes get out of my comfort zone because movie making is also a business. When it's involving so many heads, minds and wallets, I'd rather stick to the entertainment genre.

SRK, your best friend and colleague – tell me what is his biggest challenge as an actor? What is expected of him now?
If you get down to seeing SRK's body of work, he seems to be taking challenges all these years. He did it years ago with Asoka. He can do it because he is Shah Rukh Khan. Whether he plays Asoka, Devdas, or G-One, the kind of controversy that surrounds him seems to conjure up this whole debate whether he should play these roles or not. People want superstars to come up with something different all the time. Nothing succeeds like success. So if tomorrow Shah Rukh Khan plays a liliput – how Kamal Haasan played, and he ends up delivering what is expected for him to deliver being the mammoth star he is, people will then say 'This role was written for him'. When it comes to stars and their stardom, they have to keep so many things in mind and the truth is very simple – sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Coming soon – Part 2 of interview with Mushtaq Shiekh

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