Cracking inside jokes and completing each other’s sentences, co-writers Devashree Shivadekar and Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar are obviously at complete ease with one another. Having roped in superstar Madhuri Dixit for their first collaboration and the actor’s first Marathi film, Shivadekar and director Deoskar are already working on other ideas. “We [almost have] five to six projects now [that are] in the pipeline,” shares Deoskar.
Describing their working together, Shivadekar adds, “It was the most effortless process I have ever gone through as a collaborator. We were like two sides of the same coin.” The two repeatedly title their first meeting as “creative serendipity” when a mutual friend introduced them to each other. Deoskar claims Shivadekar vanished for two months after their first meeting, but when they met for the second time, he shared the film’s idea with her hoping she would want to co-write the script. As soon as she heard it, Shivadekar said, “I think this is meant for Madhuri,” leading the two to then write the story with the actor in mind.
After discussing the idea with Dixit, and her expressing interest in the project, the writers worked through the day for nearly two months, and numerous drafts later they had their bound script.
The untitled film revolves around the self-discovery of a woman and follows her journey with humour – a character, the writers say, that Dixit played a huge role in shaping up. The duo is most surprised and grateful about the actor’s involvement in every step since they discussed the script. In fact, right after the interview, the two would head to discuss the costumes and costume palette with Dixit. “She comes with her 30 years of experience,” points out the director, “[so she] puts some things we haven’t thought of onto the table, and says ‘look at this’, [to save us from possible] jeopardy eventually.”
While Deoskar has directed numerous shorts and two Marathi features before, the sports drama Ajinkya (2012) and the romantic saga Premsutra (2013), Shivadekar worked in Los Angeles for nearly eight years. A screenwriter for English short films, including one that was screened at Cannes, she recently wrote a still to-be released web-series for the comic group All India Backchod . Being relatively new to the industry, the two appreciate the changes their association with Dixit has brought them. “Not that we were not connected before,” says Deoskar about his relationships in the Marathi film circuit, “but we are suddenly on the radar of the industry.” His co-writer adds that the actor’s involvement has come as an added advantage and as an added responsibility to deliver an excellent project.
The writers share how the superstar’s fans are watching their every move on social media. “It’s like a pyaari si dhamki (a sweet threat),” says the director. “We [learnt] from her team that her fans make sure the product is good.” Shivadekar adds with a laugh, “So now we have to be extra-cautious.”
The pressure magnifies considering it is Dixit’s debut in Marathi films, and the community strongly identifies her as one of their own. “She is apli Marathi mulgi , apli Madhuri (our Marathi girl, our Madhuri),” explains Deoskar. The two writers have a personal connect with Dixit’s works since her ’90s blockbusters were what they grew up watching. Deoskar shares that he vividly remembers Dil (1990), in which Dixit starred opposite Aamir Khan, as being the first film of hers he saw. “I loved her acting and her presence on screen,” begins Deoskar, “[and at] that time, these films were your gateway to the outer world.” For Shivadekar, Dixit’s iconic moves in Anjaam (1994) were her introduction to Bollywood’s Dancing Queen. “Everyone in school was dancing to ‘ Chane Ke Khet Mein ’ at that time!”
With their film though, we will see the actor riding a motorbike, a skill the director says Dixit hardly took any time to learn. Shivadekar adding, “This might be a role that she has never done.”
