‘ Bhaag Milkha Bhaag ’ scriptwriter Prasoon Joshi on Monday said he wants to write more scripts based on real life personalities and has few people in mind.
Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival in Jaipur, the 43-year-old lyricist-turned-scriptwriter said ‘ Bhaag Milkha Bhaag ’ will always remain close to his heart as it is his first film as a scriptwriter.
“I wish to write more films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag in the future. There are so many personalities in real life on whom films can be based. I will definitely write scripts based on their lives in the near future,” said Mr. Joshi.
On being asked to name a few, he said: “There are so many political and spiritual figures around us, about whom the audience would like to know. I have some in my mind.”
Mr. Joshi, however, added that he would like to be given creative freedom while writing scripts based on real life personalities, which he said was given to him immensely by athlete Milkha Singh while scripting for ‘ Bhaag Milkha Bhaag ’.
“I would like to write on personalities who would give me the same kind of freedom that Milkha gave me. He gave me full liberty, he wasn’t conscious at all about how the film would come out,” he said.
Sharing an example, he said, “I chose not to include the character of Milkha’s brother in the script, though he played a bigger role in his life, and Milkha agreed to it.”
“The inclusion of his brother’s character would have overshadowed the role Milkha’s sister,” he said.
Joshi, who has written lyrics for songs in several films such as ‘Fanaa’ , ‘Rang De Basanti’ , ‘Taare Zameen Par’ , ’Black’ and ‘Delhi 6’ , believes that the Bollywood industry isn’t focusing as much on women-centric films as it should.
“There have been some very good women-centric films made in Bollywood, but I still feel we aren’t doing enough. I guess we need to change the approach we have towards women characters and show some faith that such movies would do good at box office as well, like ‘ Kahaani ’ did,” he said.
Mr. Prasoon was at the festival for the launch of his book ‘ Sunshine Lanes ’.
