Ambition alone cannot define a progressive female character.
— Kanika Dhillon
I come from a Punjab and a community that has taught me that art is meant to be challenging, infuriating and thought provoking.
If I start playing by the rules, I will inhibit myself of the possibilities that lie beyond. I don't like to be framed or given borders to operate in or curtail my thought process and as a writer it's not only my choice but also my need to go beyond the given framework.
In fact, the only way to inspire people to embrace change is through setting a narrative and telling a story. It can be central to innovation and change, and at the same time it can preserve tradition and memories.
The reason I choose not to speak about my husband is because the press is prone to erase the individual identities of women who work in the industry. I don't want that to happen to me.
In a film we have limited time and space to say what we have to, hence the visual language and brevity needs to be paramount. In a novel, however, we can dissect each thought and emotion and build on it.
Size Zero' tells the story of a woman and the challenges and body shaming that she faces on a daily basis. I wrote the dialogues of that film, and I was approached for a remake. But I had already said what I wanted to say.
As a director you have to live and breathe that one story for 8 months completely. I like variety, if I write extensively I get a writer's block so I do something else to beat the boredom and then get back to something I've already done.
Your influence and remuneration is directly proportionate to your film's success. So in that sense, Bollywood is a level playing field. If you are delivering on certain parameters, regardless of your gender, you will get paid.
I have always aspired to be a writer, be it as an author or a screenwriter, whatever the medium.
I will write an entire script but not be commissioned by anyone. I want the freedom to walk away from it. If you're uncomfortable, I will go away. There is no middle ground with me. Also because if I change my character, my story changes.
I don't think in genres. Once I get a germ of an idea I wait for it to die! And if it refuses to die and keeps coming back, I start thinking more about it. Then come the world and the characters. I wait to get bored and if I don't get bored- then I start building on them.
I wrote three stories on spec because I didn't have the patience to convince people I could write.
Censorship, by definition, is suppression of objectionable material that can be harmful or inconvenient. Since when has it become inconvenient or dangerous for a young woman to be confused in love?
Telling a story is an emotional and personal experience for me and I can't do without it.
Deep poignant pathos can be described better in dark humour.
I joined Red Chillies entertainment right after I returned from the London School of Economics in 2007.
Usually superheroes with all their powers and action-driven narratives are supposed to appeal to boys and men more than women; and as an extension of that, it is a given that the creators of these characters are primarily men.
I was 17 when I wrote a collection of short stories and wanted it published but it didn't happen. A lot of publishing houses don't allow young authors to enter into writing segments.
I am happy writing and being a producer not a director.
I may have a story idea but everything starts moving when I am able to see my characters clearly. They then organically lead or respond to the story or the universe I want to create.
As a woman, sometimes when I am in discussion with a director or producer, there is some kind of a different politics happening. Basically, 'I know more than you'. I am always on the lookout for that. I don't want to get sucked into that. I am very quick to respond to that.
All writers are battling and fighting as to how a woman should be characterised.
If my stories make people uncomfortable, because it questions your set ideas and value systems that are convenient for a group of people or ideas that promote patriarchy and religious fanaticism, then my job as an artiste and a writer is done. The more you will cry foul, the louder my characters will speak.
I have grown up on a staple diet of love stories. But, soon I realised it is not so rosy or divine. It is painful, selfish and ugly. Love is the biggest curse of this generation!
I want to be a proud daughter of Punjab. Celebrate my roots - fly, flourish, write stories, characters. Don't hold me and my voice to ransom. Enable me, don't disable me!
Poetry and prose can start a revolution, break walls, and ideas can build nations.
I did not have any Bollywood connection and it was difficult to find a footing in the industry. But I was pleasantly surprised when Red Chillies hired a newcomer like me.
A novel compared to film writing can allow the author to be more indulgent, and that extends to the characters and the story being told.
Yes, I enjoyed my share of fantasy fiction series and comics. Among superheroes, Spiderman was my favorite. I always had this fascination for costume-clad vigilante who would come and save the day!
We are living in a world where image is important and we feel the need to confirm to a standard of what beauty is and how beauty should look like. We look at the billboard, and feel something is lacking in us.
I took six months to rehearse how I'd ask Shah Rukh Khan if he would launch my debut novel. I thought of 100 ways to ask him. Finally, three weeks before the book hit the stands I went to pop the question and forgot everything I rehearsed.
There is no greater agony than carrying the burden of an untold story.
Even if you are a superstar, you have to give your audience some content. Because there is so much good content out there that people consume today. To sustain this, you have to nurture good content and writers.
You can be imaginative, you have the technology to convert your vision, you have the freedom to write the kind of stories you want to tell beyond the set formulas. Also, you have varied platforms to tell different kinds of stories.
Everyone is hungry for content and you are content creators and if you are not negotiating a good price no Robinhood is coming to save you.
