Latest / Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast / E26: Secret to Screenwriting Stardom w Om Shanti Om Writer Mayur Puri

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E26: Secret to Screenwriting Stardom w Om Shanti Om Writer Mayur Puri · Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast

• Mayur Puri: I hate writing. Writing is a cumbersome, stupid, boring, extremely tedious Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Shahrukh sir said, Listen you did a good job! What more do you want? Should we let all of Film City know about you? I wrote the first half in 12 days. so I wrote Ek Chutki Sindoor as a sample scene. I was thinking this is some Ananya: you Mayur Puri: girl's audition, but I did not know that it was Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: my audition also. I've seen stardom as a writer, which very few writers will be able to see. In first half, there can't be romance. She doesn't love him. i just applied basic screenwriting math I cannot bring in my ego, my hubris. and my belief system in the way of constructing good scenes. SRK has insulted me once, we don't need him to do it 4 times. It's the same thing. Listen everybody was telling that Reincarnation formula has died, who will watch it? you got to pay me you got to sign me you got to have a contract that's the magic of movie industry, right? You do something good and it lives forever. And that's also the bad thing about movie industries. If you do something bad, then that also will live Ananya: Thank Mayur Puri: forever. Akshay: Forever. Hi guys. I think our podcast has gotten a promotion because for the very first time we have a guest speaker, a guest bestie. I'm calling it a guestie. and Mayur Puri: You Akshay: because we've broken down the film Om Shanti Om, and this is our 25th episode, so we had to do something iconic and milestone, just like the film. So we have one of the writers of the film with us. And he has worked in the film industry for more than 26 years. He's written songs that we've either cried to or danced to or like just felt romance about. And but but but I have to tell you, his most important contribution in my life is that he was my first ever screenwriting coach. So we have Mayur Puri in the house. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Mayur Puri: Hello everyone, glad to be here. Hi Akshay, hi Ananya. Ananya: Hi, so nice to have you here. Thank you for doing this. Mayur Puri: No biggie. Akshay: I'm gonna jump straight into it. So the last time we spoke about Om Shanti Om was almost 10 years back in the class when I was your student. And then it had been 10 years since the film had released. Effectively now we're almost 19-20 years later, still talking about this iconic film. Mayur Puri: You have many ways to make me feel old, don't you? Akshay: Come on, Ananya: you Akshay: like have you seen how Mayur Puri: you Akshay: much hair I've lost since the last time I met you? Ananya: You Akshay: So please. Mayur Puri: And how many greys I have got since then. Thanks Akshay: But how does it feel that you have your name attached to this iconic film? Like, what do you think about it? Mayur Puri: Om Shanti Om... is overwhelming at times. Look, I don't deal with this on a daily basis. Okay. I don't wake up in the morning and say, I'm the write of Om Shanti Om. That doesn't work like that. I wake up and I'm always putting out fires currently in my life. Oh shit. I have to submit this draft. Oh shit. I have to mail this presentation and I have to work on this project and that project. So I'm constantly preoccupied with what I'm doing currently. I live in the present. So I'm always busy doing that. You know, technically it's something that happened in my life a long time ago. I mean, from your time scale, 10, 20 years is a big time, but I'm 50 years old now. So for me, yeah, still it is like almost half of my life, but Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: it doesn't seem to be that it's such a old thing. You know, it seems to me like, yeah, I just happened and how everybody shows love and appreciation to it. It's just overwhelming and that's the magic of movie industry, right? You do something good and it lives forever. And that's also the bad thing about movie industries. If you do something bad, then that also will live Ananya: Thank Mayur Puri: forever. It just, it just Akshay: Forever. Mayur Puri: makes you conscious that whatever you do, you have to put your a hundred percent into it. And you have to make sure that, you know, there is, there is value to it. You, you wake up in the morning and try and add value to the universe. Because if you do that, then universe does give you back and I'm a living example of that. Akshay: That's amazing. Like you're essentially saying is that you have to be conscious of the work you're putting in, like, right? Mayur Puri: Yeah, because see when we are writing or when we are directing like I'm a director also and when you go on the set as a director, there'll be 200 people on the set and if you say everybody move this side, they'll move this side. If you say everybody move this side, Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: they'll move that side. It is so much like a military operation, know, like a general Ananya: you Mayur Puri: and same thing for the writer. A writer is a guy who comes up with ideas and then everybody will follow up on that. It is a huge Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: responsibility, but you cannot live with the burden of that every single moment of your life, you've got to enjoy, you've got to have fun. But also at the same Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: time, look, a spot boy or a light man working on Sholey will come with the same feeling as a sport boy or a light man working on Grand Masti. But if he's Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: worked on Sholey, he'll probably be able to tell his grandchildren someday that, I worked on this film called Sholey. If he's worked Akshay: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: on Grand Masti, he'll probably keep that out of the conversation and not talk about it. Both are valid choices and I'm not judging here, but I'm just trying to say that it's your choice, you know, what kind of content Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: you want to make, what kind of things you want to give to the universe. It's on you. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: That's that's lovely for sure. Ananya: for sure. Akshay: You spoke about it's it was it such a long time ago in your life, this movie. I wanna talk about how did it come to you? Like where were you in your life? What made this project come to you? Mayur Puri: It's very funny, I reboot my life every 5 years, 5-6 years happens and then I am like, I'm done staying in my comfort zone, just do Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: something new and challenge yourself and get scared in the morning, wake up and say, Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: shit, I don't have these crutches and I don't have these things to fall back on, there's no net and I'm like a trapeze artist without the net and I like to do that, I like to do that because it keeps me alive, it keeps me young, it keeps me on my toes. What happened is I came to Mumbai in '99. Before that six years I had worked in Ahmedabad. I was a director there. I was doing television. I was doing theater. I was acting. I was directing. I was writing, all of that. It's a past life kind of a thing, you know, which Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: all the work that I did in Ahmedabad when I came to Bombay, my CV at that time was six pages because I've done so many projects already. But when I came to Bombay, I started Ananya: Wow. Mayur Puri: from zero and then I was lucky enough to find Sanjay Gadhvi sir and he gave me a job. And then with him, I went to Yashraj and then we did Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, I did Dhoom and after Dhoom I felt that I had because I had been working in Yashraj for five years and it was a very comfortable, was a cushion job, it such a great Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: one of the biggest production houses in the world and I was kind of the head of the direction department there. Everything had to come through me and channelized through me. It a power position but I Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: felt it was corrupting me in a way that I started thinking the same things like I, my friend used to joke with me and he used to say you have become a hush puppy salesman. because you Akshay: Ha ha. Mayur Puri: are... What will please Adi and what will please Yashji that became my... And I wanted to Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: get out of that and very very nicely I went to Adi sir and I explained to him that I want to challenge myself so he said yeah Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: whatever I can't decide your life for you, you do what you want to do so I quit Yashraj when we had just given Dhoom like Dhoom was a blockbuster in August it released Ananya: you Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: and September I quit. And I quit and I was sitting at home, there was nothing to do and terrible days and it was, it was, there was a money problem, all kinds of problems. My wife was pregnant with my first son, in 2005. And it was, it was nuts. Around that time, Pritam started giving me songs. So started writing songs and then I started taking up writing odd jobs here and there. In one Akshay: sí. Mayur Puri: of those jobs, Ananya: Mm. Mayur Puri: was a movie called My Name is Anthony Gonzalez, which I was writing. Co-writing with my friend Lajan Joseph and that movie was directed by E. Nivas. It had Nikhil Diwvedi as an actor and that movie was being released by Red Chillies in 2006 and Akshay: Okay. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: 2005 end, 2006 and that is the time when I got and around the same time because I had no jobs I was taking anything so I had done a little work on an ad that Shah Rukh Sir and Farah they were doing. It was a car commercial. Santro's and Sunshine car and I had written some very nice lines for that ad you know some urdu poetry and I was trying to bring in romance with the car and stuff like that it didn't go through because they were they were looking for as an option to the soundtrack they were looking for you know there's a famous song called Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone so Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: they were trying Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: to get that song and they got that song so because they got that song then what I had written was not utilized anytime Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: But somewhere Farah ma'am and Shah Rukh Sir, knew that this guy like rides well or whatever, you know, he has. At the same time in Dhoom, my chief AD, her name was Joyita Chatterjee. She joined Farah and she started working on ads with her and she did a couple of things and then she was the chief AD on Om Shanti Om. Now, Farah ma'am, when she Ananya: Mmm. Mayur Puri: would go up to meet Shah Rukh and Nikhil would be sitting in Shah Rukh's cabin and he would always say my best dialogue writer in the world, Mayur Puri and then she would come down and her own assistant, Joyita would tell her my friend Mayur is the best dialogue writer in the world. I went down Ananya: Hahaha Mayur Puri: and there is Mayur Puri down Who is this guy? So she came and she asked me to meet her and then once I wrote one or two scenes I wrote for a sample kind of a thing. And that's how it started. And she loved it. And she said, listen, I want you to work on my film. And that's how it started. Akshay: That's amazing. I I love that there was a sample writing process in there, you know, because Mayur Puri: I don't know. I did not even know that it's a sample writing for me. Joyita one day calls me and she tells me, I'm stuck. I'm in a big problem, bro, because, know, this is new girl. We are launching with this film and we want to do a look test for her. And Farah said, give us some lines to speak. I have no line. So can you just write a scene for me? So it will help me out and all because obviously Joyita can't asked me to audition as a writer, right? Because she's worked Akshay: So Mayur Puri: with me on three films. She knows that, you know, Ananya: Mm-mm. Mayur Puri: stature that I have and the kind of person I am. So, so she smartly, you know, she said that, can you please Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: help me out? Because she knows that for help, I'll do anything for friends. So I said, Ananya: You Mayur Puri: tell me what, what kind of a scene you want? She said nothing. She's a seventies heroine and just write some lines for her. they said, so I wrote Ek Chutki Sindoor as a sample scene. I was thinking this is some Ananya: you Mayur Puri: girl's audition, but I did not know that it was Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: my audition also. Ananya: Mmm. Akshay: Honestly, I'm not very mad about the whole sample thing because I feel like once you're asked to write a sample, like the director and like you can gauge that where whether you're on the right page or not. Like the chances Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: of you being replaced are very low then. You know? Ananya: Yeah Akshay: Because that's what happened in the past. Where yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: It depends project to project, depends person to person, you know. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: But I don't think that a good writer can write anything. Look, it's always a problem of Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: briefing or delivering or not enough research or something like that. But Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I've just written a song in Chinese for Battle of Galwan. Salman sir asked Akshay: Wow. Mayur Puri: me, he gave the music is Himesh Bhai and I was in in those days I think I was in China or I was in Thailand for some project and I was there and one day I just got a call from Himesh Bhai and he said that listen Bhai wants you to write a song but it is supposed to be in Chinese so I've written Chinese lyrics you know I worked one week and I learned Chinese and I had Chinese friends and I spoke to them and phonetically broke down the song and did the metering and all of it but it was complicated but I wrote the song in Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: Chinese. A good writer can do, give me a challenge, I'll do anything, you know. So I'm not scared of this but at the same time I think if a writer has had a release and if you have seen their work it's Akshay: Mm. Yeah. Mayur Puri: kind of not nice to ask them to audition for you. You know whether I'm going to work with this person or not and just you know Also, the thing is that people ask you to audition or or you know, try a sample episode in TV It happens a lot Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: like a sample Ananya: you Mayur Puri: script for a short film or this and that and then they use that content without you without a long form Akshay: Hmm. yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: is a problem you know so that's why Akshay: yeah. Mayur Puri: if I tell all my students that if you are doing a sample thing be very sure that you tell them that I will write a sample episode it's okay but Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: do use it if you use it you got to pay me you got to sign me you got to have a contract Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah, yeah. That being said, you Akshay: That's very valid. Hmm. Go on and on now. Ananya: just mentioned that you do anything for your friends. Like if someone asks you dialogue, like, you'll do it, no problem. And I get that. We're all the same. know, all of this, we, and as newer writers, when Akshaya and I were new in the industry, we were asked to write a lot of samples, like to get our first gigs. So, but, and then over time that turned into getting more gigs without writing samples. But then the problem was most people end up becoming friends. So you start doing so much free work for them, how do you draw the line when you're doing this? I know you're so much more senior, but when you were coming up, maybe how did you decide that, okay, enough is enough. I need to get paid for this. Mayur Puri: But I have always been a paid writer Ananya. Maybe I'm Ananya: Okay. Mayur Puri: lucky or whatever but from the first gig that Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I got in Ahmedabad where this guy called me and Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: he said that I want to adapt world's best stories and can you help me do Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: that? And he was a very established big director and I did that for him Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: for a week and then immediately that project did not happen but he immediately put me to the next project. He asked me to write Ananya: Mmm. Mayur Puri: four episodes. I went home in two days. I came back with four episodes. I read that four episodes to him. And he immediately gave me cash money you know that Ananya: Wow. Mayur Puri: you know this is the fees for your and this is 1990 like mid 90s early 90s to mid 90s I was in college I was still in second year of college Ananya: Mmm. Mayur Puri: and Akshay: Well Mayur Puri: that's when and in those days they paid me 1600 rupees per episode so that was 6400 rupees Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: for four episodes and I danced on the road and after that I stepped out of the office on the CG road Ananya: Yeah, of course. Mayur Puri: and I went to the STD PCO at that time no mobiles Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I called up my mom and I said mom you call me a mad person who is sitting and writing every time on you know I used to write on anything like this tissue paper I'll just start writing something on that at home I'll just be writing all the time I told her Ananya: you Mayur Puri: that you think I'm mad look somebody has given me 6000 rupees to write Akshay: the fit. Mayur Puri: you know I Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: got 6000 rupees so my mom said Akshay: Ha ha. Mayur Puri: there are people who are crazier than you in this world?! Akshay: That's a very mom response, huh? Mayur Puri: I was always a paid writer, I was always commissioned, Ananya: No. Mayur Puri: I always had commissioned jobs. Ananya: Mmm. Mayur Puri: I don't know, I have not done that kind of struggle where I've done a lot of samples or whatever. Once, Adhikari brothers when they were shooting their series, when I was just new in Bombay, I had just come, they came and they said they had this show called Surag, a TV show called Surag. and they said that write a sample episode for us. So I wrote and I went to them and I said, if you use one line of this, you have to pay me for the full thing. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: Otherwise I'm Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: not giving this draft to you. And they said, no, no way our story has changed. And they said that character has changed and this and that. And so we can't use it. Maybe we can use parts of it. I said, no, I'm not giving it to you. When I came to Bombay, I was very lucky. I met this wonderful writer called Kiran Kodriyal. He was a friend of a friend of Ananya: Mm. Mayur Puri: a friend of a friend and Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: they pulled favours and they asked that Kiran Bhai, my friend has come from Ahmedabad, meet him and give him some advice. He called me, I still remember it was in Bandra on the hill road there is this joint called Gazebo. Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: Never write for free Akshay: Hm. Ananya: Mmm. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: So I kept that thing in my heart that I will never write for free. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Mad props to you for being able to go to that production Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: house and saying that I've written it, but I'm not giving it to you. If you like agree. Ananya: I'm giving in. Mayur Puri: I had no money I needed that money so badly even half of it they would have given Ananya: Mmm. Mayur Puri: me for whole month I said I don't care if I starve to death I won't give it to you for free, if you want to use it Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Very good. I think that's a that's a big lesson to like everybody like starting out because Mayur Puri: Because Akshay it shows Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: that your work is valuable. That is you are adding value Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: to the universe by bringing that thing. And it's important for you to know that it is valuable. Akshay: Yeah. When you were approached by Farah that you know work on this film, so how much of the film was ready? In the sense that today like in web, when we're writing web series, like when we have a dialogue writer, like the script is properly like locked with English indicative dialogue. So what was it back then? Mayur Puri: So Farah had the whole screenplay of the film. It was like a short description of every scene. Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: Film opens, Karz shooting is going on, the fight with the jacket happens. All of that was written. Like basic, basic things. But every scene description would be like this much. Like this much, this much. That's all. So what I call it is the... I don't call in India screenwriters, don't do screenplay writers don't write screenplays. They write intentions. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Mayur Puri: You know, they write intention. They will say this scene should be funny. But how? What will make it funny? That won't be there. Ananya: Yeah Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: That something happens that there is drama in this scene. But what happens? But still the good thing with Farah ma'am is that she's very clear about things. She's even if it's not in that little four, four liner or whatever, Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: she knows what she wants and how we can work around it and how we can. So we would discuss and then so I got those, you know, those, I don't know about detailed one line description, maybe 30 pages or something like that. Akshay: Okay. Mayur Puri: And then it was my job to make it into 110 pages of full script. Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: And then I can work on each scene, create, create the dynamics of that screen. What will happen Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: in the modalities of it? The props, there's that everything basically create the scene, construct the scene architect, like an architect, Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: You know, like I was given a map, but Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: I can say that I was a civil engineer on the project. You know, Farah is the architect, then I was a engineer who executed everything. But in doing Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: that, what happened is that I got too close. and I got too involved and I got a rhythm and I kind of Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Mayur Puri: saw the film when I started working after 5-10 scenes I just saw the film and then I realized that the second half is not correct as per this screenplay it's not going to work so I went back to Farah ma'am and I Ananya: Hmm Mayur Puri: said that first half you love I have written everybody loved it everybody loved the first half I said I will give you the second half that you want what is your screenplay I will write it I'm not saying that I will not write it but after having given you what you want I will do another attempt at second half screenplay and then you see which is better. So I did a second half, I did second half twice, you know, and then Farah ma'am took half of the scenes from my version and some of it she retained from her original version and it was like a mix and match of the screenplay of the second second half. But there were very important calls in that like Sandy's character was completely a new invention. It was not there in the screenplay. In the original screenplay she was a teacher. She's in Switzerland. He's going to shoot a song in Switzerland and there she's a school teacher and her kids are getting disturbed with the song shooting. So She comes and fights with SRK and he says, no, no, listen, I'm a big star. Then she goes and Google same Google was new that time. And then, and then she comes back and she says, great. I know who you are now. And can I do something for you? And he says, come to India and become ghost of Shanti. Which to me Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: was very big ask with someone who you barely know. Someone Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: in Switzerland. She's not going to uproot her life and come to India for his ghost. It's a very, it was a very bizarre, like it, was not. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: convinced about it. And then I told Farrah ma'am the basic of a reincarnation story. Reincarnation story, your second half has to be a mirror of the first half. As per the formula, there have to be Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: mirroring elements. So I said in first half, he was her fan. In second half, she is his fan. It's as simple as that. Audience will buy. Ananya: And yeah. Mayur Puri: It will not take much time. And it will work. Because I need to have the joy of seeing Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Shah Rukh win even if he's not a nice person in the second half I still want the joy Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: of of Om winning you know so I want to give Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: them minor victories you know so that's how Akshay you know this very well we have done the three act structure in detail in the the class Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: so you know how I talk about it that that once you're inciting incident and when your lock-in moment happens at the end of first act after that what will happen is a constant cycle where the hero will have minor victories and major defeats minor victories and major defeats so Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: he gained little bit but then again something big will happen and he'll be back so that that cycle keeps repeating you see Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: in the second half is like that he keeps winning in small small moments but he again keeps losing and then you know so that Akshay: Yeah. Like Mayur Puri: that's also i just applied basic screenwriting math to the whole thing Akshay: Hm. Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: of course math is not enough so there's a lot of emotion there's a lot of good writing Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: good scene construction and belief in pure Hindi cinema that Sachi Muchi will work that you know Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: kind of things Listen everybody was telling that this very old type of movie and today who will watch it? Reincarnation formula has died, who will watch it? And it's not that it's not a new film and I said you don't need to have a new film every time you are building a new world your if it is enjoyable And if you can have fun, then you don't need to be clever about screenwriting all the time. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: You can go with gut feel and you can just enjoy. Make a film for people to laugh and cry and have fun every time you don't have to impress people by your writing. That's Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: big problem with a lot of writers. They don't want Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: to an enjoyable experience. Instead, they try to impress people that look how knowledgeable I am. Look, don't get into Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Exactly. Mayur Puri: that. Akshay: Yeah, I totally Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: get you because before this Mayur Puri: And I wrote the entire, with these two drafts and this and that everything, it was total 41 days or something. In which the... Akshay: Crazy. Ananya: Wow. Wow. Akshay: Crazy. this exactly what he was put. Mayur Puri: The first half was like 12 days. I wrote the first half in 12 days. Akshay: That's mad speed. Ananya: Wow. Mayur Puri: It's the shortest first half I have ever written for a movie. It was only 43 pages. It looks like a Akshay: I th Mayur Puri: long first half. But actually if you see the dialogue, it's just 43 pages. Akshay: No, we were talking like how it's so tight. Like, you know, like each Ananya: I see. Akshay: scene is very tight. And before this, you know, Ananya and I spoke about Mayur Puri: Yeah, you try to write extra for Farah and she'll kill you. Akshay: Ha ha ha. Ananya: Hahaha! Mayur Puri: She's very impatient. Akshay: Yeah, number four. Mayur Puri: But thankfully, I had already learned it with Sanjay sir. You know how Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: many deleted scenes Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: are there in Dhoom? In those days in DVDs there used to be deleted scenes right? Every film Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: deleted scenes. How many deleted scenes are there in Dhoom? If you have the DVD Akshay: I guess Mayur Puri: which Yashraj released, you can check it out. Akshay: yeah. Mayur Puri: How many deleted scenes Doom had? I'll tell you. Zero. Akshay: Hmm. it was Ananya: Wow. Akshay: all cut on paper. Mayur Puri: Sanjay sir was so strict about cutting things on paper I will not shoot if it is not required I will not shoot so Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai had 3 deleted scenes because I had overwritten it Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: but Dhoom had 0 deleted scenes you know Akshay: Insane. Mayur Puri: In Om Shanti Om we have 3 deleted scenes or 4 deleted scenes which are also parts of the which are scene-lets actually like song ka chhota version song lets botein hain. Waisi ye scene lets. Like it's a beat from the scene which is out. And those are my scenes in the second half in which I have acted and I have cut them on the edit. I have told ma'am Ananya: Ha ha ha. Mayur Puri: zarurat nahin ho gaya matlab. SRK has insulted me once, we don't need him to do it 4 times. It's the same thing. It doesn't matter. So just Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: I removed my own scenes in Om Shanti Om. on the edit and it's Akshay: You know? Mayur Puri: her graciousness and her kindness and Shah Rukh Sir and Sheerish they are all nice people that they called me to the editing room and they said, you see what you cut in the what you to you that's very nice of them. Akshay: That's amazing. That just goes to say like you were fully Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: involved once even the script was like sort of like given over. Mayur Puri: Yeah, used to go on shoot not every day but like lots of days in Om Shanti Om like, like, you know, the, the entire tiger fight in screenplay, Akshay: Huh. Mayur Puri: was, it was not even there in the original screenplay. It was that, Om is pretending to do a South Indian film shoot and Shanti comes there and then they have a scene between the Akshay: Huh. Huh. Mayur Puri: two of them. That's the main scene. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Then I started writing this and I said, what is he shooting? What is he shooting? South Indian film, Ananya: new Mayur Puri: South Indian film. Then I said, it has to be some exaggerated like Telugu, Tamil kind of a thing. Rajan, Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: we have to do it. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: And it's a different grammar, Akshay. You know, like we talk about language grammar. Telugu cinema is different, Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: Tamil is different. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: So I said, there's a different grammar. We'll have to like think crazy stuff. So then I wrote that there is a fake tiger and the tiger is flung and Mind it because that's only stuff I do about South Indian movies and mind Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hahaha Mayur Puri: it. Then went. Then Farah. Farah from the day we had written it she was saying I will cut all this but Shah Rukh Sir loved it. He loved it Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: and there was action. Jump and body falls and Shah Rukh Sir loves all of that. So she said no no Farah let's shoot it, we'll cut it later. So they were shooting so we shot that for some two days. And Farah was very upset and like nicely she is upset ultimately she is not like what Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: What are you guys doing? Why you shooting this?! Ananya: You Mayur Puri: The scene starts when the girl comes. What is before she comes? So all that was happening but then Farah is also genius on when she is doing the things like she found that guy. "Wah, kya acting kar raha hai," guy. She found the Akshay: Yeah, Tinker. I was just thinking that, yeah. Ananya: Mmmmm Mayur Puri: best guy to do that. Some of the bits are improvised in that and then like some of the things because I was on the set like when Shah Rukh Sir throws the tiger you know "naught pussy, naughty pussy" and he throws it and then he comes to the camera and he was going to he was coming to the camera and he was saying find it every time like mind it mind it he was doing that so I said no now you have thrown it so you come and you now you say find it Akshay: Ha ha. Ananya: Mmm. Mayur Puri: so a lot of things have happened just because because of the energies that we were all on the set like I was there on the set Shreyas in role of Pappu he would come up with some weird things that very funny Shreyas is amazing actor he would be detching and that was all Shreyas improvisations Ananya: You Mayur Puri: but we would work together and yes this good, this not looking and all of that like that Mohabbat man Charukh sir's you know he should have he should have a call you know like Shazam or like something you know before he flies Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: he says something so I was like what can he say what can he say I knew that he was actually a Bengali character Mangesh because Akshay: Huh, yeah. Mayur Puri: at the end Malayaka is supposed to say Mangesh instead of Mohobbat Man, you know it is so then I was like what should he say what should he say and Shah Rukh sir kept on asking me to give me that before that shot before that shot I something this then I will you know before the cable work happens and then Joyita was roaming around and she's my Bengali friend so and I got the film partly because of her so I said, what you all say in Bengali? And suddenly I remembered it, Hoodi Baba. Akshay: Hoodi Baba! Mayur Puri: It was just, we were just having fun. Look, good films happen when your intention is good, when Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: you're capable of making good decisions, you have a good team and at the same time you are the audience, you are having fun. Akshay: You know, when we before this, Ananya and I actually broke down the film and like lots of elements of like say the hero's journey, scenes and sequences. But the first thing Ananya said was like this looks like the film where they had a ball making the film. And Yeah. Mayur Puri: We did, we did, Akshay: And so it just Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: feels very nice that because you know, on the outside it can all look like fun, but like some of us when we Ananya: Hmm Akshay: go on set we know how not fun some of the those Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: things are. So the Mayur Puri: you Akshay: fact that this matches our Reality like fantasy was great. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: But like we s you spoke about your brief cameo. How was it like acting with Shah Rukh? Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I had decided not to act. Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: I was very poor. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I didn't have money to buy protein powder and go to gyms. I couldn't afford that lifestyle. It was just not possible. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: And if you remember in those days, it was very important early 2000s. You know, if you didn't have, you couldn't be on camera. It was just impossible. So Akshay: Dole Sole. Mm. Mm. Mayur Puri: I very consciously I made that choice that I'm not going to struggle as an actor. Anyway, I enjoy direction the most. I Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: enjoy writing. I never enjoy writing. I hate writing. Writing is a cumbersome, stupid, boring, extremely tedious Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: and Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: terrible process. But I enjoy having written. Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Once you have written Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: that, you can, that feeling is un, you feel Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: you're God, you know, you feel so Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: empowered by what you have done, what you have achieved, Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: your writing, you know. And every writer knows this. Every writer in the world knows this, that, that Ananya: Hmm. Yeah. Mayur Puri: feeling of having written, Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: nothing beats that feeling. It's better than sex, I'm telling you. To have something written is something else. So I, I have Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: lured into being a writer because of that feeling. And also Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: because when I wanted to direct when I was doing television and I used to not find scripts exciting. I used to find the writing very boring, old fashioned, Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: not correct. And I was a literature student. I'm postgraduate. I've studied drama. I've studied Aristotle's Poetics. I've studied Natya Shastra. I know these things, you know, that they are writing wrong. It's not correct. So that's why I started writing myself. I am a filmmaker. I am a director. But to enable myself to be able to direct, I had to write. So that's how I became a writer. Acting I didn't want but I think Farah ma'am knew or Farah ma'am can make a log of wood act so it doesn't matter. Akshay: Ha ha ha. Mayur Puri: She doesn't care about it. It Ananya: Hahaha Mayur Puri: was like four or five days before the shoot she told me that you come on the shoot. I said why you know but I'm very wary of going on the shoot if it is a very important scene then only I'll go otherwise I won't go. She said no no come this is an important scene and listen. That character is called wannabe gujju director in the school So that's the name of the character wannabe gujju director. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: She said you are the wannabe gujju I don't know any more wannabe gujju director than you so you should do that I said ma'am why you insult everyone I don't want to do it. She said no no you come and I'm not joking I said okay fine I'll come I went on the set and they gave me a very nice huge van in those days SRK sir's van was being renovated so he was actually in a smaller van my van was bigger and all the tantrums that actor throws on set the costume guys, the ADs they came and they said sir here are clothes and I threw the clothes there I said these rubbish shirts I'm not going to wear then they ran to Farah they told her that Mayuri is not wearing clothes and she came running, what happened? I said Farah look at these clothes I'm not wearing, give me good clothes I'm not going to wear them She shouted call Sanjeev, Sanjeev Mulchandani was the costume guy. She said Sanjeev, this is my hero, give him good clothes, not like that, shirt, how can Ananya: you Mayur Puri: he wear that? I said no, I want little young and cool, like an open shirt with t-shirt and that kind of stuff. So I picked out my clothes, I got the glasses from home, I got it made for that character. And so I did all the fun that I could as an actor and they all indulged, are very sweet people. Very kind, generous, warm hearted, amazing people, Shah Rukh Sir and Farah they just humoured me that today is his day, let him, it was very sweet of them Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hehehehehe Mayur Puri: but I did all that drama but jovially, not really, fun, in Akshay: Huh. Yeah, yeah. We figured, yeah. But like were you like were you able to say the lines in front of SRK like how was like how was it? Mm. Mayur Puri: After 3 takes, she doesn't want to do a 4th Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: So I'm like, I could have done it better and we were all having lunch in the line taking the plates Akshay: Two. Mayur Puri: and know, crafty table and Shahrukh sir was also there. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: Shahrukh sir said, Listen you did a good job! What more do you want? Should we let all of Film City know about you? You did very well. It was a good take. Don't agonize over it. Akshay: You were being the annoying artist where like he I think I can do more. Ananya: Thank Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I was like, can do little better and he showed and I was no I was being not annoying but I was being one of those you know NSD actors and train theatre guys who take their craft very seriously but only till lunch break after that we were just having fun just Akshay: I said annoying rightly only, I think. Yeah. Mayur Puri: have good time Akshay: That's great. I wanna talk about something back in the day in the class you'd spoken about that you know that one big scene in the second half between Om and Sandy where he tells her the truth that this is what I am Mayur Puri: Yeah. Akshay: and she says I think all your movie stunts are real. So of course I believe you now. Mayur Puri: The big moon scene. Akshay: And Yeah, yeah, the big moon scene. Yeah, that's what I remember you called it that, huh? Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: There was no location written for the scene. In the location description, it was exterior, big moon and night. That was my only requirement that it should be a big moon. And then they literally in VFX, they made the moon big. You realize that moon is unnaturally big in that scene. If moon would be that Akshay: Yeah yeah yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: big, there'll be tides and we all would die. It's like, it's like, it's a natural calamity size moon right over there behind them. Akshay: Well I always say it's cinema logic. It has to be cinema logic. Yeah. So but Mayur Puri: It is beautiful, it looks beautiful. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: I remember that like you were saying that you had to a little bit fight for that scene because I think Farah was like speed it up, it's taking too long. Mayur Puri: No, No, it was not that. It was a different thing. I wrote that scene. That scene is very special for me. I wanted more like romance in the film because actually in first half there is no romance. In first half, there can't be romance. She doesn't love him. Right. She gets to, she starts seeing what a big sacrifice he can make is first when he saves her life and then in the so-called climax of the first half when she dies. And he tries to Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: save her and he fights. She sees that but there's nothing much that she can do. If you see her expression brilliantly directed and brilliantly performed by Deepika also. If you see in her eyes at that time also, it's not that she's fallen in love with him. I, when I was writing the film, I did not believe in karma, destiny, and these are the tenets of the genre. So Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: you have to respect the genre. You have to respect the craft associated with it and you have to associate the basic beliefs of that genre. Right now. Reincarnation means there will be karma, will be destiny, will be belief. And what is more important for me as a writer is not the things that I believe in, but what is more important is the characters belief. I'm writing for the characters. I'm a mouthpiece for their feelings and their emotions. I'm just a word tool. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: I'm just an aggregator of their thoughts. You know what I mean? I'm Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Mayur Puri: supposed to collate it in a nice way and put it to the audience. I'm just a vehicle in between. So I cannot bring in my ego, my hubris. and my belief system in the way of constructing good scenes. Audience should enjoy Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: it. They should enjoy it. having said that, I started writing the film and I was doing everything and I was doing all my duties, but I wanted one scene where I can totally nail it and convince even people like me who were skeptics about this. Akshay: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: How can anyone Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: believe in such a ridiculous story? know, that suppose somebody is watching in America or watching in Australia, how do they relate to this story? Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: I needed that one scene where I can actually convince the audience that look this is a real story, it can happen. And that opportunity was in this big moon scene. And because there was only one romantic scene in the whole film, there was no other. In the entire second half, this is the only romantic scene. There is no other romantic scene in Om Shanti Om. First half, there cannot be romance because Shanti Priya does not love Om Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Prakash and Om Kapoor does not love Sandy till a particular point. And this is Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: that scene. And of course we didn't want to say the whole story again and all of that so the Akshay: Ja Mayur Puri: scene starts midway, Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: it's a nice little crane down coming and so you know that he's already told by the time you're enamored with the beauty of the moon he's already told her the story so you're Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: midway through the Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: scene anyway so you're not wasting any screen time and Farah's axe is not going to be on your head that's not going to be there and then the first question that will come see in a very real situation also, if you tell somebody such a big secret, such a big thing, and you've been living with that person for, for some time, for a considerable amount of time, that person is going to ask you, why did you tell me before? Right? That's the most natural question. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mayur Puri: You know, we ignore in screenwriting, we ignore the most basic conversational ethics. Like how, how would a conversation go forward? And these questions are where these, these, I call them the trigger questions. The trigger questions are very important. The trigger questions will answer what is going on in the character's mind and situation and it's a bridge between audience and the story teller, the trigger question. Like for Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mayur Puri: example in Sholey there is "how many men were there?" Everybody Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: is like what a great dialogue it is. The other day Javed Sahab was telling me, says one guy came and he told me, what dialogue have you written! What dialogue! I said which dialogue? "How many were were there?" I said he was asking for information. It's a trigger question. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: That situation. When his people are beaten up and come the thing he needs to know, Gabbar needs to know, how many people were there, so he could determine how many people should he send to fight? It's a very functional dialogue. But in Akshay: Huh. Huh. Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: the hands of a good writer, in the good context, in the good atmosphere, a correct direction, correct camera work, even that simple trigger question can become very meaningful and it can have lot of purposes. Like in Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mayur Puri: the hands of a great writer like or a director like Suraj Bharjatyya, even thank you and sorry become great dialogues. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: No, In love, there's no sorry and no Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: thank you. Akshay: Ha ha. Mayur Puri: Thank you. But see context, context makes it beautiful. So here Ananya: you Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: also she says, why didn't you tell me before? It's the most normal trigger question. This is where every writer will reach if you're writing the scene. Now a good writer will go Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: So Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: beyond that. Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: So he says that I thought you wouldn't believe me. And I did not use the Hindi world for believe. The story is set Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: in current times. The language of Om Kapoor, the language of this girl, they will say believe because again, belief leads to belief and leads to Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mayur Puri: and it's also that these are trigger words, you know, the Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: associations in your brain. So he says, Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I thought you wouldn't believe me and then then she says that you jump from a 50 storey building, I believe it. You take on with 40 people single-handedly, I believe it, so why wouldn't I believe this? Now what happens is it's a great dialogue. and it convinces the audience why Sandy has believed in the story. But Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: if you just zoom out and if you think about it, it's a very stupid logic. It's Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: a fake logic actually. But it's not Akshay: So Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: important that audience believes what he's saying is, or what she's Ananya: Thank you. Mayur Puri: saying is, it's important that audience believes that she's convinced and Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: she will help him. Now she'll try Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: her best. That's Ananya: Yes. Mayur Puri: the point of the scene. What you get out of the scene is Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: that moment where she says, I'll do my best to help you now. When she comes back and then she tries and the second montage where now she actually becomes Shanti Priya. So Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: these are the things that you as a writer you have to... So I'm trying to use the romantic scene to solve the logic problem, to solve... It works Ananya: Thank Mayur Puri: in multiple layers, you know. and it's very obvious that it's not difficult to Akshay: No wonder the scene works the way it works, yeah. Mayur Puri: write once you understand what is the ask of the scene once you understand what Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: the scene needs to do then it becomes fairly simple actually but yeah it's one of my favorite scenes because that scene does so much for the film the Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: contribution of that scene in the film is no less than any other grand dialogue. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: very important very Ananya: you Mayur Puri: critical scene it makes the film believable kind of sells the film to you, you know. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: I have to Akshay: you Mayur Puri: say this, Om Shanti Om script, however good I wrote or whatever hard work I did in the hands of any other director, this could have been a shit film. any other director, it would have been a rubbish film. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: But it's only because Farah and me, are are soulmates in writing. We are soulmates Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: in understanding characters. Like I get her like Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: this and she gets me like, so she knows what's the intent and purpose. And I know what her original intention and purpose was when I'm delivering. She will carry it with full belief and she'll do it in a way that she'll sell it to you. know, Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: her genius. Akshay: That's amazing to hear because I feel like every writer wants this with a director and a co-writer, that to have this feeling that everything like we like sometimes in a look you'll understand that, this is what we wanted to do. Mayur Puri: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: You spoke about this Easter egg that, you know, friendship mein no sorry, no, thank you. And and you have that moment where young Suraj Barjatiya is like making a note when Mayur Puri: Thank Akshay: Om Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: is saying to Shanti Priya. And Mayur Puri: Thank you. Akshay: we spoke about like how so many Easter eggs were put in the movie. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Like, you know, like Govinda Ahuja comes from Virar, Mayur Puri: Incidentally, like Suraj Ji is my favorite, like my favorite director. One of my reasons to be a filmmaker is because I saw Maine Pyaar Kiya 40 times in theater. Okay. I Akshay: Wow. Mayur Puri: was yeah, I loved that film and I was like, yeah, this is how films should be made. You know, this is Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: my picture. So that's one of the reasons Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: and I, and for 25 years, like I didn't even like I have, I did not meet Suraj Ji and I was like, even though when I was in Yashraj I used to tell Adi sir and Adi sir said yeah yeah I'll tell Suraj ji meet him anytime but it never transpired, and I knew Suraj ji's son and he's met me and so he was telling me that no no Suraj ji likes your work very much and all that and finally last year it so happened that I'm working with Suraj Barjatiya ji now. His next Akshay: Wow. Ananya: Wow. Mayur Puri: film which is coming I have written three songs in that And it was what an experience it is to work with him it was amazing so I'm just saying that you look I'm as a young writer I'm also manifesting while I'm doing Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: doing my hat tips and I'm doing doing tributes to all these great people there was Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: a little wishful thinking also that Suraj Ji has seen this scene and I know from his movies I know that he will not mind it he's the kind of a Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: guy who understand the spirit behind it that yeah it's really funny Ananya: you Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: you know you have used me but it's a hat tip so forever and ever. We have given tribute to Mother India and have given tribute to so many films but it's Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: a part of it. Om Shanti Om is a big Bollywood history lesson actually. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yes. Akshay: Okay so now I feel like with every new project, there Mayur Puri: Hmm. Akshay: are some realizations you have about your own process. That, maybe you know, like I feel like I write this better, or like I don't do that well, or like this is what I learned, like I'm gonna try this something differently. When you finished writing this one. Did you have any realizations about your process that, this is something, a new discovery for you? Mayur Puri: See, I know that I can write any kind of stuff because I'm my literary background is very strong. I'm a literature student. I've studied very, very deeply. I've done masters in English literature, but I've also studied Sanskrit. I've also studied Hindi from childhood. I've been reading Hindi poetry since I was like 10 years old or something. So my language, my vocabulary is very strong. It's strong because of my mom and my grandmom and them also because the Om Shanti Om mom is my mom actually. Bela Makhija is my mom. It's exactly same character. My mom is exactly like that. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: So she's over the top. But I know that I can deliver in terms of dialogue any film or any kind of world. It just needs a little time. I can research and I told you I wrote a song in Chinese. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Languages are not difficult for me. I can learn and do but not that most importantly. I never before Omshanti Om also I have written so many times but I've enjoyed writing Om Shanti Om a lot. Akshay: U Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: That process was a joyful process and that Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: comes across through the screen. Like Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai also I Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: enjoyed writing a lot and shooting also we enjoyed. If you see every frame of that film there is happiness, is joy. Song, dance, mischief. But also it is not as big a scale as Om Shanti Om. So Om Shanti Om I realised that while I was writing, I realized that I could deliver big lines and big films. I realized Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: I'm a big film writer. I'm not a small film writer. So when I was writing my film, I had to readjust and read this thing that I have to bring that big scale fun into a smaller story also. So it prepares you to do many things in different ways for different projects. See every project is not... People expect me to write the same lines for Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: same kind of dialogue or same kind of punchiness or whatever for other films which they write the stories and they come to me that you write the dialogues and you work on this and give us Om Shanti Om kinda dialogue. But Om Shanti Om sprouted from a mango seed. Now you Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: have brought a bitter gourd seed and you're asking me to grow Akshay: Ha ha. Mayur Puri: mangoes from it. That not possible. Ananya: Mm-hmm Akshay: No, yeah. Mayur Puri: Right. It lies in the seed. The seed is Farah's. It's her, every story. And I'm not saying Karela is worse or better than mango. It has a different functionality. It is a different kind of Ananya: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Akshay: yeah. Mayur Puri: edible and it has different uses and it should be respected and all kinds of cinema is valid and beautiful. But you cannot expect every film to be like that. You know, for that, you have to have that seed. Even we tried to do Happy New Year again. It was, it was a completely different film. And it had only three things which were really common in the film. Both the films. is Farah, Charukh Sir and me. These are the three common things in these two films. And yet you feel like it is a spiritual successor of Om Shanti Om, which is actually Akshay: No something on Mayur Puri: not. It's a completely different genre, completely different story, completely different star cast except SRK Sir and Deepika. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Only four of us are common actually in the film. There's no other thing which is common. But again, because it is coming from the same kind of seed, from a sister tree, Akshay: Huh. Huh. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: so there is some kind of flavour which is there some kind of a distinct taste which is there in when I work with Farah then there is that thing which you will not find in Farah ma'am's other movies or you will not find my other movies. It's Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mayur Puri: a combination. It's how things work right. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: My big realization was that that's because you asked me about that my first realization was "Shit, I had so much fun writing this film. I hope I get to do it again." Ananya: Okay. Mayur Puri: I have to maybe I should and it took me 10 years to be able to me and Farah we had 10 years before we could come back together for Happy New Year Akshay: Anyway, yeah. Mayur Puri: And then when I was shooting for Happy New Year I was like because Happy New Year Shah Rukh sir came it was all sync sound movies only but he we just wanted to do pickups you know ADR So little bit of an ADR was there. So Shah Sir came in the studio and I was managing that and he was dubbing and because Farhat told me, you get the pickups you want from Shah Rukh. So I said okay, we were dubbing And Shah Rukh Sir came and he was supposed to come for like half an hour, were four pick up, nothing much. He Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: came at 11 o'clock in the night and till 7 o'clock he was refusing to come out of the dubbing room. I had to go and drag his hand and say sir please, please, please, we're done. No more. But he'd say, "no, one more take!" He would like, he would go on and on. So, and then that is the time I realized that I hope I get to do this again. And you know, then I got to do that again in The Lion King. And then Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: in Lion King I was working with him and Aryan. And it was so much fun and I love Aryan and I was like, oh man. Aryan, and I told Aryan, I said Aryan, the industry will want to make a hero out of you. You have to become a hero. So he's like, no, I'm not interested right now in acting and pursuing whatever I want to direct, which he did, which he Akshay: Hm. Mayur Puri: did. So he wanted to Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: write and direct. So he's focused on it. Oh shit, then when will we get to do this again? Then we got to do it again in Mufasa. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hahaha Mayur Puri: So Mufasa, I Shahrukh sir, I Aryan and I had Abraham also. So hopefully next Akshay: That's amazing. Mayur Puri: project in couple of years, maybe I'll do something with Abraham. Akshay: Yeah. But that's a great realization to have that that you're having so much fun while doing it. I think like as writers when we write so many scripts, a lot of them don't get released, you know, don't get like put out. But this realization that you still need Mayur Puri: Yeah. Akshay: to have fun while writing, no matter what the product will be, that's a big realisation. Mayur Puri: Yeah, The money and the fame and everything will come later and it may come, it may not come. It's contingent on many things. It's on you to have fun every day of your life. It's not on others. And that's what Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: I realized, you know, in Om Shanti Om, have fun guys! So Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: we had so many jokes, so many things happening every day on the set, even in the office, even in the post-production. We were just having a ball. And I realized that that you can. This is not a stress job. This industry. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: You make it stressful, most of the people make it a stress to work Ananya: and making. Mayur Puri: in this industry. But it's not really, it can be, Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: of course it is stressful, but it can still be joyful. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: You can still have your moments. Akshay: Because I f like so well put because the essence the the reason you're doing is to give joy to people, right? Like Mayur Puri: Yeah. Akshay: and again if you're not having fun it how is it gonna work? You know? Mayur Puri: You can't fake fun ya. cannot. Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: Fake fun is like fake milk ice cream or fake... It never tastes the same. Whatever you might say. It's not. No. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Fake meat is not meat. Tofu is not paneer. It's not. I'd Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: die on that hill. Tofu is not paneer. Ananya: not funny. Akshay: Tofu is not paneer. Okay, you've had fun while making this whole thing. this move you've you've written it, you've shot it. Now the film comes out. Mayur Puri: Hmm. Akshay: how is that like? Like, you know, because so much love and appreciation was received for this film, continues to do so. Mayur Puri: Yeah. Akshay: and How did your life change? How did your outlook to life change after that? Mayur Puri: Actually, I did not consciously be a part of the promotion so much. You know, I was out of it because I'm very, it's very strange. I don't believe in karma. I don't believe in religion. I don't believe in organized religion and gods and stuff like that. And yet I'm superstitious. I didn't want to attract the evil eye. Akshay: I I know what you mean, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: There's a phrase- don't tempt fate. Why to Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: tempt fate? I don't want to do that. So I said, I don't Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: want to jinx Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: it. I don't know. I just sit quietly and whatever I will not do. And in Happy New Year, I broke that jinx also. I said no, yeah, it's your film. You should own it up. So in Happy New Year promotions, I went with lot of fans. I went to fan screenings. I don't know all across. I went to Pune. I went to different cities and we did fan based activities because SRK Sir and Deepika and everybody could not go everywhere. I went Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: with them at the major promotional events also, whether we were shooting for a Tarak Mehta episode, whether we were going for other episodes. So I was, I worked with Kapil's team to make that episode and give Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: them the pointers and you know, all of that. Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: I was fully involved. Happy New Year. was fully involved in the promotions and it did very well. took great opening and all of that. And I Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: have a marketing brain also, which was very good and we could really like amplify it. Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: But legacy wise, yes. Om Shanti Om promotions remain very key to our lives because I still remember Homshantyam I was not too much a part of the promotion but like music launch and know Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: couple of things the premieres and all I had gone obviously and I still remember the music launch evening it was nuts it was in Sahara Star and we had so much fun and copious amounts of alcohol was consumed yeah like like everything was great Akshay: Like it should, yeah. It's a celebration, yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: yeah and it was such a joyful time we knew we have a hit even before releasing we knew and Shah Rukh Sir had the whole film on his laptop so while we were shooting edit okay in those days it was such a new thing now everybody can do it but imagine this is 2006-7 he Akshay: yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: had like the edited version newer edited version every day on his laptop and anybody would come to visit him on the set he will show it He said, see what a movie we've made! He showed couple of scenes and Farah used to get like Farah used to say, show the whole movie. Release it. Just release the movie on your laptop! This is the first movie in the world which is being released on Shah Rukh's laptop. Akshay: Ha ha ha ha. Ananya: You Mayur Puri: But Shah Sir was so confident about it. We knew Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: that what we have made is fantastic. Ananya: Eww. Mayur Puri: He would show it to people and it would just make us all very excited. We knew that Om Shanti Om is going to be a hit. Akshay: But so now this hit happened, how did your life change? Like were there more like offers that came in, were Mayur Puri: I... Yeah, Akshay: like Mayur Puri: yeah. After Om Shanti Om released, I became the most sought after, the biggest writer in Mumbai. And I've seen stardom as a writer, which very few writers will be able to see. It's crazy. I cannot tell you. And it took me a lot of time to get out of the weight of that stardom. I Akshay: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: would have actor stars, superstars. big producers they would be sending cakes and champagne to my house and they would say "please sign this film with us!" There was Diwali time and I had stopped picking calls I had stopped picking calls of people and I still remember you know Kumar Taurani ji from Tips was trying to get in touch with me I did not take his call one two times and then I messaged him that sorry my phone is not good and I can't see who's calling so I'm sorry whoever this is, whatever something of that sort, sent a message. Then I stepped out for something and then I came back in the evening and my wife said there's some parcel that has come for you. And I opened the parcel. It was from Tips, Kumar Taurani with best wishes. And I opened it and it was Nokia N95, the best, best phone Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: of that. And those days used to cost very, very like there was no iPhone. This was the pinnacle of human engineering. Marvel. N95 great phone. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: So I saw the phone and I said, hey Kumar ji sent me a phone so I put SIM card in that phone and I called him. I said Kumar ji you sent me a phone?! So Kumar ji said, yes Mayur I wanted to wish you happy Diwali but then I saw your message that your phone is not working so I thought I'd get you a new phone. So least you my can answer my call. So I said, hey Kumar ji I forgot to tell you that my car is also troubling me. Need a new one desperately! Ananya: hahahahah Mayur Puri: So Kumar ji started laughing and he's very sweet. He is telling me, I will get you a car, just sign my film! What I'm Ananya: Hahaha Mayur Puri: am trying to say is that Om Shanti Om before and after my life was exactly like how Om Kapoor's fortunes are Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: different from Om Prakash Makija. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Before Om Shanti Om released I was Om Prakash Makija and after the film released I became Om Kampoor and with becoming him also that little bit of hubris and little bit of... You know, you think you're infallible and you can do anything. And then I had a writer's block and then I had two flops and you know that then you learn that. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: This Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: is all ephemeral. Ananya: Good. Mayur Puri: This will all go away. What my being grounded and Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: go back to the basics, go back to the basics. What made you come here? Just keep doing that. You don't think that you have done... like I was telling you earlier that you add value to universe. That's your job. And how much of that value universe gives you back is what your destiny is. Again, I will keep using words like destiny and karma and all of that. And I don't believe in them. having said that, there are certain machinations, machinations, there are certain machinations, whatever you call them. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Mayur Puri: There are some systems in place in this universe, you know, and I believe in them. I believe that there are There are some systems, some protocols. Universe. I do believe in universe and the power of universe and because universe is Purnamadha or Purnamidham. You cannot take anything from the universe Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: and you cannot subtract. Universe remains whole. So everything Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: that you do. So I don't believe in karma, but I do believe that if you create goodness, some of it will come back to you in one way or Akshay: So Mayur Puri: the other. It does. you know, and I'm not talking about karma and sense of that after you die, then in your next life... I don't believe Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: in that, but I do believe that Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: if you If you are positive and then what happens is your it's a practical thing. Your dealings change with the people. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: People start taking you in a different light and that's how it becomes helpful to you. So I Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: like it's an operative principle for me that that I should Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: go back to my original nascent, naive, innocent phase with all the wisdom and all the knowledge that you and experience that you have gained. But never let those simple belief systems die. You know, be good. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Be nice, be professional, smell good, be clean, basic things. I talk about this in the class also that we forget Ananya: Yes. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: things, you know, it's very important because if you're meeting someone that person is going to, that person has to decide whether they should spend more time with you or not. If Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: you are not clean and smelling good, then they would probably not want to do that. Right. And no fault Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: of how good your talent is. It's not about that. It's about how much care you take to present yourself and you will bring that care and attention to the things that you do. Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: Yeah. And also you have to remember y you're s you're spending one more year with this person minimum at least. Mayur Puri: That's Ananya: minimum. Mayur Puri: what I was telling in the class Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: also. That person has to choose, that producer, director has to choose that, am I going to spend Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: one year with this guy? Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: You know, Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: then I, if somebody walks into my office with stinky socks, it's going to be a problem for a year, right? For a day. And Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: it doesn't matter how talented that person is. It doesn't matter Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: because at the end of the day, Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: we are human beings. We, you know, judge people on these small things and they are, and we don't even know these are subconscious decisions. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: In the back of their mind they would be like, "aah, the vibes were off!" Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: And 50% of vibes is how you look, how do you Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: present yourself? Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: You know what is unattractive when people are too... Good qualities become bad qualities. Like sometimes Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: a person is... Like Sanjay sir, he was very honest and very... You know Sanjay Gadhvi sir, I've done so much work with him. And he was a very honest man and he was... He never wanted to be a producer. He always wanted to only direct. These are great qualities that no, I will only direct. Producer should make money. That's not my job. My job is to just direct. And a lot of times he got Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: offered to produce and he said, no, I'm not a producer. You know, Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: those kind of things. And he was very honest. But when he would have meetings with people, he would go to the offices and tell people that look, I'm a very honest man. What happens is that I used to tell him that, you are right. But people don't like people don't like Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: hearing. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: Because they think that you are insinuating that they are not honest. He'd say Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: that that is their problem. They don't understand. They are stupid. I'd say yeah, they're stupid. But we got to work in this industry, got to work with this world. You cannot. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: You cannot be like this. We used to have many sweet fights. Sir, don't go and say these things in meetings. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: And he'd be like - Did I say something wrong? I said the right thing. Yes, you are right. But you should not say this thing. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Your conduct, your basic simple things, even your right qualities, even your goodness can be in the way of your success. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: You know, your own goodness can be something which is stopping you from becoming successful. So, I'm not saying that become corrupt or become fake. I'm not Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: saying that, but as a social being, you know, understand, Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: you know. General principle is don't make anybody feel bad about anything. That's the operative principle here. You know. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Hmm. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: And the second operator principle, which is my philosophy of life is that leave every room better, little better than when you had entered, how you found it. Akshay: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: Every room, every room that you enter, you know, whether it's the Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: writers room, leave it with two ideas, leave it with a laughter, leave it with something or if you can't do anything, just bring cookies from home and leave that for people. You just do something, Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: bring incense and make the room nice smelling. Leave some, Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: leave it in a better situation than you found. Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: That's the thing. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: That's the operative principle in life. It will make everything better. So yeah, those are the things that you learn and pick up and, you know, sculpt your life around. Akshay: Amazing, and it just just goes to say, like, you've had such an amazing, illustrious career, and like these really learnings like really take you a long way. Like, of course, like you like you said, like talent is one way, but like the way you conduct is so important because it's such a again, such a everybody's a little bit walking on eggshells in the industry anyway, right? Like it's it's a hard industry to navigate. Yeah. Mayur Puri: It's a high risk business. By the way, it is perceived to be a high risk business, but actually it is not. Movies rarely flop. I mean, Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: studio movies, they recover their money over Akshay: Ha ha. Mayur Puri: a long window, over four or five years from OTT, satellite, this, that. Nobody actually loses Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: money. It was in the Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: old days when people would sell their house to make movies. Now, it's not Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Regional movies, still people lose money because people in Punjab and Gujarat have sold their fields to become producers. Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: So they lose money sometimes, most of the times, but studio movies and the regular mainstream, nobody loses. They make shit movies and still they make money. There's a wonderful term called Hollywood accounting. If you go by Hollywood accounting, Titanic will be a flop. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Sholey will be a flop as per those moves. You know, Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: if those accountants are given the accounts, they'll say, I didn't from I got from this. Akshay: Ha ha ha. this Mayur Puri: Vidhuvina Chopra has said in his interview that HMB did not give him any money after 1940 to a love story. They said the music chala nahi picture ka. I don't know. Akshay: Yeah what? That makes no sense. Mayur Puri: Maybe HMB is right but I don't know. But as per the accounts when the movie released the music did not actually make any money. I can Akshay: But the music of that movie is fabulous. Mayur Puri: give you 1000 stories like this. Every big Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: studio does it. I don't want to name Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Mayur Puri: Hollywood studios do it. All Hollywood studios, all big studios, Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: I'm telling you sometimes it's Akshay: That's a sham. Mm. Mayur Puri: more creative than all of us put together. Akshay: Yeah yeah. Ananya: you Akshay: Ananya and I are like chartered accountants. That was our first qualification, so we know what you're talking about. Mayur Puri: Yes. Akshay: I saw your one interview where Mayur Puri: Huh. Akshay: you spoke about how when Farah came to you with Happy New Year, you told her that I'm not writing anymore. I don't know if I'll be able to write again a movie again. Mayur Puri: I was going through a very bad time in my life at that particular phase. Yeah, continue. You are contextualizing. Akshay: Hmm. so in that moment, you know, like that's a very relatable feeling with a lot of writers because that happens with anytime you start a new project, first of all, that feeling is always there. I don't know how to write this. Like you you would like you'd seek the project, you get chase it, and then when it happens, you're like, now what do I do? how to start, Ananya: you Akshay: how to like type words. But what you said was a little more deeper than that. And I'm gonna unpack if we can that because a lot of writers now reach this stage early, because I feel like we're in this OTT cycle where we're writing extremely back to back so much. and so like a little bit this feeling does come like, do I want to do this again or not? So can you tell us what was going through with you? Mayur Puri: So I'm never worried about the scale of writing. Writing Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: every day is a part of my life since many, many years now, since almost early high school. And I've been writing every single day of my life. I remember I said in the class also, one of the early things that I say is that you are a writer only if you write every single day. You're a pilot if Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: you fly a plane every day. You know, you're a carpenter if you make a table every day. Otherwise you're not that. So you can't call yourself a hobby writer or I write on weekends that's not you're not a writer if you write on weekends you write every Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: day then you're a writer. So writing is a part of who I am and what I do in those days when Farah ma'am was planning to revive Happy New Year what happened is between Om Shanti Om and Happy New Year also there is a couple of years gap 2007 is when Om Shanti Om came out. And 2008, I was too busy working on other films and other projects. I traveling across the world. I was writing one film in Thailand, one film in London, and I was a jet setting writer at that time. So I was very busy to get hold of. Then Farah ma'am was also doing other things. And then she made Tees Maar Khan. Shereesh made Joker. And she was busy with those projects and all. And I was busy. Then 2009, I got a film to direct. And then that project took me jet setting again. We went to Turkey, we went to Goa, we went everywhere. We shot big project. Things didn't work out and it was a terrible blow to me. And that's what, you know you realize these things. was saying that even if you are correct, even if you are right, you... it can work against you, you know, and I could not understand at that time. I hadn't done anything wrong. I did everything to the best of my knowledge and abilities. And I've really given everything to this project so why? Why is the producer behaving like this? And it was, I, with all my logic, couldn't understand it. In retrospect, I can understand it. That film was never supposed to be released and become a hit. That film was designed to be a flop. Thankfully, I worked on the film for a considerable amount of time. But then we parted ways. We had creative differences. I left the film, or they threw me out either ways. But the truth is that in the federation, whether it is Iftada or whether it is the federation of film craft, the judgements were all in my favor they had to pay me and I took my name out of the film because it was no more my film and then they went ahead and they rewrote the script and they re-shot the whole film and then they released it. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: This is what happened in 2009, 10, 2010 after the sale, whole case went on and they gave me the settlement money and whatever, whatever. I had that money and I, I took it, you know, it came from the Juhu office and I was like, I told my wife, I don't want to take it to Goregaon. This money, I don't Akshay: Hm, mm. Mayur Puri: want to take it home. This is, I don't want this money, you know? So Akshay: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: we stopped in Versova. We saw a nice bungalow and we rented it out for almost two years and we I created a space called Story Circus beautifully Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: designed for children. I said I'm sick of adults. I'm sick of grownups. Grownups have disappointed. I will work with kids and Akshay: Mm-hmm. Ananya: No. No. Mayur Puri: So that time my second son was about to be born in 2010 November. He's and we started Story Circus as a storytelling center, a puppetry studio for little kids, three to 10 year olds. And for two years I did that. I used to sit with puppets, tell them stories, Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: most noble thing to do, most beautiful thing, most happiest of moments of my life. I've been there with my kids and other kids also. And Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: what happened is the word spread and some of very good kids from very good families started coming there. You know, Arshad Warsi's children, they were in my class. They used to come. Many, many industry kids and Farah's three kids because they were born when we were doing Om Shanti Om. In 2007, and this is 2011. Akshay: ooh. Ananya: Noooo Mayur Puri: Four years old. You know. They used to come and Farah didn't know that I Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: am the story circle. She used to send her kids to one nice thing is there. So we should send the kids. But the maids and all they saw me and they knew that this is Mayur sir. Anyway, one of the days I was sitting there and Farah came to pick her kids herself. And she saw me and she said, what are you doing here?! I said, this is my story circle. She said, you are writer, when did you become a teacher? I said, it's not that. She said, come home, have lunch. So I went to her home and we had lunch the next day. And then she said, what are you doing with your life? You're such a good writer. I said, I don't, I don't think Bollywood is for me. And I've quit everything and I'm very happy working with kids. Although I was losing money, like a hole in a boat. It was sinking so Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: badly. I was losing one and a half lakh rupees a month at that point of time, 2011, 2010, 11. I lost Akshay: Crazy. Mayur Puri: 20, 20 to 25 laps in that. venture. You know what I was but I was happy I said okay fine you know slowly and gradually people will understand what Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: I'm doing. You Metro was being constructed so the place became little difficult to reach and all of that so there were practical Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: problems but I said Metro will be made soon and after that people will come and this place will really you know balloon and all and look Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: at Story Circus it's very very big and very nice it does it's not at that space but it has moved out of the space and we are doing events and we are doing huge things even my film Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: is being co-produced by Story Circus. Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: So anyway, so then at that time, Farah ma'am told me that, no, no, listen, you remember my dream project, Happy New Year, which I wanted to do. And I am going to write it now. And that's going to be my next film because, know, you were not with me, but I need you now. But I said, ma'am, I don't Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: think that I can bring myself up to write. So, you know, the joy is not there. If there is no joy, cannot create another Om Shanti Om. That will not happen. I came back from her house Ananya: Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Mayur Puri: and in the next few hours I got a call from Sajid Khan, her brother and a very dear friend of mine. He called and he abused the left, right and center. He just went all in all Akshay: Ha ha. Ananya: Hahaha Mayur Puri: in. He said, have you lost it? You come and you have lunch. You have food with me. You have lunch with me. I said, I've just had lunch with Farah. He said, come tomorrow and have lunch. I went to his Ananya: He Mayur Puri: house. I had lunch with him and he convinced me. He said, Mayur... Sajid's contribution to bring me back is huge. You know, he convinced me. He said, he said, you are a good writer. You are blessed. You are gifted. You don't know that if you don't write movies and I know that you're not working for me, you're not writing my film. But you should, you and Farah, you are a very good combination and I know that you understand what is in her mind and you bring it out the best and she understands what you're trying to do. You are such a great writer-director combination. The industry deserves to have more films from you. Do not rest your pen. Akshay: So Mayur Puri: I said I'm done. He said that no, you're not. So Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: call Farah right now and don't tell her that I have told you. Don't tell her, just tell her that, Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: okay ma'am I thought about it but I'll come back. And Akshay: Mm. Mayur Puri: then I called Farah and she was very happy. Come, come, come, let's work, let's work. And then Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: that joy came back in my life. And like that, I had quit writing songs five years ago. And Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: Preetam kept telling me and Sachin Jigar, very dear friends of mine, because we did ABCD, ABCD 2, huge films together. Akshay: Mm. Mm. Mayur Puri: Their manager used to call me every 3 months and used to say, "Mayur bhai, in the mood to write?" And I'd be like nope. I don't want to. So I did not write for 5 Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: years and then last to last year, Himesh bhai called me just out of the blue and he said, Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: come home, let's work on a song. I said Himesh bhai I have stopped He said, you haven't. I said I'm telling you, I have stopped. Akshay: Ha ha ha. Mayur Puri: He said, I said you haven't stopped. You come. I said I haven't written a song in 5 years. He was like that's fine, it's like swimming. Once you know it, you don't forget. You can't forget how to write a song. Just come. So to bring me back as a lyricist, it is Himesh and to bring me back as a writer, it was Sajid. It takes too many people for a Mayur to operate. It's the universe conspiring. It's not me having a career. It's Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: the universe that wants me to write. I Ananya: I'm Mayur Puri: don't deserve any credit for being a writer. These people actually my friends and my family and they deserve the credit to push me. I am most unwilling writer My first instinct is that why do I have to work So I really believe that, you know, people around you make you who you are. Man is more by the company. Yeah, they make you a break. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Yeah, they make you or break you. Mayur Puri: So, cut off people who are negative, cut off people who are Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: aren't supporting you in Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: your life. Akshay: huh. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: Keep positive people, keep happy people, people who believe in you, people who empower you, people who do not believe in you Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: who you are, but people who believe in your potential. Ananya: We didn't. Yeah. Mayur Puri: Yeah, people who believe in you, that you are capable of great things, keep them around. They'll push you. You don't Akshay: Some Mayur Puri: need people, you don't need yes, yes men. You don't need people who Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: are like, you can do anything! Ananya: Mm-hmm. Mayur Puri: You need people who like... see Pappu in Om Shanti Om in the first scene he says, you will become a hero, you have the grace and the face. So he is believing but at the same Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: time he there's one thing that's stopping you. Your name. It's a Akshay: It's a numb. Ananya: that out. Mayur Puri: pathetic name, Om Prakash. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: He is a critic also. Pappu is also a critic. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: I Mayur Puri: You need that. You need those friends. need friends undying love and attention but at the same time who will not be afraid to Ananya: you Mayur Puri: tell you what you should do. Akshay: Yeah. Totally. I wanna ask one last question and I wanna end this on a very whimsical note. That Ananya: Mm-hmm. Akshay: where do you think Om Kapoor is right now in his life? You know, it's been like Om Prakash Makhija is no more there. Like he's there in his spirit. So Ananya: So yeah. Akshay: where do you think what is Om Kapoor doing right now? Do you think he would have gone to these protests? Mayur Puri: I think Om Kapoor is making Pathan and Jawan and King and he's still not retired and he's an older actor, mature actor but he's still bringing entertainment to people and he's still bringing the best of the cinema that he can. He's making Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: these really big movies which are competing with Hollywood in VFX and competing, you know, he's trying to make Indian cinema global and he doesn't need a Mukesh Mehra to do it anymore. He does it on his Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: own. has his own distribution. He has Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: his own biggest video. Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: And he is really trying to make Indian industry what you would expect a person of that stature to do. And Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: he's still working Akshay: Yeah. Mayur Puri: very hard and he's still one of the most hardworking actors possible. He's exactly, Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: you know, what you would expect him to mature and grow up to be. And Sandy is a big part of his life. And they have Akshay: That's amazing. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: two or three beautiful, wonderful children. Akshay: Because Ananya: Hahaha Akshay: because Om Kapoor after he realizes that what his past life was, like that's such a refreshing take to like like you now you're privileged but you also remember your struggles. Like that's a rare combination to have in a person, you know? Ananya: Yeah. Mayur Puri: That's the arc. Om Kapoor has a better arc than Om Prakash Makhi ja. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Ananya: Yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: The thing is that most of the people believe it to be one person. Om Kapoor and Om Prakash Akshay: Hmm. Mayur Puri: Makhi Ja. in my mind there two different people. Om Prakash Makhi Ja does not have a big arc. And Om Kapoor has a big arc. Transformation Akshay: Mm. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: and all those things that we... What the Western style of writing expects out of us, it happens there. In Indian Sanskrit plays also, characters don't have big arcs. They have big movements but they don't have big arcs. What is the arc of Ram? What is the arc of Ramji? He is good and nice from day one. And till the end Ananya: Hmm Mayur Puri: his character doesn't change. There is no big realization or anything. He is Avatar. He knows everything. He is great. Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: But in western stories if you see Odysseus, he has an arc. He Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Mayur Puri: goes into the world with hubris and ego and this and that and... tries to be over smart and clever and the end of the journey he realized Ananya: Hmm. Mayur Puri: he should be back home and whatever. So I'm saying this is very Western style of writing. So actually Om Shanti Om is two styles of writing also. First half is very Indian, Akshay: Then Mayur Puri: the second half is very Western. Ananya: Hmm. Akshay: No wonder it just works wonderfully. I'm really glad that you could come and like talk about it and like you spoke such nice and like shared such amazing details Ananya: Yeah. Akshay: and stories with us. Thank you so much, Mayur. Mayur Puri: Yeah, Thank you. was great fun talking to you Akshay and Ananya. Ananya: Absolutely. Thank you very much. Mayur Puri: was fun, pleasure. And we'll do it again in 25 years. Akshay: Yeah. Akshay Jhunjhunwala: Hi again, Bestie. I hope you had a great time listening to Mayur the way we did. I feel like I could properly visualize what those early eras of working as a writer in Bollywood was in the early two thousands. And Mayur spoke to us with such openness, with such honesty. We really appreciate it and thank you so much for doing that. let us know your thoughts. What did you think? do you like this format? Do you Would like us to have more guests? every thought, every like Whatever you feel, tell us, please. next week we're breaking down the film Chhichhore. Watch the movie before our episode comes out, so that we're at the same speed with us. and You know the drill, like, share, subscribe. and if you have any questions, suggestions, any thoughts, or if you want to just chat with us every way as possible, you can comment on our videos, you can DM us on Instagram, and you can write to us on our emails. So yeah, that is it. See you next Thursday. Bye.