Latest / Breakdown Besties | Bollywood Screenwriting Podcast / E06: Bhool Bhulaiyaa Breakdown
Transcript
- Breakdown Besties Podcast: Hi again Bestie! For our next week we are breaking down the best sports film India has ever made. Find out why this is Chak De! India. See you next Thursday. Ananya: everyone and welcome to another episode of the Breakdown Besties podcast. I'm Ananya. Akshay: I'm Akshay. Ananya: And we are your breakdown besties. Together we have 14 years of experience writing for platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus and shows like Mismatched, Wedding.con, Ishq in the Air, Grahan, Rana Naidu, ⁓ and Edge and a bunch of others which ⁓ have stuck in development hell but we'll hopefully see the light of day one day. With the Breakdown Besties podcast, our goal to give you a film school experience by breaking down the screenwriting techniques used in your favourite Bollywood films to make them come alive on the page before they work on the screen. We will be breaking down techniques like loglines, hero's journey, dialogues, scene techniques, plotting, all of that so that you know how the pros do it. This is a film school level masterclass delivered as an episode on YouTube. And today we're going to be breaking down another classic Bollywood film, one that's really close to our hearts. Bhool Bhulaiyaa, the first one, obviously. ⁓ Akshay: Is that shade Ananya? Is that shade? ⁓ Ananya: I don't know actually, I don't think I've seen two or three. Akshay: ⁓ Even I haven't seen two or three. But they're not as cult as the first one. So obviously, you to break that one. Ananya: I don't know. Exactly. Yeah. We can break two or three down in like a sequel analysis to see how sequels hold up. Written by Madhu Muttam, story by Madhu Muttam, screenplay by Neeraj Vohra and dialogues by Manisha Korde. This is a phenomenal film, which I think one of the first, not one of the first, but one of them are ⁓ Akshay: Yeah, we'll do that. Yeah. Ananya: well-known horror films like that has stayed within like memory without turning into something we make fun of for like bad special effects. Akshay: yeah I think it's one of those almost like a genre defining film of its kinds because like first time like such mainstream actors became part of like a horror space, right? ⁓ Like Akshay Kumar was like a leading guy at that time, Vidya Balan's career was at that peak, you know? So I feel like such mainstream actors coming together to pull together like a... Ananya: you Akshay: horror slash horror comedy is pretty cool. Ananya: Yeah, that's what makes it iconic, I think, apart from the screenwriting, of course. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah, of course. If it's not epic on the page, it's not epic guys. It's as simple as that. Ananya: It's not epic. Exactly, exactly. No amount of good direction or beautiful cinematography or phenomenal sound design, all of which are really important, can save crap on the page. I feel like such an auntie saying this, you know, like, Like one of those very bitter... I feel... No, I'll tell you why I feel like that. I sound bitter, I think. I think I sound like one of those screenwriting professors. Akshay: Yeah. It's okay. ⁓ Ananya: at like a film school who never really got anything made maybe because they tried to make like terrible indie shit which like zooms in on like a tear for 30 seconds and then zooms out for another 30 seconds and wants to call it art and is so resentful that it never got made and now they're just like it's you know like if your script is not good nothing else will be good nothing can save it like you know like that sort of person Akshay: Yeah. Yeah Ugh. I think... No, I don't think it's bitter, yaar. It's a true reality which a lot of people don't talk about. Like, it is... it is absolute truth. something has to work on page for it to be at least saved a little bit, you know? Like, when they say somebody saved the film, it cannot... they cannot be saving a bad story. It's... they're saving up the fuck-ups which happened on set. So... so... Ananya: Yeah. said. Akshay: So either they couldn't get the correct casting, current location, like the proper location, all of that. And hence it's like it needs saving. yeah. Ananya: Definitely, definitely cool. So I think we can dive right into the log line and from there I think we'll understand the synopsis of the film and everything. So if you all haven't watched Bhool Bhulaiyaa recently that's perfectly fine. We believe that your memory and the imprint it left from so many years ago if you've seen it combined with the way we take you through it throughout this episode will jog your memory enough for you to be able to appreciate the beautiful screenwriting techniques and take away and learn something from it. So we are going to first jump into the log line. What is the log line? The log line the premise of your film summarized in one It is your guiding light and it contains four essential elements. ⁓ Goal, stakes, the flaws and the conflict. And these four are elements which make for a great film and have to be imitated in every scene, every sequence, every act. Even down to every piece of dialogue if you can because this creates a story engine which drives your film towards the end, right? So I'll read out the log line that I have ⁓ and we can see ⁓ what works, what doesn't and needs fixing. Right? So, a newlywed woman awakens and unleashes the ghost of her husband's family home, they must trap the ghost again or risk the lives of the whole family. Akshay: Superb! Crystal clear! Yeah! Yeah! Ananya: is the premise. It's very basic, very horror. ⁓ I'll point out the four elements, right? ⁓ The newlywed woman. That is ⁓ flaw. Of course, her flaw is not being newlywed. Though in some parts of India, kind of sad. yeah, or wed. Yeah. We've reached our uncle jokes. Akshay: Or wed. Imagine if she never got married. Imagine if she never got married, she never came to India. She would be perfectly fine. But she lost her mind once she got married. This is one of... This is one of... This is one of... This is one of those things you remember in like, Covid we got this WhatsApp forward which had like badly explained plots. Movie plots. this is one of those... That. Ananya: I'm at it, yes. That is the flaw. We are making uncle jokes. We have reached there. ⁓ huh. Akshay: A woman gets married and loses her mind. Ananya: Yeah. ⁓ ⁓ Yeah, so the flaw is that she is newlywed and by flaw I mean that she is unaware of the rules, she is new, she is naive, she doesn't know what to do, right? And then you have the stakes which is risk the lives of the whole family. You have the goal which is that they must trap the ghost again and you have the ⁓ conflict. which has unleashed the ghost in the house. So you know the ghost is tormenting everyone, right? So these are the four essential elements of a log line and this is the log line of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, vey succinct, contains these four things ⁓ and keep driving your story forward. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: Cool. Let's get into the next most important thing in any film while writing a film, which is your hero's journey. The hero's journey ⁓ is the structural spine of your film. It defines emotional beats that come one after the other, which delivering emotional hits to your audiences. Even if your story or your character work is not as strong. With the techniques we discussing, they absolutely will be. But just in case they aren't, these emotional hits that are constantly being delivered will ensure that your audience is actually going on the hero's journey. So ⁓ let's get into the first beat of the hero's journey or the first sequence, which the ordinary world. The ordinary world is the world in which the hero lives. before they actually embark on this journey. It sets up their conflict, what their flaw is, it sets up where they're coming from, what they need to overcome. You see the world in which they live because, and it's important to see this world, because when they step into, when they cross the threshold and go into the new world, it's going to be starkly different. For example, if a person is very weak, they live in a life where they have no ⁓ complications their way. then you see them in a new environment where everything is hard. You instantly know they're not going to be able to survive it. so we know how hard it is going to be for them to work in this new world where everything is upside down. Right? Akshay: Right. Ananya: In this film, I think we have a very long ordinary world sequence. Akshay: Never ends, doesn't end. Ananya: doesn't end right? Yeah. It goes all the way from establishing that there is a ghost in this Haveli in which in a town in, ⁓ it Varanasi? Is it a town in North India? It's never clear right? Where it's at. Yeah, with the ghats I always thought it was Varanasi. We've established that ⁓ Akshay: not clear not clear yeah the the the guards look like varanasi but nothing beyond that Ananya: There are ghosts over there and we know that Avni and Siddharth come back from -- that's Vidya Balan and Shiney Ahuja. that him? Yeah. His character come back from America and they're here for a project in India for a couple of months. They're newlyweds. Radha, who is Amisha Patel's character, was pining for Siddharth, that's Shiney Ahuja's character. in the hopes that he'd come back and marry her but she receives a rude shock when she learns that he's married Avni and you establish the various characters of the world but I think the primary thing they've established over here is the fact that there's a ghost in this house everyone in the village is scared and no one should fool around with those ghosts ⁓ and no one stays Akshay: Yeah, so far nobody stays in that house. Hence, hence the first sequence is the house being cleaned. And we sort of, and we sort of like hint that the new couple is going to come and stay here. That's the, think this was the, this was the, huh, it's established. Yeah, correct. Ananya: Absolutely. Yeah, it's established. It's not just hinted at. It's established. Yeah. Yeah, they move into the house also in the ordinary world because that's also part of the ordinary world, right? Where they move into the house, all of that. So they come in there and you establish that no one goes to the third floor of the house. That is the ordinary world. Then you have the call to action. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah. Ananya: where you see Avni and Nandini who is ⁓ another family member. It's hard to track all the family members in this because it's a big joint family. ⁓ See that the third floor is out of bounds. Nandini warns Avni not to go up there. But Avni goes up there anyway. Both of them go up there. She drags Nandini with her. But they don't enter the main doors which have the ghosts behind them. It has been sealed shut by like a Bhairav mantra. Akshay: Yeah. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: ⁓ a big kavach essentially protecting the souls, keeping the souls locked in there. Vidya Balan's character Avni is tempted but in the nick of time they are called out so they cannot open that door and that is the refusal of the call. The family says don't do this, Nandini says don't do this, everyone says don't do this. ⁓ Akshay: Huh. Huh. Yeah. Feels like... Yeah. Generally, I've also noticed in a lot of horror films, the call to action and refusal is sort of ⁓ a double beat. Like it happens twice in consecutive times. Like for example, always there will be a case that this couple is going to like say a mansion or like this house out of the city, like they're moving into a new house and there will be somebody telling them, I don't think it's a good idea. Who told you to come to this house? Like don't do that. So there is an already establishment of a first time that this couple is coming into a new house and there are these people and forces telling them don't move in. Like I think about say an example in get out, like he was going to go and meet his ⁓ family immediately he gets a call from his like friend that yo dawg don't go like Ananya: No. Mm-hmm. Akshay: They're all gonna convert you to like white people stuff like that So so that's always one step and once you reach the actual location There is again this call to action that ⁓ even this haunted house this one specific place is more haunted So like you'll have the basement you'll have in our movie like the third floor and get out this was the mother-in-law's library, you know, like all of the and again the main character will sort of enter but Ananya: you Yeah. Mm-hmm. Bye. Bye. Akshay: will be called out in nick of time for some reason. I've noticed in a lot of beats like this call to action and refusal is repeated a little bit twice ⁓ to for that to happen. Ananya: Hmm. And I understand that too because from a technique point of view you really want to drive home the stakes right that this is high danger, high stakes so it needs to be repeated to like be like nailed into the audience's mind and the character's mind, the level of danger. cool. Then we have meeting the mentor. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: I believe the mentor in this is the woman Vidya Balan meets at the Ghat who tells her the story, the flashback, not the flashback, the story of Manjulika, her lover who is another dancer at the court called Shashidhar and the king, the king, yeah, who essentially the story over here is that Manjulika and Shashidhar are two courtesans in the court who are in love. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Huh. The King. Ananya: They dance, they dance in front of the king on the eighth night of Durga Ashtami and the king saw them, he killed Shashidhar and he wanted to trap Manjulika in the palace by herself and Manjulika couldn't deal with it so she killed herself, she committed suicide, right. Akshay: Yeah, like the king wanted to like keep her for himself like So that was the like this thing and and he ended up killing the lover of Maunjulika. Ananya: themselves. Akshay: The woman at the ghat is this Janki bua is, which, ⁓ just if you want a name. Ananya: I don't know yeah I've thought about Janki Bua a lot actually because I'm like why was she there in this film? Akshay: yeah she was just the narrator of that lore yeah ⁓ Ananya: Lord yeah and she has a random few scenes with Akshay Kumar where he has like this where she thinks he's coming on to her. It's funny but yeah cool and then we have crossing the threshold which is a very obvious crossing the threshold where she goes up to that room on the third floor breaks open the lock and discovers the world of Manjulika. She sees all the murals on the wall she sees Akshay: yeah that's the comic relief part of it yeah yeah Hmm. Ananya: stuff and of course there are a few scares built in here which is attributed to how old and run down the place is like a photo frame falls and you know dust and all of that right. Great so those are the first five beats of the hero's journey. Then you go into tests allies and enemies which is the Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, yeah. Hmm. Ananya: beat where you establish what the new world is, what the challenges they're going to face, who's going to help you overcome these challenges, who's going to stand in your way and all the other things that you need to know when you're in a new world and you get to test your own powers against the powers of this world. So over here this is another very long sequence where we start having scares around the house, furniture falls, people think the ghost is here. ⁓ We have the pandits trying to lock the room again but in that moment a figure comes out, there is noise under the darkness. Then they have established Radha's character as the one who the ghost may have entered and she is set up as someone who needs to be taken care of and cured and Akshay Kumar's character arrives. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: He is an ally he comes in the role of a psychiatrist who is here to treat Radha, to understand what is going on with her because another core theme, the core of this film which we'll get into when we get into themes is science versus superstition. So while everyone thinks ⁓ it's a ghost, Akshay: Huh. Ananya: Siddharth doesn't believe so and he thinks something's actually wrong with Radha. There's something, she has a mental illness so he calls his psychiatrist friend Akshay Kumar to help with Radha. Right? And I think this test, allies and enemies goes all the way until Akshay Kumar who is obviously, you know, going up and down the halls of the house at night. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: patrolling it to check what's going on, where's Manjulika, all of that, until he decides to confront Manjulika and he does that by breaking the lock first of the door where Manjulika is. and locking the door from the outside. Right? I think that is the approach to the innermost cave because your approach is when you start Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: approach the monster right and this is the first time someone has confronted the monster like he when monjulika is dancing he puts on a pair of wooden shoes and ⁓ go walks across the hall pretending to be a king and he says that i will be the king now i will i'm the king and monjulika is angry she's like i want to kill you this time i will not let you go you killed my lover Akshay: Yeah. date. King. Yeah. Ananya: and I will come on the eighth night of Durgaashtami to kill you and that is the approach to the innermost cave. Right? And I think it goes and after that you have the ordeal and the ordeal is where everyone by Radha, where supposedly Radha has poisoned the tea. Akshay: Yeah. Correct, that's exactly what I've written. Yeah. Cool. Ananya: in Siddharth's tea. So you think that it's the Maunjulika, the ghost within her which is so angry that she poisons Siddharth's tea so that ⁓ he dies and it goes all the way until the wedding of Nandini and her lover, the poet lover who also plays the role of Shashidhar in Maunjulika equates that man in the present to ⁓ Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shasidhar. Ananya: but we will get into the whole lore I think when we talk about those scenes and at that point Avni disappears with him at one point because she spilled something on him but in that scene you later find her coming on to Shashidhar and Akshay Kumar and Shiney Ahuja's character have to pry them apart and the reward is Akshay Kumar revealing the fact that has ⁓ dissociative identity disorder, that there is no ghost. He tells us how he cracked the entire mystery, that Avni actually related to ⁓ of Manjulika because her own story growing up was one of betrayal where she wanted a life of being with her grandmom but her dad pried her away and a few days later her grandmom died. Akshay: home. Ananya: She equates Manjulika's story to hers, where Manjulika wanted to be with her lover but Vikramaditya pried the lover away and killed him and now she and she is left to her own devices so she committed suicide. Right? These are the two. That's revealed there that Avni related to the character of Manjulika and she took on her identity at night. And now as Manjulika and her has been provoked Akshay: night. home. Yeah. Yeah. Ananya: she that's coming on stronger and stronger and taking over Avani's identity right and Akshay: Yeah. yeah essentially the reward in a genre like this is when you come to know who the ghost is who the monster is who the killer is whatever is that that equivalent is so yeah Ananya: Yeah. Yeah, yes, yeah, it's like a Scooby Doo. Sorry, when you said you find out the monster is like the image of you know, the Scooby Gang like pulling out the mask. The monsters are always inside of us. Akshay: Yeah. In this case literally. Ananya: And then you have the way back where they're planning what to do next. Akshay Kumar is conferring with the great Pandit. You realize that he's a psychiatrist, but he also believes in Eastern medicine and Eastern beliefs in psychiatry because the Pandit who was also called to kind of help on the last night of Durga Ashtami speaks highly of Akshay Kumar and says that he's not to be underestimated. Akshay: Hmm. Whoa. Ananya: Siddharth, is Shiney Ahuja's character, ⁓ kind ⁓ ambivalent about what he wants because he's like, I will take Avni for treatment here and there, what is this random thing you're going to do? Like, what do you have planned to help ⁓ And Akshay Kumar explains ⁓ western medicine will kind of turn her into like a shell of her former self. It'll cure her, but she won't be herself. So trust me on this. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: and then you have the big resurrection sequence which is on the eighth night. ⁓ Akshay: There's one more moment in the road back which I thought was interesting is that Akshay Kamuna's character makes a conscious choice that I need to make Avani realize that there is something wrong with her. So I thought that was also part of the road back where he sort of provokes this one Shiney Ahuja's character that go tell her that you can't go to the market with ⁓ Nandini, ⁓ see her reaction. Ananya: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Akshay: and if you know call her out like call her out with affection and that happens like he does tell her not to go and she does actually fall she gets very angry and she ends up in the fate of ridge ⁓ fate of in a rage of fit in a fit of rage and in the fit of rage she just ⁓ picks up the bed and that's for the first time the audience sees how ⁓ how this manjulika manifests in avani Ananya: They fit a fridge. Yeah. Akshay: So I thought that and she actually realizes after that that ⁓ my god something is wrong with me what's happening. So and then your preparation for the plan. So I thought it was an important beat in the road back. Ananya: Hmm. Definitely, definitely, you're absolutely right, for sure. Because now, it's the moment where it's confirmed for the audience that it's not just hearsay and little marks, you actually see it versus telling. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Ananya: And then we have the resurrection that on the 8th night of Durgaashtami where Manjulika takes over Avni in full force and as she does this, she goes into what she perceives to be like the court. She dances there with Shashidhar's character ⁓ and ⁓ after that Siddharth makes an entry. He is the king in this story. She wants to kill him. The Pandit is there, he is doing a havan, the Pandit talks to Manjulika and he says, look I will help you kill Siddharth. He is served to her on a platter, ready for her to murder and her to kill and then a trap door is revealed as fire goes up and there is a mannequin that replaces Siddharth and Avani stabs him to death, stabs the mannequin to death. And Monjuleka is done. She has no reason to return. She has killed the king. And then we have the return with the elixir, which is the beat where the heroes are more enlightened. They've come back to an old world, but they are new. They're new selves now. Where Avni apologizes to Siddharth for everything she put him through. And that is that. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. One thing about the structure of the film, which I think is that even though like the beats go on for quite some time and they're like long beats of like, like you said, the test allies and enemies go for so long, the regular life goes up, like the ordinary life goes for so long. But I quite like that they slowly keep on mounting, mounting, mounting the tension ⁓ at each layer, you know, like even the point that you know how we get introduced to Manjulika is that we start first hearing the Gungru then after some time when Akshay Kumar makes the entry we start hearing her singing and so it's like it's not put all together for the audience it's like gradual revelation of ⁓ this ⁓ it's escalated yeah so I quite I like the the structure how they have taken place Ananya: escalated. Definitely. It's especially in today's day and age of like streaming where it's like we want to just give instant gratification like instant scare up and up like they always want to start at such a high note they don't really give you the time to like build anything up which I'm sidetracking a bit into but right right now with the death of Katherine Ohara and the talk of Schitts Creek and stuff Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: When I was on threads a lot, everyone was just talking about how like, Shitscreek, the first season is unbearable, right? Or the first few episodes. Like I tried to watch it about three times to get into it. I couldn't get into it. And I found the internet saying the same thing, but they were given a chance to kind of build out the show, to let people arc to let things escalate, take its time, which we just don't do anymore streaming. Akshay: So... ⁓ Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: So I think in Bhool Bhulaiya they've taken their time with it and they have no shame about taking their time, which is great. It's beautiful. It's there's restraint. There's that thairahv in the film, which also lets you slowly into the world, get a little scared, which is it's bubbling inside you. ⁓ Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah And if we carefully see it, everything is minutely seeded in. Even the shocker that this is Vidya Balan's character who is actually the culprit, if you go and watch it again, you'll realize there were enough moments planted throughout the film. obviously the first time when I saw it when I was a child, at that time it didn't strike me. But now, because we already knew the end, even the first time that ⁓ we see Paresh Rawal entering the Haveli. He sees like a figure and he gets scared and only like next morning that said that ⁓ we had actually gone to the Haveli last night as well. So stuff like that they've tried to do it very tactfully which I quite appreciated on this viewing. Ananya: Definitely, yeah. I mean, those are just techniques to have an airtight film, like, which you should. Because every, if you're saying that there's no ghost, you have to back up every scare with logic. So that a pedantic viewer, you know, everyone who makes all those Reddit threads that I found this one thing which doesn't make sense, that person can go in and actually do the matching. Akshay: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Yeah, you know, but there is one thing which I haven't been able to crack about the film which is you know that the character who ⁓ who was like 20 years ago she went up the third floor and then she lost her speech what was that about like that I couldn't crack Ananya: Hmm. I think she must have hit her head against something or you know like whatever and gotten scared by something random and then sabne usko then she must have like so loudly ki iski aawaaz chali gayi and sabne fir bola after everyone just going like are aawaaz chali gayi, bhootni ne aawaaz le liya you scared a child they will believe that only and they stop talking. Akshay: Hahaha You Yeah, I guess it's that yeah, because I was worried I was wondering like what happened to her like you know Ananya: once she got her voice back she should have said that I didn't see any ghost or something like that. Like what she actually saw up there. She should have told us. Like just to close the loop. Okay. Akshay: Yeah. yeah loop yeah it's always stayed with me like what happened to her like you know like 20 years of a life she was quiet like Ananya: ⁓ I know it's one of those things where yeah cool okay what do you want to get into next Akshay: Yeah I feel maybe we should do I have the most genre tropes in this. So, if you want to get into genre tropes we could. Ananya: Sure, let's get into genre tropes. Akshay: Okay, so one of the things is genre trope like this, which is a horror film, is a jump scare. So this movie is filled with ample of those. ⁓ For example, the moment where they go, a Paresh Rawal goes to the Haveli for the first time, he sees that figure, there's a little bit of a scary jump, scary feeling. When Vidya Balan goes to the third floor for the first time, ⁓ There is a rat on the piano. That sort of like is a jump scare. This is peppered throughout the movie in different, different ways. ⁓ Even like through shadows or like ⁓ the crossing by like sometimes, you know. So ⁓ all that adds to the horror'ness of this ⁓ film. So I thought like one is a jump scare as a common genre trope. ⁓ Most horror movies will do this. I think like there's hardly any which don't do it. Ananya: Definitely and I think the purpose of a jump scare is to scare you once they've brought your guard down, right? Like so there's no anticipation so they lull you into a false sense of security and then deliver a jump scare when you're least expecting it and that scare isn't even real most of the time, right? It's either like you said a shadow or something like that, which was like it was a rat across the piano So it actually is rooted in logic, but it is to remind you Akshay: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. now. Ananya: once they've brought you into such a sense of safety that no wait you're actually in a horror film. Akshay: yeah yeah Ananya: Yes. Akshay: So that was one. ⁓ The second is genre trope I have written is foreshadowing ⁓ of actual monster. So the second time Paresh Rawal's character goes to the Haveli, ⁓ sees a pair of eyes through a window. ⁓ it's almost made like, my god, who is this? And he gets scared. ⁓ And to see that's like Vidya Balan's character. and she was like, hey, are you okay type of thing. And at that moment, we don't know that, she is the, she's going to become the culprit of this film. ⁓ But it's a, I think it's called foreshadowing if I'm not wrong. Ananya: Yes, yes, foreshadowing, yeah. Akshay: ⁓ So that's another trope of like this- like a thriller movie is a trope of this. ⁓ We've already covered access to a forbidden area being a genre trope that there is this big haunted house, but there is a separate place in this ⁓ house where you shouldn't go at all cost and the character will multiple times do an escalation of ⁓ I go until like say first level inside the second level inside the third and and ultimately all like ⁓ get revealed in the climax what it really was. ⁓ So that was one. This movie also has a trope of narrating the lore. ⁓ that ⁓ you're a new entry into this but this is what happened before you so if you've noticed they've tried to do that constantly with while Vidya Balan's character is on the ghat with Janki Bhua so she's the one narrating that so that generally the lore generally comes around in the first act of the film so you know to sort of let the audience know that ⁓ this is what happened and this is possibly which will continue to repeat in this ⁓ movie. ⁓ Another genre trope which I thought they did quite interestingly is red herring of Radha's character. It all built up to the point that ⁓ maybe Radha is the culprit like she is the one who is who has the Manjulika spirit. ⁓ So they planted evidences throughout the movie every time she was ⁓ Ananya: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Akshay: anything happened she was around you would have reaction shots of Ahuja saying ⁓ you were there you know like he's clocking ⁓ and ⁓ so that's that generally happens when you if you don't have a red herring then it's obvious that the actual culprit would come to the centerfold but in so in such cases you need a red herring to sort of keep the story going and it's also mislead to the audience that, ⁓ there are endless possibilities going on at the same time. Ananya: Absolutely. Who knows it? Is it really her? Keeps them guessing, it keeps them distracted. Akshay: Yeah, yeah, essentially these are my genre tropes Ananya: Very cool, very nice, nice. The next thing I think which is my favourite part of this film is the theme which I would like to dive into because I think generally in all the films we have seen so far we have not had very strong themes like they are peppered in like koi mil gaya was you know should you be able to accept yourself as you are or badmash company is just like how should money be made you know but I think this film Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: was born from theme. I think the writer was really exploring what is like science versus superstition, modern versus old, old Eastern tradition versus Western tradition. Right? So now how does one explore a theme? That's what I want to get into while talking about a theme technique here. A theme is a dramatic question. Akshay: Hmm. Hello. Yeah. Ananya: It is this part in your writing journey which everyone has a different process but my process is always starting with that first because it is the heart of your film. It will, as a writer you have the most creative freedom of what story you want to tell, something that's very close to you by starting from theme. Like if I am someone who wants to tell a story about ⁓ I think good should prevail in good versus evil. Like that is your driving light behind your driving force behind the story and it allows you to put any story on top of that. If your theme is good versus evil, you can set it in. ⁓ fantasyland, can set it in modern day, can set it in period, you can set it in horror, but you're still answering the same question. So I think this is what lets you get to the heart of your artist, of your artist's brain, of what you want to tell because as screenwriters, as any artist, you are not, yes we do it for the process of of writing which is joyful, but we also do it because we have something to say about the world. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: You have a strong belief that the world should be a certain way. And how do you get that belief across? Through theme. And what do you do? You frame a dramatic question. Over here the dramatic question is what prevails? Science or superstition? You know? And I use the word superstition very loosely because I don't believe they hold superstition here. I believe mystical, what cannot be proven. Because what is science? Science is something you can prove. Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ Huh. Hmm. Yeah. Ananya: And mysticism is something that requires belief in something greater than that. They seem to be at odds with each other, which I fully disagree with, because I recommend everyone read Feynman over here, like surely you're joking Mr. Feynman, where the scientist says that in order to be a good scientist, you have to have the belief that there are a million unexplained things out there which you will never understand. I'm obviously paraphrasing. So I do think science and mysticism do... Akshay: Okay. ⁓ Ananya: ends of the same spectrum. One has been proven while the other we're still waiting to prove. And that is this idea behind the film here too. They're like what exists? And how do you give the answer as a filmmaker, your point of view as a filmmaker? Which is when the story is resolved, it is resolved through the character doing what you believe is true. For example, if they had wanted to say, if the makers of this film had wanted to say that only science prevails. Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: They wouldn't have made Akshay Kumar someone who also worked with a Pandit hand in hand. No. They would have made him someone who was pure psychiatry and he would have won this. Or it would have been just the Pandit coming in if they wanted to say superstition had won and they wouldn't have and Akshay Kumar would have completely lost in that case. But the point they wanted to make here, the answer to that dramatic question is science and superstition go hand in hand. That's why Akshay: Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Ananya: the moment Akshay Kumar meets the Pandit, he says, and it's very briefly touched upon, he's like, we met at the Parapsychic Conference and Parapsychology Conference and he says, I remember your thesis. It was Exorcism the Indian Way. And the next scene with Siddharth, Siddharth's like, I will go to, yeah, I will go abroad, all of that. And he's like, tumhari avni ko ek Akshay: Hmm. Didn't be, yeah. Ananya: Putli bana deng, putla bana dengge. She'll be like husk of her former self. And I think what they're really referring to there is Western medicine in the sense that they would essentially, let's say, hypnotise it out of her or cognitive behavioural therapy out of her that this doesn't exist, this identity of yours doesn't exist. But when you look at the final this, final conclusion where you have the big scene where the pandit is doing the hawan, what they do from a psychological point of view, is have Avni live out the character of Manjulika to the completion of her arc. Instead of saying it doesn't exist, they say we will let it out. We will exorcise her the Indian way, which is still psychological because you can fully believe that once this identity is figuratively dead, it is literally dead. Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: that I think is a theme construction Akshay: Hmm hmm very nicely done. Ananya: And the other thing about theme which I think we've discussed in Chakde India which I want to just bring back here is how to draw parallel stories. Which in as we discussed Vidya Balan's story and Monjulika's story. Monjulika's story is about her lover being murdered as the king holds her, trapped in. Avani's story, it's not about a lover being taken away from her and you know like someone else trapping her. Akshay: Hmm. Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: It is her grandmom who she got pulled away from while being trapped by her father. So, when you want to draw parallels, you can't draw exact 1 is to 1 parallels because your story feels too contrived then. What you have to do is think about other relationships that could mimic the same emotion. You go one level deeper than what is at the surface. It's not the relationship. It is the emotion behind the relationship. Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: So when you have to draw parallel themes, think about the emotion behind the relationship and then think, okay, if this, if could the love of a lover and the love of a grandmother be the same, of the same magnitude? Absolutely. Yes. Let's build that story together. And we did that, that same discussion in Chakde where it was fundamentalism. It was the misfits. It was the underdog. Over there, the Muslim character was first the underdog, but now it was the women who were still the underdogs. Akshay: Yeah, absolutely. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: So that's how these parallels were drawn. Akshay: Yeah. Yeah, cool. can talk about sequences Like scenes and sequences. Ananya: Sure, definitely scenes and sequences next. Cool. Akshay: I want to first start about talking about the opening image, the ordinary world goes on for such a long time. But ⁓ one technique which constantly keeps coming in throughout that sequence is the technique of misunderstanding misunderstanding becomes a great technique to design a scene. So you know when and that's what ends up happening in this one that ⁓ Paresh Rawal thinks that the key has been forgotten in the Haveli but the other guy with him is like ⁓ but there is a bucket in the wells you have to go and take that so there is a little bit of a comedy which ensues after that so this constant back and forth of putting misunderstanding in the sequence I thought that's the only way like there was it could keep going Ananya: Definitely, yeah for sure and they've used misunderstanding in two scenes also very well and I want to compare it to ⁓ Hitchcock's bomb under the table. Where we use Hitchcock's bomb under the table where that's a technique where there's a bomb under the table and the audience knows but the characters don't know that there's a bomb on the table and they're all at a dining table eating and you're waiting for the audience to like leave the dining. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: characters to leave the dining table so that the bomb doesn't go off. They are there chilling but the audience's tension is rising, right? That is done in a tense sequence, right? But I think the comedic way of doing it is also giving audience information but not giving it to the characters. For example, in ⁓ there's Amisha Patel who's talking to a tailor and she's unhappy with the blouse that he stitched. Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Mmm. Ananya: and ⁓ Paresh Rawal comes and he thinks at this point that Amisha Patel Radha is actually the ghost and he doesn't see her talking to the tailor and she's saying, pehle ek haath katthi, phir doosra haath katthi, phir gardan kaath deti but Paresh Rawal doesn't know she's talking to the tailor but the audience does. That's what creates the humour otherwise the audience would be scared too. Akshay: Yeah. Ananya: if the audience didn't have the information. But it is Hitchcock's bomb under the table but in twisted to be comedic where you give the audience information the character doesn't have to create humour. Akshay: Yeah. Hmm. Hmm. nice ⁓ one more ⁓ Chekhov's gun which i want to talk about in this one is the rat's poison Ananya: Yes, let's explain what a Chekov's gun is. Akshay: the Chekhov's gun is that you establish say a gun somewhere early on in the film. It's kept maybe on a wall or something which is not important at that moment but the idea is that your protagonist is going to use that gun eventually in the film in your third act or somewhere later on. ⁓ So that's Chekhov's gun for you ⁓ and in this case it was done with the help of Rat Poison where Radha's character says that, ⁓ I've got it to... kill the rats in the house because it was shut for such a long time. And it just goes away. But only on the later on, much later on sequence comes to know when we think the tea has been poisoned of Siddharth's tea has been poisoned and the same rat kills bottle was there. So that's how they've used it in the film and I thought that was pretty cool. Ananya: Definitely, yeah, great. And perfect from that to segue into the scene where Siddharth, the tea has been taken to Siddharth and he's about to drink it and Akshay Kumar has discovered that the tea has been poisoned and he's running to Siddharth to save him. So a technique they use there to build tension is intercutting. Akshay is running, the tea is being poured for Siddharth. Akshay is trying to get to this door, unsure where he is. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: Siddharth is lifting it to his mouth. So who's going to get there first? Tension, tension, tension. That is the intercutting trick of creating tension. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah, pretty cool. Ananya: next I want to talk about ⁓ trope of making a plan and then having the plan go wrong, right? And in this film, I want to talk about in the third act where Siddharth, Akshay and Shashidhar are talking about ⁓ who, about what they're going to do with Avni and like Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: Shashi you're going to have to go to Manjulika when Manjulika comes over, you're going to have to lure her out, all of that and you're going to have to confront her. So why are they showing us this plan? Most planning sequences, they tell us the plan and they tell us the solution. So that when the plan is actually implemented, the plan goes wrong, it creates tension. But if you've noticed in this plan, they only tell you that this is what you have to do. That's it. There is no solution to anything. So you see the plan exactly as laid out. Akshay: phone. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: But the reason you don't mind seeing the plan, even though they've already told you the information and now you're going to see it again, is because it creates conflict. This guy is going to have to confront Manjulika and has no way to save himself. He doesn't know what he's going to do. Akshay says, usse pyaar se sambha lena. That's not a plan. That's like, fuck, sambhalega ki nahi? ⁓ Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: you can show a plan, in this case they have subverted it, they have shown a plan but the plan itself has no solution and it holds so much danger that the audience wants to watch it. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, it's like half information, right? you don't you like that you tell the plan but they keep the last two steps away so we don't know what the conclusion of the plan would be. Ananya: I think in this we know the conclusion of the plan. We want to see how they do it because there's an inherent fear element to it here. Because we know that she's going to have to kill Siddharth. Like that is it. So I don't think the mannequin, the trap door and all was anything great. I wasn't like, ⁓ wow, like kya kiya. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, But still like I'm saying that part of the plan was still not told to you that you're gonna go Because Akshay Kumar He has that chat with Shashidhar's character that Should I sacrifice Avni for Siddhartha or should I sacrifice Siddhartha for Avni? So you've said that emotion important. So even though he has devised a plan along with the other Pandit, he's not telling the audience. So again, to come back to your point that plan is said exactly the way it is, nothing goes wrong, but we don't know what's going to come out of it. So it's quite nicely done, I thought. Ananya: Mmm. Hmm audience, yeah Hmm. Akshay: what exactly what you were saying. Ananya: Correct, correct, you're right, you're right. I completely forgot about the moment where he says, should I sacrifice one for the other, Siddharth for Avni or vice versa. Akshay: Huh. Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: got it correct correct yeah Last thing I want to talk about is when to use a flashback and when not to. And ideally you only use a flashback when there's important information to be given. Right? Which you can't give in any other way in the present. But, I mean, but this film doesn't shy away from flashbacks. They tell you whole of Avni's backstory through a flashback. Right? So, why is it? Akshay: Hmm. Hello? Ananya: that Monjulika's lore is narrated where which everyone believes they don't even think it's a lore it's an actual incident that happened right but Avni's character's thing is shown and I think the idea there is flashbacks only work when you care about the character. The reason we watch it with Avni is because it comes at the 75 % mark. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. ⁓ Hmm. Ananya: her flashback, where we see her dadi, her dad. So you care about Avani enough to watch it and it's a big reveal. It's a very like because it's giving so much information, it's got shock value to it. But if you saw a random king and ⁓ courtesan and stuff in the start, you wouldn't be interested. It's also very high production value. This scene. Why would you waste resources on that? But what they actually do is they show you that whole thing at the end. Akshay: Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. with Ananya: with characters you do care about. With Avni who is now Manjulika, with Shashidhar, with Siddharth who is now the king. So I think that is the way it's done. If you want to show a flashback, show it with characters you care about. Akshay: Hmm. ⁓ Huh. That's pretty cool, very cool ⁓ observation. Ananya: not do you want to get into next? Akshay: World? Ananya: Sure, let's go into world. Akshay: This is less not actually so much about the world but more about the tone of the film which sort of like dictates what the world becomes. It's that there is a conscious effort to bring in humor throughout this heavy horror slash psychological thriller plot and so the world is filled with like these absurd characters who sort of like ⁓ operate in this world. Like so you have Paresh Rawal's character, you have his wife, you have that ⁓ Rajpal Yadav as the Pandit. ⁓ They and it's this finely balanced in the sense of every time it gets heavy, immediately there is a sequence to say with that Radha's brother, you know, which becomes a fun sequence. So I thought this was very consciously done. So they've planted enough characters throughout the film with which you can use them for humor, even in your most difficult and serious scenes. So I thought it was done quite cleverly for that. Ananya: want to talk about dialogue next. Akshay: Hmm. Ananya: One important ⁓ of dialogue which comes right in ⁓ scene, second scene of the film ⁓ giving exposition through conflict. One important technique which they right up front where Paresh Rawal goes into the Haveli ⁓ and the Haveli they have to establish that ⁓ the is haunted. Now it's not like he's going in there scared or everyone's talking about ghosts, no. Akshay: Hmm. Hmm. Ananya: he goes in there and he sees that it's taking time for the haveli to be cleaned and the workers there say that the work here takes time because the workers leave before sunset because this place is haunted, so it's not two people talking about the fact that oh this place is haunted. is, we have conflict. Akshay: Hmm. Huh. Huh. Huh. Ananya: caused by the exposition of this place being haunted. So, whenever we want to give exposition, we cannot have two characters talking about information which they already know because that is not realistic. We have to give it through the vehicle of conflict. So, what conflict is being caused by we can give exposition that will reveal this information. Akshay: Hmm. So Hmm. I have one more thing about dialogue is making technical stuff accessible to the general audience. So the whole of Avani's backstory where it's revealed that she has dissociative identity disorder and we go into the whole flashback, never have they used the words like trauma or like any of these medical terms to exactly tell what was the condition. And whatever is the issue is, they've broken down in much simpler words. it's done in a such a storytelling sort of way like it's like Akshay Kumar's character sort of weaves an entire story ⁓ to get to the root cause of this, I thought was done quite interestingly for this dialogue. Ananya: Definitely, yeah, that's a very good spot. Yeah, nice. Akshay: ⁓ Yeah, that is all I have on Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Ananya: Yeah, That is all I have on Bhool Bhulaiya too. So thank you for tuning in to another episode of Breakdown Besties. You know the drill. Like, share, share it with all your screenwriting student friends who you think would benefit from this. Subscribe and leave us any questions, recommendations, suggestions, whatever you want. 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