7 months ago
Kamna Chandra on her iconic film collaborations
Kamna Chandra is a famous screenwriter who started working in the early 1980s when it was hard for women to get their scripts approved.
She worked with big directors like Raj Kapoor and Yash Chopra.
She wrote stories for movies like Prem Rog and Chandni.
Later, she co-wrote 1942: A Love Story with Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
She also worked on Kareeb with Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Her daughter Tanuja Chandra turned one of her radio plays into the movie Qarib Qarib Singlle.
Kamna talked about how she liked working with these directors and shared her thoughts on Bhansali's Devdas movie.
She said Devdas was too glamorous and different from the book.
She is happy with the six films she has made and hopes to make one more before she stops.
Kamna Chandra is a pioneering female screenwriter who started her career in the early 1980s.
She worked with legendary directors like Raj Kapoor on Prem Rog and Yash Chopra on Chandni.
She co-wrote 1942: A Love Story with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who later became her son-in-law.
Kamna also collaborated with Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Kareeb and critiqued his adaptation of Devdas.
Her radio play was adapted into the movie Qarib Qarib Singlle by her daughter Tanuja Chandra.
- Who
- Kamna Chandra, a pioneering female screenwriter in Hindi cinema
- What
- Her experiences working with legendary filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, and Vidhu Vinod Chopra
- Where
- Primarily in Mumbai, India
- When
- Spanning her career from the early 1980s to the present
- Why
- To share her journey and insights into the film industry
Key facts
- Kamna Chandra
- Pioneering female screenwriter in Hindi cinema
- Prem Rog
- Seminal film directed by Raj Kapoor
- Chandni
- Romantic film directed by Yash Chopra
- 1942: A Love Story
- Co-written with Vidhu Vinod Chopra
- Kareeb
- Film co-written with Sanjay Leela Bhansali
- Qarib Qarib Singlle
- Adapted from a radio play by Tanuja Chandra
- Devdas
- Critiqued Bhansali's adaptation of the novel
Quotes
Kamna Chandra
Pioneering screenwriter in Hindi cinema
“(Laughs) He was so worthy of worship that I wouldn’t dare make such a belittling request to him. He’d made so many films. The only film I felt he strayed away from reality was Satyam Shivam Sundaram. I narrated him two stories. There was more scope for glamour in the other story, but he chose this widow’s story. Even when I watched those nine reels, I felt he’d crafted each scene with so much emotion. It became a huge success and was nominated for several awards. I was also nominated for Best Story, but I think the award went to Gulzar for Namkeen. Raj Kapoor used to present his heroines very beautifully. When he told me Padmini Kolhapure would play the lead role, I asked him if she can do justice to it since it’s such a difficult role. He was very confident of her talent. She indeed did such a great job, and even won the Best Actress award for it.”
indianexpress.com
“It’s not easy to co-write with Vinod. On the first day, he’d say, 'It’s very beautiful, Kamna ji.' The next day, he’d say, 'Try harder.' A couple of times, I even said I can’t push myself further. If you remember there’s a Romeo & Juliet play scene in 1942: A Love Story. Vinod didn’t want to show that in English, so he asked me to translate the scene in Hindi. I gave him six-seven scenes written in verse in Hindi. Vinod loved it so much that he asked me to translate the full play in Hindi so that it can get published. But later, he chopped off those scenes from the film. When I asked him why, he said, 'Don’t get emotionally attached to your lines.' He wanted to keep the film’s length limited to two and a half hours.”
indianexpress.com