We promised you more on her, and here it is... the second part of the interview with the young UTV creative director Monisha Singh. In the concluding part of the interview to indiantelevision.com's Vickey Lalwani, Singh throws light on creativity - her own and that at UTV - what creative people can do and cannot, television channel interactions et al.
Excerpts :
How do you grow your creative skills?
Reading books, films, plays and meeting and observing interesting people. Interacting with other people knowing what they think, how they react, what they feel, helps spin off ideas, situations, plots. I am an impulsive people observer. I keenly watch whatever is happening around me. I absorb it. I choose to learn from every living moment. Nature inspires me. I introspect a lot. I do a lot of disjointed thinking, then I move on to the linear thought process. I try to be alive to the now, the trends, the likes and dislikes currently.
How do you develop your characters? |
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How did you develop the character of Mayor saheb? In his personal life, the mayor, while he is dominated by his wife at home he is a long-term thinker and he will let his wife be the bad one while he master minds the whole plan. I feel males have a lot to do in most households while it is only the mother-in-law who is projected as the bad one. And we showed this through the character of the Mayor who is actually the man who is going about on his path of destruction, be it in his civic duties or his personal life. |
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Is there enough scriptwriting talent available today? Do you work closely with your scriptwriter? But overall even though television is a writer's medium it's concentrated in the hands of a few. And in turn the pressures on our writers are tremendous which in turn leads to high burn out rates. Therefore there is a strong need for fresh talent to come in. But there is a lot of talent that exists out there and it's a question of finding the right people and training them. We need to have training schools or workshops that can train people interested in writing for television. There is a method a formulae for writing for television just like there exists in other fields as well. Your company runs a course and workshop Qalam. We see it as an effort in that direction but there needs to be a lot done as far as scriptwriting is concerned. Yes, I work closely with my script writers on all my shows. That is the first step towards making a show and also they form the base of all shows and it's imperative to have good writers on any show. |
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Has age worked in your favour or against you in your career? Yes, my age can go against me, because a lot of people are a lot more senior to me. It can be frustrating when somebody without meeting you says you are too young to be doing what you are. But I take things in my stride and take it as a compliment because I have managed to reach where I have at a young age. |
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Coming to creativity at UTV. How does UTV go about enhancing the collective creative within? We have icons in creative excellence, whether it is Alyque Padamsee or a Prahlad Kakkar, coming in and sharing their experiences and learnings with us. The sessions they have with us are extremely interactive and help open the windows of our mind to fresher thoughts. We have workshops where we are exposed to the works of the masters of all time in film making like Satyajit Ray, Ghatak, Hitchcock, Renoir, Chaplin, Eisenstein, Rossilini etc. Creativity is also about team work so we have corporate team building workshops which help in the bonding exercise. Like we had one on fear, where we had to walk on pieces of sharp glass. It's all in the mind, if we can overcome the mindblocks, we can do what we want, we were told at the workshop. The glass symbolised the mindblocks. We had to motivate each other, help each other out. Most of us succeeded walking over the glass without cutting or hurting ourselves. It was a wonderful experience. |
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Changing tracks. Do you think that a creative person gets enough space in today's times when channels interfere at the drop of a hat? Will UTV ever consider producing bold programming? Can creative people become business people? |
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Creative people you admire? Charlie Chaplin for being the complete film person - he was a rare comedian who not only financed and produced all his films but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well, Filmmaker Eisenstein for the clever use of montages and symbolism in his films such as Battleship Potemkin. I also admire Enid Blyton, I have read almost all her books they are beautifully written and make for excellent reading for children. I am a huge fan of Prannoy Roy. He is extremely charismatic. And if you can put this on record, I admire Ronnie Screwvalla for being a visionary. I am not trying to impress anyone but this is a fact. Working with him makes you grow on both professional and personal fronts as well. He started a lots of trends in India - brought in animation, started the first cable network in India, etc. He does not essentially like to walk on a proven path, he loves to take risks. |
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Earlier, you said creative people can become business people. What about you? |
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Where do you see yourself five years from now? |
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You have the looks and age in your favour. Ever thought of becoming an actress? |
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Tell me, can a creative director become a programming head? |
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Buzz is that this creative director is going to become the programming head of a broadcasting channel? |