"Abhishek became 'Drona' for Drona" - Joydeep Sarkar

By Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Hungama News Network

Name Joydeep Sarkar is a relatively new entrant to the world of Bollywood. And though the story writer has a Shaurya to his credit early this year, the young 20 something lad is looking at Drona being his calling card to the big league. With the responsibility of screenplay as well as dialogue writing coming to him, Joydeep is anxiously looking forward to what Drona has in store for his extended innings in Bollywood. Over to Joydeep who gets talking to Joginder Tuteja about the work he has done in Drona which releases tomorrow all over:

The setting of Drona

Drona is definitely an amalgamation of various worlds. However, the soul of the film is very Indian. It begins in a world which is far-far away. It is completely a story book world where houses are painted in pink, blue, purple and green colors. Almost a fairy tale setting, Drona moves from the world of 'Amar Chitra Katha' to another where 'Arabian Nights' meets Indiana Jones and The Lord Of The Rings. Then there is this elaborate train sequence that would remind you of the action-adventure films. However, yet again I would re-emphasize that the overall essence stays on to be Indian.

The feel of Drona

'Since, in Drona, we were bringing the world of a story book to life, everything about the film had to make you feel that you were in the pages of a fairytale. And that was the starting point for me - to start writing the dialogues for the characters in Drona. The way they spoke, addressed each other, expressed their love, anger, despair - everything had to be in sync with the world of a fantasy comic book. As I was writing, I would often wonder - 'If the characters of 'Amar Chitra Katha' came to life, what would they sound like'.

The language of Drona

In Drona, you will find that all the characters have distinct dialects. Whether it is the colorful 'Noddy town' like world in the beginning, where the language is more innocent and endearing or the world of Queen Jayati Devi, where the language will remind you of more classical literature, where Kings and Queens had a regal, more formal way of speaking. I have explored various dialects in the film, and as the film takes off into a roller coaster ride, so do the language and dialogues go through a change.

The words of Drona

Being an action adventure, Drona is a fast paced film. And hence, in the scenes, I had to keep in mind that in a few words, a lot had to be said. I strongly believe that 'Less is more', that a few words say a lot more than probably an entire Soliloquy. Sometimes, even silences speak louder than a million words. I feel, when one is writing dialogues, one has to make space for those silences as well. And that is what I have tried to achieve in Drona.

The strength of Drona

Performance of Mrs. (Jaya) Bachchan is simply stunning in Drona. It was a great experience writing for her since I have grown up on her work. I was very nervous initially and it was almost surreal when she came on sets and we sat down on the script. She was co-operative and put me at complete ease. She went through her scenes and lines and we had a great chat. She came up with good ideas and it was such a fantabulous feeling to hear her mouthing my words in front of camera. I can well recollect that the smell of air and the time of the day when this happened. This one moment would always be there with me and I am very lucky to have worked with someone of her caliber.

The making of Drona

Once the germ of Drona was in place, Goldie was story boarding it on a constant note. Even though I was through writing for the film, I was on sets every day and was absolutely cued into what was happening. During shooting some elements would surprise me, some would excite me while post production was a different experience altogether. Dhruv, who has worked on the original soundtrack, has come up with some cutting edge background music too. Together, Goldie and Dhruv have taken the movie 100 notches up in the post production stage. VFX has been great with six studios working non stop for 6 months and David Bush doing a great job in putting it all together.

The real Drona

Of course, without Abhishek there wouldn't have been a Drona. Truly, he has invested himself so much into Drona. I couldn't have imagined anyone else to be doing such a fantastic job for a character written on paper. It was the aspect of Abhishek as a person that made it possible since it's his interpretation of Drona which even I couldn't have preempted. He brought so much of calm, so much of 'dhairya' to Drona. It won't be wrong to say that he wasn't playing 'Drona', he BECAME 'Drona'.

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