Filmmaker Varun Grover feels there is a tendency to exploit writers in Bollywood, where many people omit their credit from the promotional material. He says the injustice is not limited to newcomers, but is also faced by veterans such as Gulzar and Javed Akhtar. 

Varun spoke about the issue prevailing in the industry in an interview with Jist.

Writers get exploited

In the interview, he recalled how his writer friend was exploited by a so-called ‘messiah director’ in Bollywood. However, he refrained from disclosing any names.

“A friend of mine recently worked with a very big filmmaker. This filmmaker doesn’t make very commercial films, but he does middle-of-the-road cinema, has been working for over 30 years, and is seen as a ‘messiah’ by his fans. An entire generation of filmmakers has been inspired by this person. My friend was supposed to write the dialogues, but he was told that he needs to write the dialogues and the screenplay both,” he said.

Here, Varun shared that his friend, who is a popular comedian, was paid ₹50,000, but the fee was increased to ₹3 lakh after negotiations. Varun stressed it is against the laws set by the Screenwriters’ Association where one cannot pay a writer less than ₹12 lakh for the dialogues, and around ₹20 lakh for the dialogues and screenplay both.

He added, “This was done by a well-known director, who releases a new movie every three years. This is how writers are being exploited. They don’t mention the names of writers on film posters. They find room for accountants, and that’s fine, but they should also mention the people without whom the film wouldn’t exist… Irshad Kamil‘s best album is Rockstar. When the CD was released, his name wasn’t mentioned. Today, if you go on any of the popular YouTube music channels, you’d find that even songs by Gulzar don’t mention his name. It’s happening even now, and it’s happening with the likes of Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Irshad Kamil’".

Now, Varun is not shocked by the current scenario, but hopes for it to change soon.

What we know about Varun

Varun is best known for writing the film Masaan, which was released in 2015. The film stars Richa Chadha. Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi. It marked the directorial debut of Neeraj Ghaywan. He is also credited with lending his expertise on web show Sacred Games, and songs for the two-part Gangs of Wasseypur. Varun recently made his directorial debut with All India Rank.

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