Significance of Adapting Dialogues for your Script – A Trial Before Monsoon

When examining any work of art especially a film, it is essential to view it as a reflection of the time and language or culture in which it is created.

In the case of our film – A Trial Before Monsoon, the first draft of the screenplay was in English, and later we decided that it meant to be on screen in the Marathi Language.

So I decided to work with an apt person for writing Marathi dialogues who also understands my vision.

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The Process

The essence of dialogue and subtext should stay the same.

I wanted this person’s job to be able to adapt it in the language so that it has to be culturally significant and at the same time more accessible to the audience in general. Most importantly, without compromising the initial idea, mentioned in the previous blog.

Having studied Screenplay Writing at FTII and having more than five years of experience in the film industry, Vaidehi Sancheti became a crucial part of the writing process, as she had quickly grasped what I was looking for in this project.

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The Perspective

Shubham approached me with the script and was very particular about the process he wanted to follow for this film project.

I think the writer’s journey starts from the point where he/she has to understand and relate to the character the director has in mind. So after reading the script, I knew right away that I was yet to “make friends” with the two main characters that he had portrayed in the screenplay.

The dialogue writing process was fun, followed by our constant meets and back and forth arguments, which eventually got us both on the same page. We were still a little incoherent about what goes in English, what suits Marathi, and yet we had to be patient at the same time. We kept assuring ourselves by the good old saying that goes around with all our fellow writers, “writing is rewriting.” And that is what we did. 

The more we talked about this, the more it opened the doors to follow different perspectives for the dialogues that we wrote. There was a time when we found just the right voice and just the right tone. We slowly found gestures and silences.

The most important thing every writer should know is when we must stop writing. And so we concluded the journey we had for writing dialogues. It was an inclusive and accommodative experience.

– Vaidehi Sancheti

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Writing Is Rewriting

The truth is, we never really stop writing. We keep improvising on the text until the film gets into production. In some cases, actors tend to improvise few dialogues on set. Because sometimes it just feels right. During editing, we can tweak something to get our message across without compromising on the very initial idea. And that is why we have to keep saying, “Writing Is Rewriting.”

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Uniting Artists is a non-profit organization founded by Shubham Sanjay Shevade for artists around the world, created to promote peace and cultural art. This platform also serves as a blog to keep up with various film development approach & film marketing trends.