Lucknow:
Interacting with a young bunch of book lovers and scribes at Gomti book festival, actor and poet Piyush Mishra told aspiring writers to keep on rewriting until you are satisfied with your writing.
“Do not go anywhere for anyone’s review for your writing but keep on rewriting—reject your work 80 time, maybe 100 times until you are satisfied. Visualize the character—take the example of Bhagat Singh—imagine how he would interact with his senior Sukh Dev in college,” said the 59-year-old screenwriter.
Sharing the experience of his initial days struggle in Mumbai film industry, Mishra said, “After 20-years of theater experience in Delhi including lyrics, music, screenplay writing and acting, I realized that Mumbai is altogether a different level of place which has different levels of demands. You start with a new fresh page in Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, only 0.0001 % of people shot to fame in the glamour of film industry, rest all wait for decades or even for life to get a chance.”
“Film industry is lucrative, and everyone wants to try it, but in just one night you get to know the ground reality and your caliber. I left for Mumbai in 1989 and returned in 1990. For the next 20 years I invested my energy in theater and went again. Never go to Mumbai without thorough preparation,” he said.
However, he added, that for writing one can go to Mumbai, as no one would buy your work in Lucknow.
Responding to a question, if academics is required for becoming an actor in Mumbai film industry, Mishra said, “One must be well read and should have good knowledge. I was poor in studies, and it had an impact. Never take academics lightly in NSD (national school of drama).”
At the end, Mishra recited a couplet from his famous ‘aarambh hai prachand’ poem.
