Gaurav Solanki: The scriptwriter who made ‘Article 15’ click

Hum kabhi harijan ban jaate hain, kabhi bahujan jaate hai, bus jan nahi ban paate

Power ki zaat hi kuch aur hai

Sab barabar ke ho jayenge, to Raja kaun hoga?

With such powerful dialogues and script penned by a young Gaurav Solanki, Article 15, released recently, is the only film that made noise after it was screened, minus major promotions. Released soon after the mega hit Kabir Singh, Article 15 suddenly drew the attention of the sensible lot, as well as, fortunately, the youth.

Apparently, people were drawn to this film because of the sensitive issue of casteism presented with very succinct, simple and brief dialogues. It was Gaurav Solanki who created the magic with his dialogues along with director Anubhav Sinha.

The writer everywhere suffers, he says. His struggle was also no different. Before writing for films, Gaurav worked in the advertising industry and with many brands like Myntra and Jabong. Then he wrote lyrics for an Anurag Basu film which ultimately got shelved. “There are times when producers exploit you, take songs and never pay or pay extremely less,” he says.

The film industry has no fixed amount to be paid to the writer. The Film writers Association is trying to make some efforts for a minimum payment for the writers, etc, but it is yet to meet with success.

“Songs can pay you Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lakh, depending upon who you are, who you know and what your financial status is. Exploitation is rampant. One of my friends who has penned a song for the most successful film of 2018 got only Rs 25,000 for his songs while for a big budget film, a song is as expensive as Rs 5-10 lakh,” he adds.

Solanki has made a space for himself after a good long struggle - by writing in magazines which would pay anywhere between Rs 750 and Rs 3000. He studied in Rajasthan before going to IIT Roorkee. “But I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to write for films and direct too,” he says. He met Anurag Basu and Sudhir Mishra while writing on films. Mishra introduced him to Anubhav Sinha and the rest, they say, is history.

Gaurav has made a place for himself as a writer too. His book Gyarahnvi A Ke Ladke drew a lot of Hindi readers and was one of the bestselling Hindi titles of 2018.

But things are more difficult in the publishing industry.

“Publishing houses have their own strong and powerful ‘muths’ the power of which is diminishing with the arrival of the Internet and social media. Their identity is at a risk now,” observes Gaurav.

He feels that new publishing houses and platforms are publishing new writers who have done very well. Moreover, social media has broken the myth and supremacy of established publishers as people read more on Facebook than actual books. “So, the writers who used to parade around publishers or established magazines now find many followers on social media and it is very satisfying in terms of swelling readership,” he points out.

Discussing the ‘politics’ plaguing the publishing industry, he recalls, “My name was recommended for an award as a new writer (Navlekhan Award) by Jnanpith Society as their jury members including people like Namwar Singh and few other renowned authors and critics had recommended my name. It was for my short story book. The institution kept my manuscript for one-and-a-half years and later refused to publish it, saying that one of my stories - Gyarahvi A ke ladke - was vulgar. I was shocked because if the stalwarts had recommended my name, how could the institution find it “vulgar”? It broke my heart. I was very young and I snapped away from the Hindi literature circle. Many publishers like Penguin and Harper Collins wanted to publish my book but I was so heart-broken that I had cut myself away from the writing world for some time. But finally, it was launched at Jaipur Literary Festival last year and became a major bestseller and still tops the list on Amazon. I also changed the name of the book to “Gyarhvi A Ke Ladke” (Students of 11th A)”

Now, Solanki is writing a sort of sequel to it called “Barahvi A ki Ladkiyan”. (Female students of 12th-A).

The issues of royalties for the book etc, is not easy to deal with either.

In another incident he says, “Jnanpith has no rights of one of my poetry books but it has been publishing it for six years and I have got no royalty for it. I asked them to stop selling my book. They told me that they don’t sell but I can still see that book of mine on Amazon. So I am planning to take them to court for it. If such a known publishing house does it, what can we say of small ones? It is impossible to become just an author and run your kitchen in India!”

He clearly says that if the readership in Hindi is decreasing, then publishers are majorly to be blamed for it

The young scriptwriter minces no words when he says that most publishing houses have the same clout of 1000-2000 people who have a strong lobby and pull anyone back who tries to climb up the ladder.

But despite the hurdles on his way, Gaurav Solanki has finally secured his place with Article 15 and it’s just the beginning.