(Filmfare - March 1998)
(on winning the Filmfare Award for the Best Dialogue for 'Dil To Pagal Hai')

Adi breaks his silence Frankly, dialogue is the toughest department of film-making for me. It’s a pain, I did the dialogue of Dil To Pagal Hai because I had no choice, because I couldn’t find a writer who could express what we wanted to say in words. So in a way, I became a dialogue writer by default.

In both Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Dil To Pagal Hai, there was a conscious effort to be natural-by which I mean the attempt was to avoid theatricality, exaggeration and larger-than-life drama. The attempt was to use a modern,
everybody lingo. Within those parameters, I tried to convey the various thoughts to the best of my ability. I made a determined effort to be grammatically correct and at the same time be colloquial. Probably, I could succeed in bringing a conversational feel because the characters of Dil To Pagal Hai were modern and contemporary. I certainly wouldn’t be able to handle the dialogue of a period film or even achieve the lehza of characters based in Aligarh or Lucknow.

I cannot imagine ever writing dialogue like Javed Akhtar or Gulzar. I certainly can’t reach their level. If I were to even try to write in Urdu, I’m sure I’d fail miserably. I can’t weave a line.

I try to rely instead on the strength of a thought… a thought that will connect with the audience, touch them, make them laugh or react.

I feel I’m at home with characters who are somewhat like me or like characters I’ve known and met. Then I can be less awkward about the heaviness in the lines. The simplicity and that quiet flow should emerge from the scene.
I think what has been perhaps liked in Dil To Pagal Hai are the thoughts which have been conveyed simply. For instance, the thought about the difference between friendship and love.

This interview appeared in the March 1998 issue of Filmfare.

 ::Top:: 




 ::Back to profile::