|
Qalam will open tomorrow, in Mumbai, with a valedictory address
by award winning writer and Nimbus Communications CEO Akash Khurana.
 Addressing
a press conference today at The Taj Hotel in south Mumbai, Dr Khurana
reiterated the general feeling in the television industry saying
that, "While everyone feels the need for such a course, very
few people do anything about evolving writers and training them."
"I would have done better if I had similar training facilities
in my time," he reflected.
Siddhant Cinevision creative director Vinod Ranganath, who's the
force behind the structuring of the course, feels that Qalam is
about getting quality writers into the industry. He believes Qalam
will provide structured and specific teaching for aspiring writers
to cater to the growing and demanding television industry. "Qalam
has more to do with the technique of writing than linguistics. Language
can be trained," he explained.
With more than 20,000 hours of programming generated every year
in only the Hindi entertainment television channels, Indiantelevision.com
CEO Anil Wanvari believes, "That's a lot of plots, stories,
tracks, and dialogue. And we don't have enough trained talent."
Emphasising the value of hands-on learning experience, Dr. Khurana
said the course would focus on a practical learning-by-doing approach.
He said companies like Contiloe Films, Star TV, Neo Films, In House
Productions, and Nimbus Communications, which have come forward
to sponsor scholarships, will invite students to come and avail
of the infrastructural and other facilities in their offices.
This, he stressed, would not only give them an idea of the real
working terms but will also help them to put together their own
body of work by the time they are through with the course. This
tangible profile of hands-on experience, he said, would also help
them in jump-starting their careers. The sponsors also indicated
that they would be interacting closely with the students and would
consume some of the skilled products that the course will throw
up.
The course is slated to run for 12 weeks with three interactive
sessions a week, spanning two to four hours. The longer weekend
sessions would focus on illustrating the educational experience
with the help of video sessions. Additionally, participants will
be urged to take part in the discussions, ideation and analyses.
Interactivity will be the keyword for the entire course. The course
fees have been set at Rs 10,000.
Qalam has on its governing board Dr Khurana, Ranganath, Wanvari,
writer-director Aditya Seth, and writer-director Vijay 'Victor'
Acharya.
The guest faculty includes television luminaries like eminent scriptwriters
and directors including Sanjay Upadhyay, Atul Tiwari, BM Vyas, Ashwani
Dhir, Vivek Agnihotri and many more. Aditya Seth will be the course
coordinator for Qalam.
Khurana sees Qalam as a vicarious personal victory as he believes
that Wanvari has delivered what he had only dreamt of. He also expressed
hope that Qalam would act as a catalyst for other corporates to
come in with their own initiative.
Answering a question, Khurana commented that hindi television writers
were not drawing much upon their literature unlike Bengali and Marathi
television which draw a lot from their respective regional literatures
because, for one, most writers had poor awareness of literature.
Secondly, it was a market driven industry and market responses ultimately
reflected in their bottomlines.
For the organisers and the faculty, Qalam is an exercise in giving
back to the industry. And as Ashwini Dhir recounted Wanvari's words,
"If you write so well, what's the use if you take it with you.
Pass it on."
For further details on the course, contact Rinku Nichani at Indiantelevision.com
on 26730986/0969.
|
