The creative was not completely ignored at Broadcast India. A workshop on 'The art of writing for television' saw some interesting sparks fly between panelists Javeed Siddiqui, Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Achla Nagar, B M Vyas, Ajay Brahmatma and L N Baijal, with Atul Tiwari conducting the sessions as moderator.

While opinion varied on the methods of scripting, speakers agreed that the only criterion that mattered was that you should be able to watch the final output with your children. The preferred language at the workshop was Hindi, and the preferred topic Hindi soaps.

Achla Nagar, who has scripted the film Nikaah, brought out the difference in writing for radio and television. She held forth on good clean wholesome entertaining scripts, which would portray women in a good light, and serials which ought to be devoid of obscenity.She was highly emphatic that TV writing is a social responsibility since the whole family is exposed to the idiot box. Citing the example of Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen, Nagar said symbolism would have worked as well as the actual portrayal of nudity in the film.

B M Vyas, who has penned Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki and Rishtey, pinned down the objective of script writing thus: "Scriptwriters should write to entertain people so they can see the idiosyncrasies of life, enable them to laugh and cry in real life situations. It's not so difficult, as there are lots of problems in everyday life to write about. Writers must feel the world one lives in,and realise how interesting were the people who are living 'meaningless' lives. "

"We are lucky to have a Premchand and a Tolstoy to read and follow", he said in a hilarious speech that was flavoured with anecdotes and humorous quotes that kept the audience hooked on to his words. "Everybody wants to write something. A witer must read extensively , if we write what makes everybody happy and if it sells, you become the best writer around!" he quipped.

"It is the scriptwriters' responsibility not to increase the problems already existing in this world, and pen good wholesome real life serials."

Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi of Chanakya fame, is a screenwriter who has been on both sides of the fence. He has worked as an actor and the programming head of a television channel briefly. "The person who writes well is the one who sees and feels more, because of the emotional undercurrent. One has to experience pain to be able to express it better; writing is not all about happiness, give people pain and the unhappiness of everyday living.

There are two ingredients to good and sensitive writing, he said. Earlier, people wrote for 'Swartha Sukhaye' (self-appeasement) and 'Bahujan Hitaye' (social good), but today writing has become so commercialised that one cannot even call it 'Bahujan Bikaye' (selling to the masses), he added. One has to stay involved and look forward to the creative process continuously, he said.

L N Baijal, a copywriter who also translates scripts into different languages, said that the need today is for Hinglish ads, as "every language has its meaning and literal translations sometimes are not possible." He said he thinks up jingles after getting involved with the finer details of what is required, the target market and the potential audience. "Very often, when dubbing from one language to another some of the essence of the dialogue is lost or enhanced due to the new language.The selection of words and command over the language played a vital role, and the pleasant smell of the perfume must be present in the end product after the process of dubbing and adaption.
"Hindi is the only language where you write what you say, there are no silent letters as in knife…."

Adapting the logic to serials, Baijal pointed out that even dubbed English serials continue to have American accented English in their Hindi adaptations. "This should be done away with. A scriptwriter receives only Rs 1,500 for translating a half-hour episode and is among the lowest paid people. Channels are only interested in TRP ratings and have a chala rahe hain (anything goes) attitude to translating," he pointed out. "All the scripts are handwritten even today. If a computer operator were to be hired to do data entry of scripts and come out with multiple printouts, thousands of rupees would be saved along with time saved," he noted.

Ajay Brahmatma spoke from a critic's point of view about writing for TV. He said the critic's role was that of a bridge between the reader and the author. TV content today is more about glorifying crime, rifts in family relations, and happenings related to war, which have an adverse effect on children who watch TV together with the family, he said. He emphasised the need for some form of censorship or control on content.

The last speaker at the workshop, Javed Siddiqui, who has scripted Fiza, has a number of film scripts and serials to his credit.His contention was that words flowed if one embraced the character.He spoke about the inner 'Third Eye', which allowed a writer to penetrate into reality and truth. Language is like building blocks for the writer and it was the writer's responsibility to give good content, he averred.

He stressed the need for a school to enable creative people to come out and exchange their ideas. He concluded with "Lafzon ko ehtiyaat se barta kijiye, inme jaan hoti hai"(Treat words with respect; they have life).

The speakers concluded that the essence of a good TV scriptwriter is to differentiate between the perfumes of life, to have the good sense to be observant, to search for causes to write for.