Writer Sandeep Jain, who is best known for writing the much-applauded show 'Kota Factory' is currently receiving praises for 'Tabbar', starring Pavan Malhotra, Supriya Pathak and Ranvir Shorey.
In an exclusive interview with Free Press Journal, Sandeep opened up about what went behind writing 'Tabbar' and shared his views on writers not getting enough recognition in Bollywood.
Sharing his experience of working on the web series, Sandeep said, "Tabbar is my first crime drama show and working on the new genre was the most exciting part. Here, the attempt was to write a slow burn show keeping both thrill and drama intact. 'Fargo' is my all-time favourite in this genre. I am extremely grateful to Jar Pictures who assembled such a great team, which uplifted the script from every point of view."
He stated that lots of calls and patience went behind writing the script of 'Tabbar' as it was written during the lockdown. "But frankly, lockdown helped as there were fewer distractions of socialising, etc. and I could stay with the story continuously for a long period of time," he said.
The show charts the journey of a retired police constable who pushes the boundaries to save his family from the consequences of an unfortunate incident.
"I am not from Punjab and thus when Tabbar came to me, I dived deeper to explore their culture and nuances so that in the screenplay we don’t miss out on the important elements of their life," Sandeep said.
Also, working with director Ajitpal Singh has been an 'enriching experience' for him. "I loved his first film ‘Fire In The Mountains’ and the way he handled complex characters in it. I liked the fact that he focuses a lot on visual storytelling rather than dialogue and did the same in Tabbar," he said.
When asked if he expected 'Kota Factory' to garner such acclaim while writing it, Sandeep said, "Kota is a city that is a character in itself and was unexplored. A city whose economy completely runs on the educational industry. So there were high hopes that a good show can be worked around it. Personally, Kota has given a lot to my family. My father started his business selling Kota Stone. I cleared my JEE while studying in Kota. So there was an intuitive feeling that this show is the one and might work for me. And I am happy that it received such accolades."
The actor-writer also opened up about his journey in the entertainment industry and revealed that he had never thought of being a writer in the first place. "I was acting in an ad and post-shoot, while the team was jamming over the next concept, they liked my ideas and suggested that I should try writing as well. And from there on I started exploring writing. My first short film as a writer was released in 2017. Then I wrote various comedy sketches, short films, ad campaigns and kept learning the craft of storytelling for long formats," he said.
Sandeep, who has done a considerable amount of work for OTT platforms, believes that the medium has given a whole lot of opportunities to writers. "The amount of content being made has definitely increased but more importantly OTT’s are striving for good quality content. Thus, the writers have huge scope to pitch interesting stories. Also, the process of pitching is very transparent and organised because of the corporate structure. So if you are hunting producers, they are hunting you as well."
On writers not getting enough recognition in Bollywood, Sandeep said, "When you use a website, do you ever try to know who wrote the code? Similarly, while watching, a viewer doesn't think of the people behind it. But a writer expects recognition within the industry, which is improving with the advent of OTT platforms."
