Aamir Khan: ‘In cinema, you have 2.5 hours… that’s where the economy of storytelling comes in’ | Bollywood News
If you have to enter films, you need to know about writing. Even if you don’t become a writer, you need to know about writing,” Aamir Khan told film students who congregated at Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, on May 5 for the third Screen Academy Masterclass. The actor has been credited as a screenwriter in only two films across his 42-year career — Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993) and Ghajini (2008). But Aamir insists that even students, who are not aspiring screenwriters, must learn the craft to be one with the film they are making. For this, Aamir strongly recommends the book, The Art of Dramatic Writing (1946) by Hungarian playwright and teacher Lajos Egri. “It’s the mother of all books on writing. It’s primarily about theatre, but translates very well to cinema as well,” he said. The very first chapter of the book is about setting the premise, similar to what his late father and veteran filmmaker Tahir Hussain would ask every screenwriter even after getting a three-hour long narration: “Narrate the story …
