A Case of Delhi Belly with Akshat Verma

You’ve either had a case of the Delhi Belly or seen Delhi Belly. Either way, there is no escaping anything closely associated with Aamir Khan’s latest production. The film has gone on to already claim its place in the Bollywood hall of ‘Cult-Fabulous Films’ because of its outstanding performances, funky music and of course, the youth-oriented script. Writer to the film, Akshat Verma debuts with Delhi Belly but from the get-go you realize, the newbie scriptwriter is hardly one to reckon with.

With his first film alone, he has already become one of India’s most sought after writers. His understanding of a clear ‘disconnect’ with younger Indian audiences comes shining through in his writing and in the honest ‘flowery’ dialogues of the film. Whether it’s the crass, the plot or the foul language and even a bold oral sex scene, Delhi Belly cannot be ignored. And it shouldn’t. B’Khush chats with the über talented Akshat Verma as he talks all
things Delhi Belly.
 
 
 
 

Congrats on Delhi Belly! You are now officially one of the most “wanted” writers in Bollywood. How does it feel?
Oh am I? I didn’t know that (laughs). If that is the case then I’m delighted! I’m going to enjoy this because you know things like this don’t last. I’m going enjoy the moment as much as I can.
 
 

How did Delhi Belly happen? How and when did you decide to write a film?
It was a script I actually wrote at UCLA while I was at the program. So it was one of my scripts written for the program in a workshop. It was interesting because it is a really Indian script but I was in situation where I was in the U.S. in a workshop with Americans and at that point, I wasn’t really sure what I should be writing. I realized the only thing I could do well enough was to write about a world I knew and understood. So I started to write an Indian story. And my intent of course at UCLA was to write scripts that were Indian that I could then bring back here and make into movies. I pitched one of these stories in class and then I ended up writing it.
The film itself grew out of an image that popped into my head of a foot sticking through a ceiling. That was the first image that came into my head because when I stayed in India earlier, I used to be paranoid about the ceiling fan falling down. And while I was sleeping, I always thought the ceiling fan would fall down and crack my skull open. The logical extension of that is if a ceiling fan comes down, and there’s a hole in my ceiling and hole in somebody’s floor, what would happen? Would they have a foot sticking out? And then I began to weave the story out from that.
 
 
 

Rumor has it, you weren’t just a writer. You even flipped burgers, I believe.
I was always a writer; I just never got paid for being a writer all along. So when that doesn’t happen, you have to improvise. I think anyone and everyone in L.A. in the creative field is doing things like this. All the waiters are actors. So it was just that. It was everyone else, my contemporaries were doing. It’s not like I was being extraordinary by doing that. I was doingwhat needed to be done until I could write for a living.
 
 

Did you realize while writing the film that you were writing what is now considered a cultfilm?
(Laughs) I’m a little taken aback by that! Isn’t it a bit too early to pronounce it a cult film? I’m really gratified that the film has gotten noticed. It’s blown me away and the fact that people are watching it more than one time. They’ve taken to the film and the music; they’re quoting lines from it. It seemed like a pretty obvious thing to me in the sense that there was a gap in the kind of films we have and the kind of films that in my head, I wanted to see. It seemed obvious enough to say, I’m going to write something to fill that gap. So it’s gratifying that obviously other people were feeling the need, which they hadn’t recognized or realize, but when they watched the film, they feel, “Oh, it’s a world we can enjoy and relate to.” I’m overwhelmed but I’m also very humbled and very grateful.
 
 

The film has come under a lot of scrutiny for its rather “flowery” language. Was using such a radically vulgar style of lingo intentional?
As a writer, you keep your ear to the ground and aware of what goes on and you try to be honest to the characters. So by doing that, you try and find a language that sounds right coming out from their mouths. I’m kind of aware of that just because I travel back and forth, so you know how people are talking. You just pay attention to how people are. It’s also a little heightened. Film dialogue is heightened. It’s not absolutely everyday because it needs to do something;accomplish a purpose so you have to find a fine a line where it is more than everyday talking but it feels like it isn’t and it still does its job as a dramatic device.
 
 

What I found very interesting is how cool the Censor Board was with Delhi Belly. Normally they’re a little more conservative with what they allow.
Yeah, I don’t know. We were very clear, we were not going to hide or duck behind or slip anything through. We wanted an A rating. We were not going to expand our audience and mislead people. I think that was a factor. And I hear, it may not be true, but apparently the Censor Board enjoy the film! They laughed at it and I imagine, my intent always was for it to feed into the story and come from the characters. And maybe they felt that everything that was going on, the story that was unfolding, that it was not to shock. I think they were a little more lenient or flexible. I don’t know why us! We clearly said it was an A film and that’s what they gave us. There was no disconnect between what we wanted and what they gave us.
 
 
 

It’s interesting that you say that because a lot of people are talking about how Delhi Belly has broken a barrier.
I think we’re at the right place at the right time. There are other films which started this.Certainly a lot of the work that Anurag Kashyap and Dikakar Banerjee has done, it’s kind of paved the way. We followed, arrived at the right place and were fortunate enough to follow through. I think this has been rumbling for a while in Indian film. Even the way physical intimacy is being shown, violence is being shown, its been changing for a while.
Even if you go back to the work that Ram Gopal Verma was doing with Satya and Company, a lot of the grittiness was already beginning to come in. So, I think this is a logical way for our films to move forward. Interestingly, our filmmakers and audiences are so much more exposed to films from the world over simply because of how interconnected we are and there is so much access through the internet. So their expectations are more and they are also not shocked. They realize that something is essential for a scene, they go forth with it. It’s not just for effect. So I don’t know if we’re breaking barriers or we’re contributing to work that others have started; which is what I feel it is.
 

Why do you feel the youth of India have connected with the film so well?
I can only guess! (Laughs) As a filmgoer, whenever I go to a movie theater, it’s a special connect for me if I see things I recognize, a world I can relate to and connect with. That makes the story feel personal and immediate to me. It makes me feel that this is my world. And with it comes a sense of ownership with the creative work. I think that’s what a lot of kids are feeling. It’s no secret that that’s how they talk, that’s how they are. They live lives which crazy and full of confusion and madness. I imagine that when they see a regular film, there is disconnect when you see singing dancing heroes who do everything. Here maybe it’s a connection with the characters. They say a good character is someone you feel you’d want to spend time with, just like a friend. So that’s what it is. They just want to come in and spend time with these people.
 
 
 

How did you manage to bag Aamir Khan to be associated with the film and what was his reaction when he heard the script initially?
It was luck in some ways. I’ve been trying to track Aamir down and then having no other way just left a copy of the script for him. And fortunately, the script did get to him. The way it got to him was just so unpredictable. But there is the old adage that, ‘Talent plus preparation equals luck’. So I want to think that because the script was in such tight shape and it had been rewritten so many times, it was there, as they say. When Kiran [Rao] did pick it up and read it, she was drawn and pulled into the story as well. And it’s the story and the storytelling which Aamir reacted to. It was interesting for me to discover that there is a certain public persona and perception of him as a serious guy, but he has a really wicked sense of humor. The one thing that I would think about Aamir is that he is unpredictable more than anything else. But he reacted to the story. It tickled his funny bone and appealed to his own sense of humor and way of looking at the world.
 
 

The critics have praised not the performances, but the script of the film deeming it as the ‘hero’ of the film. Your thoughts.
(Laughs) Well I’m really biased you know. I want to say that the script is the foundation that hopefully, everyone then built on and bought their own level of genius to it. It was all the ingredients that everyone brought that made this what it is. From the performances to the direction to the music to the art direction and so on, all the detailing that went in. I keep going back to it but it feels like a real authentic world. It feels like these guys are someone you know.
So yeah, I’m flattered that people say that the script is the hero but I do want to say that the script is really the foundation that everyone then bought their own fantastic work and I think raised the story to the level that they did.
 
 
 

Is Delhi Belly, in your opinion, Bollywood?
That really depends on what your definition of Bollywood is. If you say Bollywood defines a certain genre, a certain kind of storytelling which is a story with multiple emotional threads and music, then I think not. I’d like to think it’s an Indian film in English. It’s not a Hindi film, it’s not an English film. Even the language in the film reflects on it. We do talk and think in multiple languages. We often tend to use them and mix them up. So it’s interesting to have something
that plays out like that. You have to live in English, in Hindi and Bengali, Punjabi, whatever, to actually say, “Oh! I really get that joke!” Hopefully it pays off in a more satisfying way.
 
 

What happens now? Where do you go after Delhi Belly?
I’m writing away! That’s where all the magic happens. Everyone is excited and happy now. This is a wonderful time for me but I do realize that if I have to get back into a room and start writing again. You have to get back to the work and not forget what it is that drives everything. But back to writing and writing another script. And hopefully, it will get made.
 
 

And finally, all of us have our favorite Delhi Belly scene. Your favorite?
Oh this is a difficult question for me, there are so many moments. (Thinks) Let me just say the foot sticking through the ceiling because that is the image started it off for me!