Travelling Ink

“Inspiration seldom hits stationary objects. You have to be a rolling stone,move out,look around,feel the space and words come automatically,” says Nath,whop turned to writing after dabbling in journalism and law.

Pathak’s directorial debut Right Ya Wrong ,a crime thriller starring Sunny Deol and Irrfan Khan,is to be released on March 12. “It’s a racy story about two cops and how they reach life’s crossroads,” he says.

Pathak,who joined the movie industry after devoting five years to theatre,feels a film acquires credibility if it manages to reflect the right culture,ethos and look. “While making Deols’ Apne,I spent two months here in Chandigarh ,writing and visualizing the whole script and scenes. This helps in understanding and getting the language,clothes,culture,background right,” says Pathak.

After a stint in editing and writing for television,Pathak moved to writing film scripts like Subhash Ghai’s Pardes Anees Bazmi’s Deewangi,Ghaat,Vikram Bhatt’s Jurm among others. “You have to be a storyteller to be a good director. All successful directors today,people like Karan Johar,Mani Ratnam,Aditya Chopra or Ashutosh Gowarikar,are essentially writers first. Hence they have a clearer idea about their characters,theme and control over the story,” says Pathak. However,sometimes,what finally appears on screen often disappoints him. “In Ghaat and Jurm,there was a vast difference between what I wrote and what was delivered.” It prompted his decision to turn to film direction.

“We’re here to tell stories,to do films that hold a mirror to society. But there is a need to do more for writers. A costume designer is paid three times more than a writer! We need an awakening,” he says.