Ankur Suman, who has worked as an advertising professional for more than 20 years and is frequently referred to as a storyteller, has had a profound influence on Indian advertising culture in addition to being a highly talented scriptwriter, film contributor, and theatre artist.

Ankur’s talents are so diverse; he has worked with legends in the field and won awards for his short films all around the world. Indus Age caught up with this multifaceted talent for his film KAAGAZ-2.

KAAGAZ-2 has big and versatile, veteran actors in it; did you write the script of the film, keeping these actors in mind and how satisfied are you with the outcome of the film? 

The story is about a common man but the script needed exceptional talent to evoke the right degree of emotions amongst the audience. So yes, we always knew the kind of talent we needed but there were no specific names in our mind while writing. Though, at a later stage some names were discussed.

The measure of success for films like Kaagaz 2 is the response of the audience in terms of emotional currency rather than just box office numbers. Everyone who saw the film was moved to tears, especially by the final monologue of Sushil Rastogi, played by late Satish Kaushik. The ratings have been very high all across. Court scenes, the father-son scenes and the dialogues earned a lot of appreciation and therefore as writers, I and my teammate, Shashank Khandelwal are very happy.

 Talking about the veteran, Satish Kaushik, who is no more with us, but he has left an indelible mark in the Hindi film industry, how was your experience of working with him and what is it that generation of day should learn from him?  

Satish Sir was my mentor and a father figure. Always, encouraging and affectionate, he taught me a lot about the craft, the industry and even the business aspects. He was like an open book when it came to sharing his experience and learnings with me. Whatever Satish Sir learnt from his seniors like Javed Akhtar Saab, he passed on to me. He was very fond of the touch of humour in my writing.

Satish Sir had found a very singular source of stories for his films – news articles. An avid reader himself, he would spot news stories that had the potential to be developed into great screenplays.

Passion, energy, sincerity and total devotion to the craft is what the youngsters should learn from Satish Sir’s work. He thought of films and his work 24×7 because he loved what he did. The other thing that impressed me about Satish Sir was his burning desire to reinvent himself and stay relevant to the changing times. That was the motivation for him to do Kaagaz.

In your words, what should be the Takeaway from Kaagaz 2.0 for the audience?  

It’s a privilege to be in the world’s largest democracy, where we have the freedom to voice our opinions and raise our concerns about things that need to change. But this should be done without causing loss or pain to the innocent fellow-citizens. Life and comfort of the common man cannot be taken for granted. Compassion is what we are forgetting as a society and this is the virtue that this film hopes to kindle amongst the audience.

Why do you think this story is important to be told and what is your message that you want to convey through Kaagaz 2?

The subject is contemporary to the core and each one of us – rich or poor – has been affected by the problem of jams, bandhs, road and rail blocks in the name of protests. And that makes it a very compelling subject. The losses are far greater than what meets the eye – as also mentioned by Abir Gosain, the character I play in the film.

The message is very clear – raise your voice if you have to, but not with callousness towards the people at large. People can’t be used as pawns in the game of power.

Interviewed by Nidhi Kumari

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