“Formal training is very important for a writer” – Sonal Sheopori

While Sonal Sheopori started her career in cinema as a production manager, she ended up embarking upon a career as a screenwriter. Sonal is one of the writers on ‘Guri Dhairya Ki Love Story’, the latest offering by The Viral Fever. All the five episodes of the show are streaming on TVF’s official YouTube channel and a few more are slated to arrive soon.

In this interview, Sonal talks about her journey as a screenwriter, what makes ‘Guri Dhairya Ki Love Story’ a relatable show, collaborating with TVF, the trend of making spin-off shows, upcoming projects and more.

‘Guri Dhairya Ki Love Story’ focused on the relationship between Gurpreet Singh aka Guri and Dhairya Singh, two characters one first came across in ‘Aspirants’, another series produced by TVF. Did TVF decide to create a spin-off series based on these two characters?

Yes, they wanted to explore the story further and show how these two individuals fell in love. A large section of the audience wanted to know their story. The idea came from them and then, I, along with the other writers, developed it. I feel a lot of people would be able to relate to the story. There are many whose ex-girlfriend ended up getting married to their friend. It is set in the world of the ‘Aspirant’ world and based in Karnal. While the show has a rooted flavor to it, it explores a modern relationship.

This is your first collaboration with TVF. How was the experience of working with the team?

Working with TVF has been an incredible experience. I actually started working with them on another project first but ‘Guri Dhairya Ki Love Story’ came out first. The other show will come out sometime soon.

What are your thoughts on spin-offs?

As long as they are made well, spin-offs are absolutely fine. When we used to watch ‘F.R.I.E.N.D.S’, we wanted to each character’s back story. TVF does a lot of slice-of-life shows. The shows made by it talk about the aspirations, challenges and struggles faced by regular people. I am sure the audience would have found it interesting to see the company coming out with a love story like this.

Recently, you worked on a very popular show called ‘Raisinghani vs Raisinghani’.

Working on ‘Raisinghani VS Raisinghani’ was a very interesting experience as it was a legal drama series. We had to portray the legal cases in an authentic manner. We could not have faked anything. There had to be a balance between showing a legal case and the complicated relationship between the primary characters. It had something for different sets of audiences. The show ran for 102 episodes and was a good success.

You studied screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). How important, according to you, is formal training for a screenwriter?

I think formal training is very important for a writer. There are two types of training a person wanting to become a screenwriter could undergo. You could study screenwriting at an institute or assist an established writer. It is important to learn and keep learning. In a lot of ways, everybody around us is a writer or a storyteller. You need to use some kind of technique to convert an idea into a script. You learn a lot while being on the job. You have to keep honing your skills. We refer to the first draft as the vomit draft (laughs). Writing is rewriting. It is a skill you acquire with time.

When did you decide to take up a career as a screenwriter?

I grew up in Mumbai. My bua’s husband, Mr. Harmesh Malhotra, was a notable filmmaker who has made films like ‘Dulhe Raja’. He was the only person in our family who was into films. I remember attending his film’s screenings as a child. My parents were film buffs. My dad introduced me to horror films when I was four years of age. That was quite odd but I ended up getting hooked to horror films (laughs).

I got to know Mr. Subhash Ghai was opening a film institute called Whistling Woods International in Mumbai. My mom was the one who pushed me to go for it. She kept telling me, “you are made for it. This is what you should be doing in life”. I did a production course in Whistling Woods. After completing the course, I worked with a production house for a long time. ‘Sankat City’ and ‘Tere Bin Laden’ were some of the films I worked on during that time. Slowly, I moved towards writing. My journey as a writer started with Imagica, which is the theme park put together by Adlabs. I wrote the content for all their rides. I kept working towards honing my skills and work started trickling in.

Which is the next project you are working on?

I have worked on an Indo-American film made by an award winning filmmaker. I have also written a crime thriller and a rom-com produced by Adlabs Films. A few other projects are in the pipeline but I cannot talk about them till the time they are announced by the producers.