Script changes without writers? Unacceptable, says Siddharth-Garima | Exclusive

Praising Sanjay Leela Bhansali's respect for writers, the duo Siddharth-Garima slams directors who alter scripts on set without consultation, altering a film's core meaning.From their Pune chat post-Dukaan's award win, they stressed collaborative filmmaking over ego-driven tweaks.

Q. Many nowadays believe directors, producers, and sometimes even actors take liberties to modify scripts without informing the writers. Do you think this practice is acceptable?

Garima: If Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the GOAT filmmaker of our time, makes us write a script or a song for him, he calls us to consult even before changing the tense of a word. That is the definition of a great filmmaker. He is conscious of a writer’s contribution to the project.Siddharth: That is why he is where he is. Not many directors reach the level he is at, mainly because they don’t value the talents around them. They tell us, ‘tum nahin the set toh humne kaafi kuch change kar diya’ and we reply ‘very good sir, box office pe sab kuch change jayega tab hum milenge.’Garima: Filmmaking is not a one-man job. Everyone comes in with an equal contribution, an actor’s performance, a writer’s script, a producer’s resourcefulness, a director’s vision, then why undermine one person’s efforts to make the other look bigger or better? And a script is a very dicey thing, just changing a word can change the meaning of the entire film.