The Screenplay Writing Course at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) marks 10 years of completion this year and is all set to go from a one-year duration to two years from now on. To Anjum Rajabali, well-known screenwriter and the Head of Department (HOD), goes the credit of creating and sustaining this successful course.

Anjum Rajabali, head of the Screen- play Writing course at Film and Television Institute of India

Rajabali says that screenplay writing is a combination of art and craft, with a lot depending on one’s ability to structure a good script. “For this, a basic understanding of the underlying principles of the screenwriting craft is essential. In India, we do not have any formal tradition of guiding new writers, even though we have full-fledged courses that teach every other skill in filmmaking. So, in that way, the Screenplay Writing Course was an idea whose time had come. And, via a serendipitous meeting between the then director and me, facilitated by our senior Vinay Shukla, the idea took concrete shape.”