Rohan Shankar shares about his ups and downs

Writer Rohan Shankar has penned prominent movies in the entertainment industry like "Luka Chuppi", "Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari" and recently released "Mimi". Each of his scripts have been appreciated by the audience. On being asked about his struggles in his initial days of establishing himself as a prominent writer in the film industry, Rohan says, "I have had my share of struggles in my initial days.

I have always wanted to be a writer but I have done numerous odd jobs to sustain myself until I could chalk out the right opportunity for my first script. After my graduation in Physics, I attended one Radio Jockey workshop and first struggled for months to get a job at any radio station. But that too did not happen so I had moved on to doing one writing course to kick start my journey as a writer.

Little did I know that getting the right writing job wasn't a cakewalk. So I started doing other jobs for my survival. When I first became an Assistant Director for two years, the movie didn't get released and two years of my life were wasted there. Then, I moved on to doing production jobs in films and studios. Things were not working in my favor to an extent where I was even unemployed for sometime in the middle. Alongside all these numerous jobs, I was writing my first film script for Luka Chuppi."

Adding to the same, he says, "I used to visit different production houses almost everyday with stories but faced countless rejections. I realized my script was good but it wasn't like the mainstream cinema people watch in India, so I wrote an entertaining story and started developing the script. After the first draft, I narrated that to almost 70-80 people until one day, after years of hard work, Laxman Utekar liked it and then pitched it to Maddock Films. They immediately loved it and gave a green signal. Luka Chuppi was my first script. This journey made me realize rejections are important for self-assessment. Rejections are just a routine, not getting rejected is a surprise."

While sharing his message for aspiring writers, Rohan says, "I believe in writing a draft first, even if it's not of top notch quality, as it familiarizes you with your strengths and lets you work on your weaknesses. Most of the time writers get exhilarated by what they have in mind, but it is a difficult task to pen down your thoughts into words. Drafts really make a difference to that." Lastly on being asked about the feedback of Mimi, he says, " The film has turned out really well. We are receiving amazing feedback for the film be it from the audience or the fraternity. Everywhere on social media, people are talking about the film. So it Is very satisfying for all of us."