Latest news with #ScreenwritersAssociation
News18
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
SWA 2025 Nominations: Chamkila, Panchayat 3 And Gullak 4 Emerge Top Contenders
The 2025 Screenwriters Association (SWA) Awards nominations are led by Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila, Panchayat Season 3, and Gullak Season 4. The nominations for the 2025 edition of the Screenwriters Association (SWA) Awards have been announced, and leading the charge this year are Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila, along with the popular web series Panchayat Season 3 and Gullak Season 4. The awards celebrate excellence in screenwriting across film, television and digital platforms. The 7th edition of the SWA awards will be held on August 9. Director Imtiaz Ali's Amar Singh Chamkila has emerged as a major contender at the upcoming Screenwriters Association (SWA) Awards, securing top nominations across key writing categories including Best Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, and Lyrics. The biographical drama, which chronicles the life of the controversial Punjabi singer, continues to receive widespread recognition. The 2024 musical biopic Amar Singh Chamkila., headlined by Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, has earned eight nominations. Lyricist Irshad Kamil has been recognised for his evocative songwriting, with nominations for five tracks from the film — Baaja, Bol Mohabbat, Ishq Mitaye, Naram Kaalja, and Vida Karo. In the Best Story and Screenplay category, Imtiaz Ali is joined by a competitive slate of nominees: Atul Sabharwal for Berlin, Avinash Sampath for CTRL, Karan Gour for Fairy Folk, and Kunal Kemmu for Madgaon Express. The Best Dialogue category features a diverse group of writers. Comedian and writer Sumukhi Suresh is nominated for her work on CTRL, alongside Gour for Fairy Folk, Devang Tiwari and Amit Pradhan for Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai, Niren Bhatt for Stree 2, and Kemmu for Madgaon Express. The Best Debut category at the SWA Awards 2025 features an exciting mix of emerging voices who have made a strong impression with their first major screenwriting efforts. Among the nominees is Shuchi Talati for Girls Will Be Girls, a coming-of-age drama produced by actors Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal. The film has also earned recognition in the Best Lyrics – TV/Web category, with nominations for Anvitaa Dutt, who penned the title track Big Girls Don't Cry, and Shashwat Sachdev for the song Pehli Sharam. Joining Talati in the Best Debut race are Biplab Goswami and Sneha Desai for the critically acclaimed Laapataa Ladies, and Bodhayan Roychaudhury for the thriller Sector 36. Lyricist Sagar has earned a nomination in the Best Lyrics category at the SWA Awards 2025 for the heartfelt track Tu Hai Toh from Mr. & Mrs. Mahi. The romantic drama starred Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor. OTT titles like Freedom at Midnight, Gyaarah Gyaarah, Lootere, Maharani Season 3, and IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack have secured nominations in both the Best Screenplay and Best Dialogue categories under the web-drama segment at the SWA Awards 2025. Fan-favourite web series Panchayat 3 and Gullak 4 continue their winning streak with nominations in all three major writing categories including Best Story, Best Screenplay, and Best Dialogue at the SWA Awards 2025. In the Best Story (Web-Comedy/Musical) category, they'll be competing with Bandish Bandits 2, Cubicles 4, and Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper, while titles like Raat Jawaan Hai and Mamla Legal Hai have made their mark in both Screenplay and Dialogue categories. In the lyrics segment for TV and web, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and lyricist A M Turaz have earned a nomination for Saiyaan Hatto Jaao from Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. They are joined by Akhil, who has been recognised for Zaroori Toh Nahi from Citadel: Honey Bunny, and Juno, who scored dual nominations for 'Asman Rootha" (Panchayat 3) and Feeling Nayi Hai (Gullak 4). In the television segment, Anupamaa, led by Rupali Ganguly, continues its reign with nominations in key categories including Best Story and Best Dialogue. The emotional family drama is joined by Bas Itna Sa Khwaab, another widely loved series, which has also secured nods in the same categories. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hindustan Times
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Prem Kumar says Kollywood is suffering due to ‘paid reviewers' targeting week 1 collections of films; wants regulation
Director Prem Kumar, known for heartwarming films like 96 and Meiyazhagan, spoke at the South Directors Roundtable at the Screenwriters Association's 7th Indian Screenwriters Conference. Director Vivek Athreya from Telugu, Hemanth Rao from Kannada, and Christo Tomy from Malayalam were also present. Prem spoke about why he believes 'paid reviewers' are harming Kollywood. Prem Kumar is known for making heartwarming films like 96 and Meiyazhagan. Prem Kumar on what's harming Kollywood Prem was candid about how he thinks 'negative reviews' in the first week of a film's release are harming Kollywood. He said, 'Negative reviews have become a big problem in Tamil cinema. It's a huge problem, and it's getting worse day by day, week after week.' When asked to specify if he was talking about negative word-of-mouth or something else, he said, 'We used to have reviewers. The breed that we have now is not reviewers; their target is different. It's very uncivilised, in the language they use, the way they talk, and what they target.' The director claimed that these reviewers supposedly target the first week of a film's revenue in the hope of getting money for the next film to give positive feedback. 'They have an agenda, and they target the first week's revenue. Once you do that, you know the producers will come to you for their next movie. The number of paid reviewers is more than 90% now. The honest reviewers don't have the talent or capacity to review a film. It is having a big impact on the box office because people decide to watch a movie or not based on this. I hope producers come up with a regulation for this,' said Prem. About Prem Kumar Prem worked as a cinematographer in films like Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012) and Yeidhavan (2017) before debuting as a director with the 2018 Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha Krishnan-starrer 96. The film was a massive success, even gaining fame in other languages. He also directed the 2020 Telugu remake of the film titled Jaanu, with Sharwanand and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in lead roles. In 2024, he made Meiyazhagan with Arvind Swami and Karthi, which again received positive reviews. He will soon direct the sequel to 96.
Hindustan Times
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Plagiarism, missing credits, stolen scripts: How Bollywood writers are fighting back against exploitation, malpractice
For Rajat (name changed), a 29-year-old writer looking to get his big break in Hindi cinema, getting a call from a known production house about his story was a big deal. This was right after the pandemic, when the OTT boom had begun. The producers assured his story was ripe for a web series with a major player. Rajat worked for months on the concept, fleshing out a cohesive story, but it did not pan out. "It was disappointing, but not the end of the road," I told myself. Rajat got paid for his work and was told that the story was not working, and hence, the makers had decided to go in a different direction. Imagine his surprise when he came across the trailer for a series on a big platform, some two years later, with the concept of his story, just with the setting and a few characters changed. "I questioned the producers, and they told me that they took the idea and fleshed it out with another writer. I told them it was wrong, and they said I signed off on it," the writer says. He won't go into the illegality of the contract he entered, but Rajat says he didn't fight the producers. "I had gotten more work since then, and did not want to be seen as problematic. What hurt me was that nobody would know that the show was mine. As a writer, the credit being missing hurt." To think this is a stray incident would be trivialising just how rampant missing credits, stolen scripts, and plagiarism are in the Hindi entertainment industry. The emergence of web shows and films on streaming may have democratised stories in the Indian entertainment landscape, but it has also resulted in a corporate-driven boom of malpractice and exploitation. And at the receiving end are the writers. But the fightback has begun, and quite spectacularly so. Two incidents in the month of May raised eyebrows about plagiarism, or rather stealing of scripts, in the Indian entertainment scene. One was the widely reported incident of the Prime Video series Gram Chikitsalay being accused of using a plagiarised script for the show. The matter is sub-judice. Another involved a writer posting their experience of being wronged by an unnamed OTT giant, which used their story without credit. The post has since been deleted. Figures from the Screenwriters Association (SWA) say that during a two-month period last year, the body received 98 such complaints. Encouragingly, more than 60 of these have since been closed. Charudutt Acharya is a veteran screenwriter who has written films like Vaastu Shastra and Dum Maaro Dum, as well as shows such as Crime Patrol and Duranga. Talking about this proliferation of 'stolen' stories, he says, "Old school narration has gone away. There used to be a method where you wouldn't give away the entire plot until you were signed, and narrations took place sitting at a table across from each other. Now, there are so many production houses, and everyone wants the full script with outline and pitch note. Then, there are so many people in the intermediary. Scripts go through too many hands now. The chain of command is too long now. It's easy for some misguided person to 'borrow' a script and make it their own, or give it to someone else." Zama Habib, who has written for TV shows and films for over 30 years, serves as the General Secretary of the SWA. He says the problem of stolen ideas and plagiarism does not always arise from producers. "There are times when some other writer develops an idea originally conceived by some other idea, and the producer omits the credit of the original writer. This can be because the other writer is a bigger name, who may look better on the poster." But writers say that in these rewrites, the other writers are also complicit. "The veterans need to take a stand," says a writer on the condition of anonymity, "I once requested a veteran writer who was hired to 'change' my script, to request the producers to keep my credit. But they said I hadn't done enough work to make that demand. That sort of attitude does not help." In the West, the Writers Guild of America famously went on strike in 2023, bringing Hollywood to its knees. The strike was joined by top Hollywood stars, and the studios, facing losses in the millions, buckled. One may ask why that wouldn't work in India. For one, there is no similar union for writers in India. The closest a body comes to the WGA is the Screenwriters Association of India (SWA), a writers' body that has been attempting to solve these issues. Preeti Mamgain, a writer who has worked on TV shows like Everest and Aasman Se Aage and the film Mohen Jo Daro, is also the President of the SWA's Dispute Settlement Committee. She explains what has changed, 'There were times when writers entered into contracts, shouldn't even call them contracts, actually, but writers sold their stories and scripts for as low as Re 1. People used to believe the producers were doing me a favour by making a film on my stories. In the last two decades, the avenues for writers have opened up. Now, writers have a choice.' The SWA has negotiated several cases wherein producers have been forced to acknowledge the writers' work and even pay them damages. "There have been several cases, some that came to the limelight and others that were settled out of court. But in those cases, producers and corporates paid writers big amounts of money. Due to that, producers have become more aware. Even writers are more aware of signing contracts and MoUs. The contracts may still be a little one-sided, but that can still be contested later," Preeti adds. Through its Dispute Settlement Committee, the SWA has established a procedure to analyse these allegations, wherein scripts are studied by impartial experts, and a report is made comparing the two drafts. This report analyses the story, the plot points, the tone, the characters, and even subtle things like the highs and the lows. It is an attempt to make a subjective art of storytelling as scientific as possible. The involvement of a body like the SWA largely works in getting the producers to toe the line, writers say. A writer informs about a film script they wrote for a small production house. After they were told to rewrite, the writer asked for money based on the work done so far, and was told to take a hike, albeit in not-so-polite terms. They approached the SWA and were assigned a lawyer by the body. Within a week of that, the money came into their accounts, and their credits were restored. But bigger production houses don't spook easily, writers agree. Zama Habib says, "In such cases, where courts are the only recourse, we even provide the writers with legal help, up to a certain amount. But the onus is on the writers to fight that battle. Many choose to, and such cases have come in the news as well. But even today, many writers don't choose to go ahead. In a country like India, where copyright is constitutionally protected, the legal fight will always favour you if you are right. But, the fear of a long legal battle deters many." Habib notes that often, courts have taken into cognisance SWA's analyses of scripts, which gives not just credibility to the organisation as an arbiter, but also confidence to the writers. Yet, it's a long road ahead!
