When the Field played Bollywood

Friday, Jan 5, 9:30 in the morning -- an ungodly hour for most late-rising Bollywood folk -- saw almost every prominent writer and director seated like obedient schoolchildren with a punctuality Mumbai hardly knows. A few arrived early at the Grand Hyatt, registering dutifully at the desk, picking up their notepads and pencils and filing in to get a good seat, close to the stage.

Truth be told, Bollywood has quite an eclectic reading habit, its bookshelves varying from obscure to skimpy, from directors collecting classic screenplays to summaries. Yet almost every single shelf features at least one copy of Screenplay and Four Screenplays or The Screenwriter's Problem Solver -- 'essential' books written by acclaimed Hollywood script guru Syd Field. So when UTV's Ronnie Screwvala decided to keep his introduction short and bring Syd on as soon as possible, everyone present nodded in exhilarated agreement.
Text: Raja Sen | Design: Uday Kuckian
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