Script
Akhil Sharma's original short story "Cosmopolitan" initially appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, in January 1997. It was then anthologized and republished in the book The Best American Short Stories 1998, a selection of 20 short stories chosen by Garrison Keillor.
Producers Jen Small, Jason Orans, and Brian Devine found "Cosmopolitan," which they considered "a little gem," in the 1998 anthology. They signed award-winning screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding) to adapt it for their newly formed New York-based independent production company, Gigantic Pictures. "The rights to short stories are more accessible financially for small companies; and you can add, where a novel demands cutting," says Small.
Of the differences between adapting short stories versus novels, co-producer Jason Orans said, "Short stories are usually structured differently than movies. While a movie should have a three-act structure, a short story is often an exploration of character via a single defining event. The challenge is to create new material which both serves the story and supports a three-act structure. With Cosmopolitan, this meant adding a completely new first act to the story."
Director Nisha Ganatra, whose previous credits included the multiple-award-winning Chutney Popcorn, was also intrigued by Akhil Sharma's short story. In her words, "I thought, this is a story we haven't seen. Indian American filmmakers are making these stories that are very ‘me, me, me' and the thing that I loved about 'Cosmopolitan' is that it's about our parents and loneliness, and that I found was very universal and exciting."
Screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan adapted, expanded, and fleshed out Sharma's short story. The original short story was very focused on Gopal's loneliness, and his initial inability to make physical or emotional contact with anyone. Dhawan kept and expanded the story's poignancy, while changing the focus to Gopal's relationship with Mrs. Shaw, giving the story specificity and universal relevance, and infusing it with wit.
Read more about this topic: Cosmopolitan (film)
Famous quotes containing the word script:
“Take what the old-church
found in Mithra’s tomb,
candle and script and bell,
take what the new-church spat upon
and broke and shattered.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“...he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own house.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Esther 1:22.
King Ahasuerus, after his Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command.
“If it’s a good script I’ll do it. And if it’s a bad script, and they pay me enough, I’ll do it.”
—George Burns (b. 1896)