Jaideep Sahni did not hold back as he spoke about screenwriters’ rights recently. The acclaimed screenwriter and lyricist was speaking at Vartalaap, an event organised by the Screenwriters Association (SWA), where he spoke on everything from AI and royalties to the ‘power to say no’.
The session, moderated by SWA EC Member Vibha Singh, covered the high-stakes threat of Artificial Intelligence, the ongoing fight for screenwriting royalties through SRAI (Screenwriters Rights Association of India), and Jaideep Sahni’s prolific body of work, including films such as Chak De India, Bunty Aur Babli, and Company.
Jaideep Sahni on AI
Speaking on the rapid advancement of AI and the ethics surrounding data, Jaideep Sahni, a computer engineer by qualification, expressed a mix of awe and concern. “In every field, it is a mixture of being excited and being alarmed. And I think this is the case for everyone, especially those who are working in LLMs. There are so many scientists who are leaving companies because they can see it. They can see it because the models we see are the retail version. The models they are not releasing are 100 times more dangerous than this. It is a very alarming and important thing. This is not just about our work, but about everything. And the clock is ticking. It is ticking every day, and one day, it will be too late,” he observed.
‘When the page speaks, the big guys shut up’
But the veteran screenwriter reserved his most passionate lines of the evening for the anxieties of writers and the perennial friction over remuneration and rights. Advocating a fundamental shift in how the industry worked, Jaideep said, “I think the best partnership should be between a writer and a producer. A writer should be a producer’s best friend. Because it’s a story. And a producer should be a writer’s best friend.” He noted how writers’ bodies had made progress in advocating for their rights, but added that the real leverage lies in good work. “Convincing someone from the heart can only be done by the page. And its power is greater than anything else. Because I have always seen, when the page speaks, the big guys shut up,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}But the veteran screenwriter reserved his most passionate lines of the evening for the anxieties of writers and the perennial friction over remuneration and rights. Advocating a fundamental shift in how the industry worked, Jaideep said, “I think the best partnership should be between a writer and a producer. A writer should be a producer’s best friend. Because it’s a story. And a producer should be a writer’s best friend.” He noted how writers’ bodies had made progress in advocating for their rights, but added that the real leverage lies in good work. “Convincing someone from the heart can only be done by the page. And its power is greater than anything else. Because I have always seen, when the page speaks, the big guys shut up,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Jaideep Sahni also addressed the crucial importance of royalty collections through SRAI (Screenwriters Rights Association of India), framing royalties not as a bonus but as an essential financial component. “This is not a Nigerian scam. This is real. Like Javed (Akhtar) fought a lot, Anjum (Rajabali) and SWA fought a long fight. And this is real... Please, if you have any episode, any film, even a partial credit, you don’t know—you, your kids, your family, even after your death—that money will keep coming. And those royalties are our power, our muscle. We get the courage to say no, which we don’t want to do,” he added.
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