How 'Bala' went from a story on pollution in Ganga to film about self-love

"Bala" was initially a critique on industrial exploitation of Ganga river with protagonist sporting iconic hairstyle of superstar Salman Khan from "Tere Naam" before he goes bald, reveals writer Niren Bhatt. But he was in "two minds" about plot idea and it was after he met director Amar Kaushik, that made Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer what it is today: about a person coming to terms with his looks. 

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With Ayushmann Khurrana as a young man struggling with receding hairline, Yami Gautam as a small-town TikTok star and Bhumi Pednekar as a girl fighting prejudices against dark skin, "Bala" opened to rave reviews and fantastic box office numbers last week. Niren, whose credits include National Award-winning Marathi feature "Ventilator" and Rajkummar Rao's "Made in China", said he is overwhelmed with response to "Bala".

"This is such a good high. My phone hasn't stopped ringing, people are writing to me. This is a wonderful feeling," he said. film's journey began when Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films was developing Pavel Bhattacharjee's original idea about a man in Banaras, who finds out that a company dumping waste in Ganga was responsible for his balding and decides to start a campaign against it.

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"I wasn't too kicked about it (original idea) and was still in two minds. n Amar came on board as a creative producer. When we sat toger, he started telling me his experiences as he started losing hair in his early 20s." Conversations between two centered around latter opening up about "everyday disappointments" a man with receding hairline goes through, ranging from waking up and checking pillow for fallen hair or watch strands of hair go down drain during shower.

"It became about complex you feel when you step out, this lack of confidence which seeps in because of balding. I knew this is story. It's a common problem. It's t a city-specific problem, it's a global thing." Niren, who has written film's story, screenplay and dialogues, said process started last October and went on till May this year, with round--clock revisions during shoot. 

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idea furr evolved into a film about self-love, than just a story about a bald man. "We thought, film shouldn't only be about balding. Beneath this, it's about self im and loving oneself. From re we thought we will have two love stories, somewhere you'll feel he might go with Yami or Bhumi but finally love story is with himself."

"Bala" is also loaded with Bollywood references, acting as both, a hat-tip to its cultural impact and its critique for rmalising stereotypes. It was important for Niren, who feels he had to call out romanticizing of everything wrong in mainstream films. This also seeped in how character of Bala was shaped.

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"We wanted him to be a mimicry artiste. whole arc was, he mimics someone else and in end starts doing stand-up where he's playing himself. One becomes a mimicry artiste if you're a film buff. When we started writing, we had two options- eir he can do Salman or Shah Rukh Khan, whatever actor is comfortable with. "Salman, because we wanted him to be like Radhe from Tere Naam with that iconic hairstyle. But Ayushmann was more comfortable with Shah Rukh so we went with that, n he does mimicry of Ranbir Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Amitabh Bachchan. So, Bollywood was always re."