Don't think I am a full-fledged writer yet: Varun Badola

Varun Bola established himself as one of best performers on India television with introduction of cable network in India, but many are still unaware about his flair for writing, a talent he discovered on-ground initially in his career.

Bola started his journey as an assistant director to filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia on his 1997 television series "Naya Daur" and wrote three episodes for show.

He n moved on to acting with popular TV shows -- "Koshish - Ek Aashaa", "Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand" and "Astitva.. Ek Prem Kahani", where he also served as a writer.

"(In school), I always attempted 48 marks paper of Hindi langu. I would t attempt it completely because I hated writing. But God always has a way to punish you," Bola, 46, told PTI.

influx of digital gave him an opportunity to reignite his accidental romance with writing as he penned dialogues for ALT Balaji's "Apharan" and Sony LIV series "Undekhi".

"In terms of storytelling, writing is t easy, especially when you are t used to it. It is a good creative process, but it is time consuming. You have to be completely involved in it. It also takes a huge toll on you. I don't think I am a full-fledged writer yet, I do it for fun," he ded.

To excel in ir career, Bola believes, it is necessary for actors to be in love with craft of storytelling.

"I don't believe an actor should stick to ir own job and overlook problems in or departments. You need to be in love with profession you are in. I try and do everything and anything. I operate camera and take care of sound as well," he said.

Bola said writing isn't easy as one needs to be well-versed with langu as well as culture of area where story is set.

"You have to re a lot so that you get new ideas and vocabulary, especially when you talk about Hindi heartland. It is a rich langu and t many people realise this. People in Mumbai have aversion to reing Hindi. I don't kw why?"

actor said he mires way celebrated Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Taranti takes his stories forward through dialogues and it is a quality he tries to imbibe in his writing.

"When you start writing, even as a dialogue writer, you need to design a scene. You start rhyming scenes to start a conversation in a certain manner to try and tell a story in scene itself. This is something Quentin Taranti does a lot. In a scene, one character will start telling a story, so you start designing scenes in a very attractive manner."

Bola credits director Siddharth Sen Gupta for pushing him to return to writing.

actor said director, with whom he h worked on TV show "Ek Chabbi Hai Pos Mein", first offered him "Apharan" and y followed it up with "Undekhi".

"re is a certain comfort level I share with Siddharth. He wanted me to do dialogues for 'Apharan' and I h t lifted my pen in 10 years. I thought I should give it a shot and n 'Undekhi' happened. It was being handled and written by somebody else before I took over," he said.

"Undekhi", featuring actors Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Surya Sharma, Harsh Chhaya and Ankur Rae, premiered on streaming platform earlier this month.

Im credit: Instagram/@bolavarun