The Rasa Approach Part 3: FIND THE PAIN

1. The most basic level is the seed or the germ, which to translate into concrete terms, would be the concept of the story. The very concept must contain the potential to develop into a screenplay that can have various sentiments in an organic mix. 
2. The second level is that of character: who are the people that inhabit the story? Do they represent a cross-section of the society in which the story is set? 
3. The third level is that of the sequences or the incidents that are used to tell the story. As we know, the story in a film unfolds via incidents and a screenplay is nothing but a series of incidents strung together to make a whole. The very choice of these incidents must be such that they are able to capture the essence of life via a variety of sentiments. 
4. The fourth level is that of the scene. The scene is the smallest unit of a screenplay and can be seen as akin to a moment in the script. The moments that a screenwriter chooses to tell the story must be exactly appropriate, ones that, when seen together, reflect a variety of sentiments.

from The Rasa Approach Part  2

Level 1: The Seed

There are two aspects to the seed. The first thing we need to look at is the feeling or emotion that is powering the screenplay. Is it deep enough and strong enough that the exploration of it will inevitably cover a gamut of sentiments? Like for example, the pain of betrayal and love that torments Rick in Casablanca. Or, the intense love and pain afflicting Tomek in A Short Film about Love. Or, Phil Connors’s frustration at being stuck in Groundhog Day. Or Charu’s intense loneliness in Charulata. 

If one looks closely at films that have connected, one will note that a profound pain powers each of those films, because, when it comes right down to it, it is pain that is the essence of life. In every phase of life, even in apparently ‘happy’ ones, the overwhelming feeling is that of life being a ‘pain’. Even if it’s simply a matter of traveling from one place to another, the traffic or the hurry or a rash driver will make the journey painful. And if the journey is not a pain then the pain will begin when the purpose of the journey starts unfolding. 

If we’ve gone to discuss a deal – business deal, property deal, any deal – there’s the pain of negotiating and putting up with an unpleasant or manipulative person. If we get the deal, there’s the pain of fulfilling the deal in a world designed to make things difficult. If one is in a situation of romance, of course, the pain becomes especially deep and delicious. In short, one is always struggling, some of us more than others, but no one is not struggling. 

Of course the struggle of maneuvering through a traffic jam is unlikely to power a hundred-minute screenplay but it certainly does contribute to the overall feeling of life being a struggle. Since cinema is limited in terms of time and cannot possibly show all our small and big struggles that give life an overall sense of struggle, a story zeroes in on a core of pain. Pain, therefore, is good for a script. Pain is what a script needs. Pain is what a script demands. 

The pain that Eva feels due to her mother’s neglect in Autumn Sonata is so deep and fierce that just a mother and daughter going at each other verbally makes for a riveting viewing experience. The pain of jealousy felt by Salieri in Amadeus is enough to power a play and a film to success and glory. Michael Corleone being forced to join the family business because of his father’s death leads to such anguish that we’re mesmerized as we watch his intelligence and charisma find an outlet in ruthlessness and extreme brutality. Malcolm Crowe’s pain at not being able to save his patient resulting in his life and marriage coming apart makes him a compelling protagonist. Alvy Singer’s pain at not being able to make his relationship work. The little boy’s pain at losing his sister’s shoes in Children of Heaven. The pain that women are going through to survive in the oppression of Iran in Jafar Panahi’s The Circle. I can go on…. 

No matter what genre a writer is working in, the core power of the story emerges from the pain or suffering that torment the protagonist or protagonists. If we can tap into this core it will give us a whole universe, which is exactly what each story needs. To put it bluntly: FIND THE PAIN!