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!

The Rasa Approach Part 2

The Navras (nine Rasas)

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erotic, comic, pathetic, furious, heroic, terrifying, odious, marvelous - and peace

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What the movie must accomplish:

The viewer wants to be engaged, entertained, stimulated, enlightened, occasionally challenged and provoked and disturbed, but finally, satisfied. How does one do this? By creating an experience on screen that is, a) interesting, b) convincing, and c) complete.

• An experience will be interesting if it is unusual and/or dramatic. 
• An experience will be convincing if it unfolds plausibly (and the viewer is happy to suspend his disbelief for an experience if it’s interesting enough). 
• Finally, an experience will appear complete to a viewer only if it is meaningful in some way, either by giving him an insight into life or simply the general feeling that he is better off for having seen the film. 

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The Four Layers of the Screenplay:

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.

The rasas in more American understanding:

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sexuality, comedy, pathos, fury, heroism, terror, disgust, wonder

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• Does the concept feature one of the rasas? 
• Does the Protagonist display all of the rasas? Do minor characters embody at least one of them?
• Do the incidents serve one of the rasas?
• Do the scenes evoke one or more one of them? 

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Re: The Scene

If the first 3 levels are in place, the scene can become the difference between a good and a great script. In fact, several films become popular primarily on the strength of their scenes, because even when the story and characters are less than compelling, absorbing scenes can give the viewer an entertaining enough experience. With the first 3 levels in place, a brilliant script can use the scene to great effect. Let’s look at the first sequence – the entire wedding sequence – from The Godfather.* 

The first scene itself seems almost consciously to be following the tenets of the rasa theory, in the way the sentiments are evoked. The erotic sentiment is evoked via Bonasera’s description of his daughter’s experience with her boyfriend, where he tried to take advantage of her. (Yes, the image is not a pleasant one, but unfortunately, even rape holds an erotic fascination for human beings.) Also evoking the erotic is Don Corleone’s reference to his daughter’s wedding. The comic sentiment is evoked by the way Don Corleone toys with Bonasera, finally bullying him into accepting Don Corleone as godfather. The pathetic sentiment is evoked via the experience of Bonasera’s daughter. The furious sentiment via Bonasera’s anger, as well Corleone’s at what he perceives as Bonasera’s insults. There’s the heroic sentiment in Corleone’s love for justice, albeit of a primitive kind. His persona, emphasized by the respect that he is shown by other men in the room, too drips heroism. Corleone’s power and manner evoke terror and the act of Bonasera’s daughter’s assaulters is odious. Other than astonishment, all the other seven sentiments are evoked in the first scene itself! 

Now let’s look at the rest of the twenty-six minute sequence, sentiment-wise.

• Erotic: The conversation between Michael and Kay; Sonny and his girlfriend making out against a door; the wedding itself.

• Comic: The mirth of the wedding; Johnny Fontane’s song; Luca Brasi and his fumbling dialogue with Don Corleone.

• Pathetic: Sonny’s wife’s sorrow; Kay’s situation on discovering Michael’s family; Johnny’s situation vis-à-vis his sinking career.

• Furious: Sonny and the FBI; Sonny and the photographer; Don’s reaction to Johnny’s situation.

• Heroic: Michael’s uniform; Don’s dispensing of justice; Michael telling Kay that he is not like his family; Michael pulling Kay into the photograph.

• Terrifying: Don’s power as a criminal who controls judges and politicians; the realization that a criminal can be so powerful, charismatic, and ‘respectable’.

• Odious: Sonny thrusting in a vulgar manner, as he has sex with a woman against a door; vulgar dancing and drinking; Michael’s story about brains on a contract and the offer that cannot be refused.

• Marvellous: The astonishing cake and the general spectacle of the wedding.

 As is obvious from the above, the sentiments have been given a glorious opportunity for display by a seed (a combination of the pain of a man forced by circumstances into joining the mafia and the saga of a powerful criminal family) that has given rise to a world peopled by varied and interesting characters. 

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more complete version here
original article here

*("The Godfather," 1972; directed by Francis Ford Coppola; written by Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola; based on the novel, ‘The Godfather’, by Mario Puzo).

The Rasa Approach to Structure

The rasa theory, in brief, states that for a viewing experience to be complete and satisfying, a play must evoke in the viewer a variety of rasas or flavors or sentiments (from the following 8: erotic, comic, pathetic, furious, heroic, terrifying, odious, marvelous). Of these 8, a play may have one ‘dominant’ sentiment, with several others present in smaller, varying quantities. (The original Natyashastra* mentions only eight rasas. The ninth – shanti or peace – was added later, thus leading to the term Navras, meaning ‘nine rasas’. ...)

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Western screenwriters spend a lot of time and energy making charts and diagrams to define structure.

But movies are made all over the world. And there are other ways of looking at structure.

Beyond Craft: The Rasa Approach to Screenwriting at the Lights Filmscool blog, reproduces Ashwini Malik's complete essay on the topic. 

"I had written an essay attacking screenwriting manuals that went hoarse advocating rules and principles governing screenwriting. I have always felt that such manuals tend to reduce screenwriting to a formula and lead to predictable, formulaic films, which are churned out by the dozen every month in Hollywood. And yet, here I was, awed by what is essentially a manual, with rules, formulae, principles and divisions and sub-divisions!"

The Purpose of Cinema

Let’s start with a fundamental, though regrettably pretentious, question: what is the purpose of cinema? For a moment, let’s put all the exalted purposes aside and look at it purely from the point of view of the viewer. The viewer wants to be engaged, entertained, stimulated, enlightened, occasionally challenged and provoked and disturbed, but finally, satisfied. How does one do this? By creating an experience on screen that is, a) interesting, b) convincing, and c) complete.

An experience will be interesting if it is unusual and/or dramatic. An experience will be convincing if it unfolds plausibly (and the viewer is happy to suspend his disbelief for an experience if it’s interesting enough). Finally, an experience will appear complete to a viewer only if it is meaningful in some way, either by giving him an insight into life or simply the general feeling that he is better off for having seen the film. 

So, to narrow it down a bit, for a viewer to be engaged, entertained, stimulated, enlightened, occasionally challenged and provoked and disturbed, what is needed is an experience that not only echoes life, but also makes sense of its seeming pointlessness and randomness. An experience that strives to capture the essence of life. But how does one capture this essence of life? Life itself is the product of all kinds of things, with a multitude of happenings and emotions jostling about in a manner that seems totally random. How then, does one make sense of life? Perhaps an understanding of the rasa theory can help us.

The Natyashastra often gives the analogy of a fulfilling meal that has several spices and other ingredients expertly mixed. In other words, the essence of life can be captured if the viewer is given an experience that contains an organic mix of several sentiments. The operative term here is ‘organic mix’. How does one create an organic mix, where different ingredients don’t stick out awkwardly because they have simply been forced into a work? The answer might lie, perhaps, in fusing the rasa theory with the very form of the screenplay.

There are 4 levels at which a screenplay is put together. (I’m proposing 4, in order to put forth my argument. Someone else might say 3 or 17 or whatever. It doesn’t matter.) 

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. 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? 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. 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.

Again, the full essay is here.

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*Natyashastra is an ancient Indian text in Sanskrit language, written between 200 BC and 200 AD. It is attributed to the sage Bharata, although it is likely that it was the work of several persons, and was written over centuries. This text encompasses all Indian performing arts – theatre, dance, music. Written in Sanskrit verse