Tanika Gupta’s father, a patron of Shantiniketan, came to Britain in the early 60s. “When I was young, my father used to tell me, when you grow up, you’re going to be a writer,” she said. She joined a community council job and her father still expressed his astonishment as to why she wasn’t a writer. Tanika acknowledged, “I do know that people in the arts still ask ‘when are you going to get a proper job?’”
“The thing I’m always very wary of is that I’m labelled as a woman playwright, Indian playwright. I’m not Indian, that’s not my nationality. I’ve worked very hard to get where I am,” Tanika Gupta said, as she completes 25 glorious years in the art community as a playwright.
Just call me a playwright
Speaking about how she started, Gupta said, “A lot of women supported me. The first director who supported me now runs a theatre. She brought my play to the National Theatre studio and workshops. That’s where I started getting recognised.”
She thinks that networking is paramount. “It’s very hard to send your script to a theatre and then wait for them to get back to you. It has been a slow burn of a journey,” Tanika said.
Tanika has had her share of obstacles of being a brown woman in the UK. She said, “In terms of being a woman and an Asian, you can imagine all the pitfalls and obstacles like ‘Oh we’ve got an Asian already, or we’ve already done this subject, or I don’t think our audience is going to like this.”
Labels
Tanika further added, “Sometimes the labels are trying to put us in our place and actually it deskills us slightly. That’s not to say I’m not proud of my roots, but it’s a dangerous thing. That’s been the biggest part of my journey for over 25 years. They always called me a Bengali Indian Playwright. Just call me a playwright! You wouldn’t label white writers that way.”
Tanika is thankful that Britain has agents who totally protect the rights, in a way that they don’t do in Bollywood, including the Writers Guild. “The problem is about the opportunity whereas you know writers of the same calibre and experience are always asked first to write an adaption. I would be the last person that way,” she added.
Writing on women
Tanika also addressed the fact that content around domestic violence is slightly shoved by people. She said, “Every time you show an Indian man beating up a woman, they’re apprehensive. These subjects are shoved and they are really important.”
She continued, “I’m not saying all Indian men are like this. But it’s an important subject. Interestingly it went on BBC in 1997. It is now being put in the UK Indian Film Festival as its closing show in July after almost 25 years. Look at the MeToo movement!”
Tanika thinks that people in Britain have been completely starved of theatre in the pandemic. “People are flooding back. I think the hunger is there. The problem with digitising is that you lose the joy of the live theatre. I think that really is under threat. We just don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
Is writing for theatre superior to movies?
Talking about writing for theatre, Tanika said, “If you’re not causing trouble in the theatre then you might as well not do it.”
“All the best writers have started from the theatre. What tends to happen here is a lot of our best writers go on to write for TV. The money is so much better you get paid ridiculous amounts of money. People do disappear into these areas of wiring. That’s not a bad thing. The sad thing is there’s always the search for new and the young, but they don’t come with experience and get burned out easily. I would hate to say that theatre is superior. I do think that the way digital channels treat is different. Theatre is very collaborative. When you write for films and Tv, you’re not necessarily involved later. Somewhere your voice is lost.”
Tanika Gupta’s tips to become a successful playwright
- You have to have a passion to write. You have to understand that you are not going to make loads of money. I think in a way you have to start with a passion.
- You have to hone your own voice. Again it’s about being focused on what you’re trying to say. Don’t be afraid to be political. All writing is political.
- The problem is everyone has done every idea before but nobody is going to do it like you. Do it without being arrogant.
- Read. Read about the subject. See how other playwrights have done it. Research. If you can go see films, plays, see how people have told different stories in different ways.
- Write every day. Don’t sit around dreaming about it. I always made sure that I wrote for at least fifteen minutes every day.
- Meet other writers. Go to workshops. Read your play out loud. If you are a playwright, it is meant for people, there’s no point in being shy, because why are you trying to write for the stage? Be bold. Be open to constructive criticism. Join collectives of writers, read out your work to each other even if it’s terrifying.
