Elements of good dialogues in a movie with examples of Indian Cinema
Any type of conversation, comment or speech which helps to elaborate the plot or establish the character in the movie is an effective dialogue in the movie. If the dialogue represents something else then it is being detached from the story which would lead to the decrease in interest and involvement towards the movie. Some usual dialogues like Good morning can be maximumly reduced and also kept in the film to maintain its naturality.Dialogue simply should be a sound among other sounds, just something which comes out of the mouth of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.
By ALFRED HITCHCOCK
1. Showing more and telling less :
As it is known fact that a picture can tell more than words. Hence it is always better to tell the story as much as possible in pictures than through dialogue. As minimal and effective way of using dialogue is said to be the best ways to use it. But there are exceptions such as Anie hall which is full of dialogues and The Artist which is more of a silent film and both were nominated and also won several Oscars. Hence there is also a common sense which could be used as per the subject of the film while determining the dialogues. When we talk about exceptions Indian film industry is known for its dialogues and there are so many examples of dialogues being used excessively in a movie.
this climax scene of movie Drishyam was an example of showing and not telling
But there are lot of other examples where long debates between people became famous in Indian cinema from the time of Jawed Akhtar and Salim Khan combination
moral debates between brothers or with mother became famous because those debates had a direct relationship with the theme of the story which made people intrigued towards the movie.
2. 10 WORDS 3 SENTENCE RULE
Starting with ten words per sentence and three sentences per character as the maximum limit is the basic thumb rule which is used in screenwriting to keep the screenplay interesting. But of course, these rules can be broken like any other rules in film making. Creative medium is the only medium where you get extra points for breaking the rules effectively and totally disastrous results could also occur it is for the sake of breaking. These rules are to maintain a standard quality in a screenplay.
Examples of dialogues in Dhangal
3. Cross your T's
When we finish the script it is always better to cut down the T shape which is formed in the screenplay in a western method of script writing. As in Hollywood style of scripting and in the famous software such as Celtex or First Draft the format used is Hollywood style. Hence dialogues are written in the middle of the page and actions start from the extreme left and covers entire space.
example from the movie prestige
The written lines marked in blue is action and the other one in orange is dialogue. As more T shape is said to be the visiting card of first time writer. As he would be more inclined towards dialogue without giving any actions to the characters
4. Fulfill dialogue intentions:
As a screenplay writer, your job is to fulfill the intentions of the dialogue. Whether the character should say it or not is the last resort
example from Bajirao Mastani where the intentions of the character is pretty much clear through the dialogues
This is a dialogue in Anand which gives courage to the central character to lead his further life. As he is suffering from cancer.
5.Swing of everyday talk and content above normal
Dialogues should not feel imposed or artificial for maintaining its realistic and believable tone. As Bollywood films are mostly known for its play style dialogues from its early stage. There has been a huge change in the way dialogue is portrayed in many films. As it has become more realistic and believable. But with this quality dialogue should also have another quality which is that the content should always be above normal and relate to the story.
This is the dialogue in the movie Hindi Medium where we come to know that Raj Malhotra has problems with English in a very natural conversation.
6. To Know your Character
This is the first and foremost job of a dialogue writer. As there are chances that in the initial writing every character may be speaking like you. It is because we don't know the characters deeply. For example
The beliefs and need for both the characters in life in this film are contradictory to each other. This moves the whole story forward in this film.
As Indians, we are prone to debates and asking each other questions and answering them starting from our very ancient and holy scripture Bhagwat Geetha or any other ancient stories. We carry this in our movies also and that gives a total idea of a character. There are a lot of examples in Indian movies for debate dialogues about beliefs of two characters in the movie. Whether it be Deewar( the debate between two brothers) or Shakthi (the debate between father and son). Even recently the above example of Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani ( the debate between hero and heroine)
These debates are very nice ways to know the character totally and his or her belief systems. This method is used by many writers to know the characters while writing but less portrayed on screen in other languages. We portray and lose our opportunities of Subtext in the film.
7. Create Intriguing Characters
Creating the characters who will grab our interest in them to know what they are up to next or the characters which we relate to create an opportunity for excellent dialogues.
For example:
Darr,Baazighar and Don are the movies which had the main character of Sha Rukh Khan in such a state that as the audience we were keen to know what would he speak next or do next.
Most of the engineering students could relate to the dialogues which Aamir spoke in the movie 3 Idiots.
8. USING SUBTEXT
The subtext in dialogue is a line which
character thinks but does not say or say something else. As audience involved in the movie and character, we know what the character meant.
REFERENCES
1.R1
2.R2
character thinks but does not say or say something else. As audience involved in the movie and character, we know what the character meant.
Film name: Badrinath ki Dulhaniya
Dialogue in mind: You didn't sing well..............
I would like to thank Mindscreen Film Institute for the rich knowledge I got from there.
1.R1
2.R2
