Screenwriters Inc, a book of conversations with 33 directors and writers of Hindi cinema, has put the work of screenwriters back in the spotlight. Scroll.in carried a piece on the book on 8 November, drawing attention to the writers behind some of the most watched films and web series of recent years. The book is by Mihir Chitre, an advertising creative and filmmaker, and it is published by Om Books International.
The full title of the book is Screen Writers Inc: 33 Masters on the Art and Craft of Screen Writing, and it is usually shortened to Screenwriters Inc. Chitre interviewed 33 directors and writers, including Sai Paranjpye, Anjum Rajabali, Abhishek Chaubey, Sita Menon, Imtiaz Ali, Shakun Batra and Reema Kagti. The conversations cover how scripts take shape, how writers work with directors, and how much of a film is set before a camera starts rolling.
The Scroll.in piece carried edited excerpts from Chitre’s conversation with Imtiaz Ali, the writer-director of Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met, Rockstar and Amar Singh Chamkila, and the co-creator of the show She. Ali spoke about his creative process, and the excerpt was headed with his line, “The reality is the trigger; the rest is imagination.” Chitre asked him how his idea of art changed from Jamshedpur to Delhi and then from Delhi to Bombay, and Ali said it changed a lot.
Screenwriters Inc and the Imtiaz Ali conversation
The Screenwriters Inc conversation with Ali traces his path from Jamshedpur, where he grew up, through Delhi, where he studied at Hindu College and worked in theatre, to Bombay, where he made his first film. He began writing skits in school and worked in television at Zee TV before moving to films. The book sets that journey beside the craft questions Chitre puts to each of his 33 subjects, from how a story starts to how a script survives the shoot.
The Hollywood Reporter India carried a separate excerpt from the book in December 2025, from Chitre’s conversation with Abhishek Chaubey. Chaubey is the writer-director behind Omkara, Ishqiya, Dedh Ishqiya, Sonchiriya and Udta Punjab. The excerpt, titled “In Praise of Creative Chaos”, looks at how accidents and rewrites shape a script, and it was carried with permission from the publisher, Om Books International.
In the Trends Literature Series, Chitre discussed Screenwriters Inc and the creative process behind screenwriting, along with the lessons shared by the 33 writers in the book. The series episode, recorded with Neeta Aneja, treats the book as a record of how Hindi film scripts are actually written, rather than a set of rules for writing one.
Screenwriters Inc and why writers stay unseen
The premise of Screenwriters Inc is that the script is where a film is made, and that the people who write it deserve the same attention as the people who direct it. Screenwriters in Hindi cinema have long worked with less public recognition than directors and stars. The 33 conversations in the book give writers a chance to explain their work in their own words, from first drafts to final cuts.
The book does not argue for a single way of writing. The Hollywood Reporter India called it a first-of-its-kind collection, a masterclass in storytelling drawn from the minds of India’s screenwriters. The book records 33 different ways of doing the job, from writers who plan every scene to writers who let the story find its shape on the page.
Screenwriters Inc and the writers it covers
The writers in Screenwriters Inc span generations, from Sai Paranjpye, whose work goes back decades, to writers working in streaming today. The list includes Anjum Rajabali, Sita Menon, Shakun Batra and Reema Kagti, alongside directors who write their own films, such as Imtiaz Ali and Abhishek Chaubey. The conversations were assembled by Chitre over the course of the project, and the book presents them as edited excerpts.
The latest excerpt from Screenwriters Inc appeared on Scroll.in on 8 November, and it is one of several the book has produced since its release. The book gives readers a look at the writing room, the draft, and the rewrite, and it leaves the reader with 33 accounts of how a Hindi film begins, on the page, before it reaches the screen.