Scripting Her Life

Chandigarh-based writer Gurleen Kaur Dhillon, whose short film Zimmevari has made her an overnight celebrity, talks about juggling chemistry and creativity

Chandigarh-based Gurleen

Kaur, 24, an MSc Degree holder from Panjab

University (2016), who has written the script for the short film

Zimmevari, which became an instant

Youtube hit, says that she is finally doing what she has always wanted to.

With storyteller Neelash Mishra lending his voice, the movie which released last month, explores the complex relationship between a new bride and her mother-in-law, staying miles away from the clichéd evil portrayal of the bridegroom’s mother. “I wanted to showcase multiple layers of this relationship and bring forth the fact that adjustments have to be made on both sides because it is complicated when a new person enters a house which was complete even without her.” The idea, the young writer says, came to her when she started attending her friends’ weddings. Stressing that most people laughed when she told them that she wanted to get a film made on this story, Dhillon adds, “Everything is associated with age, even dreams.” Approaching Chandigarhbased director, Abhishek Garg set the ball rolling. “He liked the theme immediately.”

Hailing from small town Tohana in Haryana, Dhillon, who has always been a Science student, remembers, “Despite the fact that I was always artistically inclined, physics and chemistry books always ruled my room. In fact in our family, women are far more educated than the men.”

The writer now wants to see herself on-screen. Although she had received several offers to act in television series, she could not go ahead with them as all the opportunities arrived right in the middle of her exams. Not interested in going to a film school, Dhillon wants to learn on the job by assisting scriptwriters who like to experiment with stories and mediums. “All my life I have been surrounded by textbooks, a little break won’t hurt,” she adds.