Abhijat Joshi tells Lekha Menon why he would never lampoon institutions and how walking is the best inspiration to write good scripts

By Lekha Menon (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 17, 2010)

On a two-month break from teaching at the Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, Abhijat Joshi, is basking in 3 Idiots’ success story. “We just wanted to make a good film; we never intended it to be a Titanic,” he chuckles, even as he moves on to his next script with Raju Hirani.

Abhijat talks passionately about ideas that fuel him - be it in the realm of cinema or education. And it isn’t difficult to see why. Hailing from a family of professors, he himself taught at an arts college in Ahmedabad before moving to the US for an MFA from the University of Texas, Austin. And as a teacher, he is thrilled to “take Premchand, Manto and Gandhi to students there.”

In many ways, he is an example of the ‘follow your heart, success will follow’ maxim. Abhijat was training to be an engineer but then switched to arts. No wonder the ace screenwriter is quick to defend the criticism that 3 Idiots negates the process of formal education.

Pic: Rana chakraborty

• Your partnership with Raju Hirani has delivered some of the most successful films in recent times. What explains your chemistry with him?

During Lage Raho Munnabhai, Raju especially wanted my assistance for the Gandhigiri scenes. Having been educated in the Gujarati medium I had access to Gandhi’s philosophies in the language. More >