...and that's what the Screenwriters Association Awards were all about, where The Free Press Journal was present.

They don't dance on 'trending' songs to get views. They don't get papped for their airport looks. They don't go about town talking about achievements which they don't even deserve credit for. No, screenwriters are those who spend hours, a lot of the time alone alone, crafting stories that bring superstars to life. And that's what the Screenwriters Association Awards celebrate every year.

It was nearly a historic clean sweep for filmmaker Imtiaz Ali at the 6th edition of the Screenwriters Association Awards as his acclaimed loved feature 'Amar Singh Chamkila' bagged three awards out of the four categories it was nominated in.

Over the years, the SWA awards have emerged as the most credible and prestigious honours—for the screenwriters, by the screenwriters. The 6th edition, which saw the biggest names from the industry in attendance, honoured groundbreaking films, series, and TV shows of 2024 that pushed the envelope of storytelling. All 15 categories had over 1,500 entries and were judged by a jury of 15 esteemed screenwriters for over seven months.

Imtiaz, and his screenwriter brother Sajid Ali, took home two coveted trophies for best story and best screenplay for their work in the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer that chronicled the pulsating story of the titular Punjabi musician. 'Amar Singh Chamkila' won its third award for lyrics, with Irshad Kamil being adjudged as the winner for his track ‘Baaja’. The lyricist dominated the category with a record five nominations.

Sajid Ali, who was present at the ceremony, accepted the honour and said, “Imtiaz couldn't be here because he's preparing to be here next year as well! But thank you, SWA. Getting this award from the fraternity makes it more special."

When Irshad Kamil was called on stage to collect the award, the lyricist quipped, “A lot of things were proven tonight, including something that I had always believed: I am my own competition,” as the audience broke into a thunderous applause.

Kamil continued, "It's not easy for a writer to write. There's an entire universe in their soul, which they summon up to write. It was difficult for me to understand how Chamkila would write. I am so happy I won it for ‘Baaja’.”

In the feature film category, it was actor Kunal Kemmu who bagged the best dialogue award for his hilarious directorial debut ‘Madgaon Express’. He was given the award by filmmaker Ramesh Sippy and veteran writer Robin Bhatt, who revealed that he had written ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke’, the 1993 film in which Kemmu was the youngest child.

Receiving the award, Kemmu said, “This means so much. I’m so excited, and honestly, I’m borderline emotional right now. This is my first writing nomination, my first writing award — and that too from the writing community. I even filled out the nomination form myself when I found out there was a list! This trophy is for my grandfather, Padma Shri Moti Lal Kemmu, who was a playwright from Jammu & Kashmir. I haven’t read much of his work, and he never got to see any of mine, but I’m sure he’s watching from above and is proud of me.”

What was also unprecedented was the best debut feature filmcategory, which saw all three nominees bagging the award: Shuchi Talati for 'Girls Will Be Girls', Biplab Goswami and Sneha Desai for India's Oscar Submission 'Laapataa Ladies' and Bodhayan Roychaudhury for 'Sector 36'.

"It is truly a bit of a shock because till about four years back, I didn't even exist in the industry. I was an MBA who accidentally entered the industry in 2022. This is supposed to show that, honestly, as John Lennon said, 'Life is what happens to you while you're planning other things.' Thank you for creating a forum where you're judged by your own peers, where it's about the story. It's not about the box office, it's not about anything else," said Bodhayan.

In the Web (Drama) section, it was ‘Freedom At Midnight’ dominating with two awards: best story for Abhinandan Gupta and best screenplay for Gupta,Adwitiya Kareng Das, Gundeep Kaur and Revanta Sarabhai. Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava took home the best dialogue award for their work in ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’.

While ‘Raat Jawaan Hai’ emerged as the champion in the Web (Comedy/Musical/Romance) category, landing best dialogue and screenplay honours for Khyati Anand-Puthran. Writers Atmika Didwania, Karan Singh Tyagi, Anand Tiwari, Sejal Pachisia & Digant Patil were awarded for 'best story’ for their show ‘Bandish Bandits’ season 2.

In the television honours, three different shows won in the three categories. While the popular TV show ‘Anupamaa’ won for best dialogues (penned by ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ writer Divy Nidhi Sharma and Aparajita Sharma), Leena Gangopadhyay’s work on ‘Iss Ishq Ka… Rabb Rakha’ landed best screenplaywhile Amitabh Singh Ramkshatra won best story for ‘Jubilee Talkies’.

The best lyrics for TV/Web went to JUNO for Feeling Nayi Hai from ‘Gullak’ season 4.

Quotes of the night

1. "Kuch karkei toh itni bheed ikathi ho gayi hai. Lagta hai ab toh Netflix ke office ke bahar jaakei dharna kar saktei hai"

Zaman Habib, General Secretary, SWA

2. "All programmes of Sony which were on SonyLiv didn't have credits! We were trying to get them to include this for the last 5 years. And finally, just last week the credits have begun showing again"

Zaman Habib, General Secretary, SWA

3. "An actor once asked me, 'Ye line zaroori hai kya? I replied, 'Mai pannei bharnei ke liyei nahi likhta'

Chairperson, SWA, Hitesh Kewalya