Students can enroll to the online class once they show him the proof of donation.
Satyanshu Singh teaches scriptwriting to those who donate for coronavirus relief
Mumbai - 07 Apr 2020 19:00 IST
Keyur Seta
Quite a few film personalities have come forward to provide financial aid to those impacted by the lockdown in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. Writer-director Satyanshu Singh is also doing his bit, but in a slightly unusual and thoughtful manner.
Singh has started taking online scriptwriting classes, but instead of charging a fee, he is asking prospective students to donate the money for coronavirus relief. Once Singh receives proof of the same through a screenshot, he accepts the person as a student in his online class.
He has been updating the donations on Twitter from 30 March onwards. “No money comes to me. Students make donations to the fund of their choice, out [of] the options I provide to them. I give them a time window for making the payment. Once they send me the confirmation message, I register them for an upcoming lecture. Then we talk cinema,” he said on Twitter.
Yesterday (29th March), I wondered on Twitter if I could teach cinema online and raise money for #coronavirusrelief.
— satyanshu singh (@satysingh) March 30, 2020
As of now, Rs 10,000/- have already been raised and donated.
I have a feeling this will grow. Hence starting a thread.
Keep reading if you want to know more.
A day later, Singh had managed to generate a good amount of money which he says he couldn’t have donated on his own. “Two lectures are sold out already. We have managed to raise and donate Rs42,501 so far. This money is more than I could have donated on my own. So I am giving my time. People are contributing with small amounts of money. Together we are stronger,” he posted on 31 March.
After reaching Rs1 lakh on 1 April, the amount generated as of yesterday was Rs3 lakh. Apart from India, he is getting students from other countries like Canada, USA, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia and Singapore.
The topics for Singh’s online lectures include, introduction to film directing, dialogue writing for screen, writing a story: beginning, middle, end and fundamentals of screenwriting.
Singh made his directorial debut last year with Chintu Ka Birthday, for which he was also the story writer. The film starred Vinay Pathak and Tillotama Shome. He was a lyricist with Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012) and one of the writers for Vikramaditya Motwane’s highly acclaimed Udaan (2010).
He has also co-directed the short film Tamaash with Devanshu Kumar. It won the Special Jury Award at the 2014 National Film Awards.
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