A prestigious event celebrating Boman Irani's scriptwriting teaching platform, Spiral Bound, was attended by Bollywood luminaries including Javed Akhtar, Anupam Kher, Aamir Khan and Archana Puran Singh.
The platform’s success was widely acknowledged, with announcements that Spiral Bound will collaborate this year with Moscow Cluster, a Russian production company.
Speaking to the media, Boman Irani reflected on Bollywood's historical ties with Russia, recalling the popularity of Raj Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty in the country. He provided details about the upcoming collaboration, stating, “We have a very old friendship with Russia. Raj Kapoor used to go to Russia and promote his films. He used to participate in the film festivals there. Mithun Chakraborty is very famous there. He used to shoot a lot of films there. It seems that the time has come that we can shoot Indian films in Russia. They can shoot their films here. This is the first step of this relationship.”
Irani added, “George has very kindly sponsored three of our winners to go to Moscow. I have heard that their film studios are very well-made. They are new film studios. They are the best in the world. We have been invited to go there. I will also go there. The three top winners of today’s program who have sent their scripts will visit the studios and conduct workshops. I will also conduct a workshop there.”
Veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar commended Boman Irani for his success and credibility, saying, “He (Boman Irani) has one more quality, which is credibility. The kind of respect he holds in the film industry is very rare. So whatever we are seeing is actually the manifestation of somebody’s honest efforts, somebody’s genuine desire to help others, to enlighten others, and I respect that. My salute to Mr Boman.”
Actor Anupam Kher expressed optimism about the future impact of Spiral Bound's students, stating, “The spiral-bound, which he started during the COVID-19 pandemic, has now become a huge movement for writers. It’s a huge platform. In today’s event, some screenplays will be selected that will provide a new perspective. I think this is fantastic. In the coming years, all the screenplays we will read, I have full hope that 90% of them will be written by students of Boman who will be members of the spiral bound. And many more like him.”
According to a press release, Boman Irani revealed that Spiral Bound originated from mentoring sessions with writer-directors over phone calls during the pandemic, after which one participant suggested moving sessions to Zoom, helping to establish the platform.