From Meerut’s quiet neighbourhoods to writing some of Hindi cinema’s biggest films, Sumit Arora’s journey has unfolded through instinct, discipline, and an unshakable belief in storytelling.
The screenwriter behind Stree, 83, Jawan, and the recent Border 2 did not grow up dreaming of red carpets. He grew up with books.
Literature Before Cinema
“I was primarily into literature,” Arora recalls. “Books and comics were a big part of my growing-up years, more than films.”
Cinema entered his imagination in 2001, when Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India was nominated for an Oscar. The moment shifted something.
“It became like a childish fascination. I realised storytelling could take you very far.”
That year, Lagaan and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha became professional turning points. But his personal turning point came earlier, and with grief.
The Loss That Changed Everything
At 14, Arora lost his elder sister. She was 16. She used to write. He had never tried.
“After she passed away, my mother encouraged me to write. That is when I discovered I was good at it.”
The loss reshaped him. He suddenly became the eldest sibling. Responsibility arrived early. Writing became a private space to process it.
Entering the Character’s Mind
Arora’s dialogue writing is rooted in curiosity about people. He studies how they think, how they react, and why they behave the way they do.
“It’s fascinating because we get to live many lives within this one life.”
He points to Stree as an example. The three friends. Vicky, Bittu, and Jana. Same situation. Different thoughts. Different responses.
To write Vijay Varma’s twisted character Anand in Dahaad, he had to move past caricature. “If you try understanding his complexity and where his darker side comes from, the writing becomes richer.”
Mining Personal Memory
Some of his most loved moments come from memory.
In Stree, Bittu’s habit of filling his bike with petrol worth Rs 50 was drawn from Arora’s own childhood. His father used to do the same.
“I would always think, what if it breaks down at a crucial moment?”
In the film, the bike does stop. In the middle of fear. The irritation of a teenage son became a comic beat in a horror-comedy blockbuster.
The Café That Changed His Career
Stree itself came through chance.
Arora was sitting in a Mumbai café when director Amar Kaushik walked in. They knew each other casually. Kaushik mentioned he was working on a film.
“I asked who was writing the dialogues. He said talks were on.”
Arora offered to try. He wrote dialogues for the first 15 pages. The team approved. That morning meeting became a career pivot.
“If I weren’t in that café that day, I wouldn’t have gotten Stree.”
From Rs 4,000 to Mumbai Survival
At 17, Arora arrived in Mumbai with Rs 4,000 borrowed from eight different people.
He wanted to write and direct films. Television was never part of the plan. But Mumbai demanded survival first.
“The Rs 4,000 ran out very fast.”
He took a trainee job with a senior television dialogue writer. Stability came before ambition. Slowly, he began carving a path toward cinema.
Shows like Dill Mill Gayye, Chhoona Hai Aasmaan, and Sadda Haq gave him ground experience. Films followed. Stree. 83. Jawan. Now Border 2.
Writing as Continuation
Looking back, Arora does not frame his story as an overnight success. It is a sequence of turning points. Some are born from loss. Some from luck. All from persistence.
He still approaches dialogue the same way. By asking what the character feels in the quiet moment before speaking.
The boy who read comics in Meerut did not imagine writing for cinema. The teenager who lost his sister found a voice through grief. The 17-year-old who arrived in Mumbai with Rs 4,000 learned to survive first.
The rest followed.
Screenwriter Sumit Arora shares his journey from Meerut to Mumbai. Photograph: (Sumit Arora)
Source: Better India’s Interview
