Having neutralised the threat of the ultimatum, Bende was back at the Mokashi-Kulkarni house. This time, instead of talking, he read out to them the story he had written. “They both loved it so much that they immediately took over,” remembered Bende. “Madhugandha started writing — she’s the producer but she’s also a writer — she started writing the script and I was assisting her in the process. Meanwhile, Paresh [Mokashi] started his own version without telling us. Two months later, we had two different versions of this film,” said Bende. Mokashi found the soul of the film in a witty and profound voiceover. He said, “He’s [Bende] not a writer. He just jotted down some interesting incidents and anecdotes. Initially, it didn’t inspire me. I couldn’t see a film in it because I have been hearing the same stories for a while. The material required serious thought and I kept churning it over and over in my head.”
Bende went from having no written story to two film treatments within two months’ time; when it rains it pours. “Madhugandha’s version was completely commercial,” said Bende. “It had song possibilities, it was a very easy script to get the producers on-board. Paresh’s script was a little tricky, very experimental and quite sad…almost. I liked Paresh’s approach. I chose his draft.”
Growing up in a society where one had to jump over the barriers of caste and society wasn’t easy for Bende and in Mokashi’s script for Aatmapamphlet, he found “something that I always wanted to say”. The sparkling comedy is about a boy and his group of friends, who stick together despite challenges like caste prejudices and economic disparities. For Bende, the film may be based on his own experiences, but it’s also an alternative reality. “This is a happy film. Everything is very happy, but when you are a Dalit growing up in this world, not all memories are good, right?” said Bende. “I was getting discriminated against, I was getting sidelined. The friends’ characters in the film are based on my own best friends, but they are not my best friends anymore. All these friends that I grew up with have inclined towards the right wing and I miss them. I wanted to show them: What if they hadn’t changed that much? I just wanted to express the feeling of universal brotherhood.” Initially, the struggle for Bende was to find the right tone for his story. “I just needed to put it into the right words, and Paresh has written it so beautifully (without offending anyone) and it made me want to tell the story to the world,” he said.