Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/November 3, 2019

The plot summary names the antagonist as Anna Seth. I am probably not well informed on Indian naming traditions, but if I am right in assuming that Anna is the given name, then should he not be referred to thereafter as Seth? (This would also remove any confusion for those who are far more familiar with 'Anna' as a female given name) Kevin McE (talk) 12:22, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

"after Karan decides to avenge his friend's death by Anna." Death by Anna seems like quite a way to go! Death at the hands of Anna/murder by Anna (if it was murder)/death which was ordered by Anna. (although as above, I wonder whether it should say 'Seth' rather than 'Anna') Would need input from somebody who has seen the film. Kevin McE (talk) 12:22, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

I'll make an edit to handle both of these points. - Dank (push to talk) 02:07, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Thanks Kevin McE (talk) 12:13, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

FYI, we generally refer to fictional characters the same way they are commonly referred to in the work. This means that some characters may be referred to by first names or nicknames and others by surnames (MOS:SURNAME). Exceptions can be made to avoid confusion in cases of ambiguity (or, I guess, in blurbs where there isn't much context). – Reidgreg (talk) 13:49, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

"Shiv Kumar Subramaniam penned the screenplay with dialogue from Imtiyaz Husain" and this after we have been told that it was co-written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. What on earth is the screenplay if it is not the script? Chopra apparently conceived the general idea, but does that make him a co-writer as that would normally be understood? We should be informing readers of the Main Page, rather than leaving them bemused, which I fear is the likelihood with this. Kevin McE (talk) 12:22, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

Read the lead again, and also see the second reference ... search for "I didn’t put my name on the script". - Dank (push to talk) 02:07, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

The interview in Livemint is talking about a different film (Broken Horses). I see that blurb is consistent with the lead of the article, but that does not alter the fact that the statement is totally at odds with what is generally perceived to be the act of writing (a more encyclopaedic term than penning) a screenplay. I have asked in article talk. Kevin McE (talk) 12:13, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Agreed that some clarification would be helpful. - Dank (push to talk) 13:11, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Apparently a dialogue-writer is a common speciality in Indian cinema and television, writing only the spoken lines of the characters. see wikt:dialogue definition 2. I've made a request at WP:RA (and the Indian cinema task force) for an article or section on this missing topic. – Reidgreg (talk) 13:49, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Kailash29792 at ICTF was kind enough to provide a link to this Hindustan Times interview explaining dialogue-writing in India. – Reidgreg (talk) 14:16, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Thanks: interesting. So Husain wrote the script, based on an idea by Chopra, and Subramaniam wrote the stage directions. In Western cinema, would that not make Subramaniam a director rather than a writer?

But to complicate things further, the division of tasks is not (according the the production section of the article) as strictly divided as the lead, and therefore the blurb, suggest: "The screenplay of Parinda was written by Chopra and Shiv Kumar Subramaniam".

And how does that leave the text for the Main Page? The description of roles as it stands might make sense to those seeking out an article on an Indian film, but not much sense to the general reader. Kevin McE (talk) 16:22, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Okay, no replies yet on the article talk page on this point, so it probably makes sense to go with something simpler, like "The script was co-written by Chopra, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam and Imtiyaz Husain." Any objections? - Dank (push to talk) 14:08, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

Sounds good. Alternatively, could use "Parinda was co-written by". Though script should be broad enough and hopefully avoid the confusion of screenplay and dialogues. – Reidgreg (talk) 16:47, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

yeah: co-written avoids issues of what the definition of a screenwriter is. Kevin McE (talk) 18:18, 30 October 2019 (UTC)