‘Came to Mumbai With Rs 4000’: Border 2 Screenwriter’s Journey From Meerut to Mumbai

Sumit Arora grew up in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, far from the glitter and allure of the film industry. But a profound personal loss in his teenage years shaped his instinct for storytelling. He followed his heart and the craft all the way to Mumbai, where, after an initial struggle, he landed writing roles for shows likeDill Mill Gayye (2007), Chhoona Hai Aasmaan(2007), Sadda Haq (2013), and others. Sumit has been a screenwriter for films like Stree (2018), 83 (2021), Jawan (2023), and the recent Border 2 (2026). 

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In this freewheeling conversation, we ask what drives him, and he tells us how the best dialogues are sometimes born from personal experiences. 

Q1. When you were growing up, did you picture yourself in cinema? 

I was primarily into literature. I used to read books and comics; they were a big part of my growing-up years, more than films. In fact, I never imagined I would write for films until 2001, when Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)was nominated for an Oscar. 

After this, screenwriting became like a childish fascination. It brought me the realisation that there was a whole world out there, and that storytelling could take you very far, with so many things to conquer and achieve.  

Q2. When you look back, what feels like a turning point for you?

There were two of them. Professionally, the inflection point was when Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001) were released. Those films changed my life and how I began to look at writing. 

Personally, an inflection point was when my elder sister passed away at the age of 16. I was 14. She used to write. I had never written before that. After she passed away, I started to write, encouraged by my mother, and discovered that I was good at it. In many ways, this loss changed things. Suddenly, I was the eldest sibling in the family. It changed a lot for me mentally. 

Q3. How do you step into your character’s shoes while writing dialogue?

It is difficult, but it's also a very interesting and fascinating process. Inherently, I’ve always been interested in people — how they think, how they behave, and why they are a certain way. I try to dig deeper to understand these things. This in-built curiosity about people and life helps me put myself in a character’s shoes and understand them. It’s interesting because we get to live many lives within this one life.

Q4. Can you walk us through this technique using a character as an example?

Yes, in the film Stree. The three friends — Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana), and Jana (Abhishek Banerjee) — are very different characters. To write dialogue for them, you have to imagine what they are thinking. Even when they are together in the same situation, they are thinking very different things, and that reflects in their conversations. 

Even if you take Vijay Varma’s character, Anand, in Dahaad (2023), he is a twisted guy. But you have to imagine what goes on inside his head to write him authentically. Otherwise, he could appear like a cardboard villain. If you try understanding his complexity and where his darker side comes from, you will see that he’s a product of his environment, the society that he grew up in, and the family that he grew up in. Once you understand all of that, the writing naturally comes out richer.

Q5. Have you ever drawn from personal relationships while framing a character?

Yes. The three friends in Stree. I took inspiration from two of my school friends, whom I used to hang out with. We would discuss everything about life with each other. I think my entire childhood, when I look back at it now, was pretty dramatic and cinematic. I think all of that helped me, and continues to help me, even today, to write films.

Q6. And when it comes to dialogues? 

Yes, absolutely. Stree, again. Bittu has a habit of filling his bike with pachaas rupaye ka petrol, orpetrol worth Rs 50. To give you context, despite being from a rich family, he has a habit of saving money. One night, his bike stops in the middle of the road, and the friends find that they are visited by a haunted spirit. Jana’s character completely loses it. 

This was inspired by a personal experience. My father used to fill pachaas rupaye ka petrolin the scooter. I would always wonder what if it broke down at a very crucial point, especially at a place where there was no petrol pump. That experience came in handy while writing the dialogues. All my anger and frustration towards my father about why he couldn’t just get the tank fully filled found its way into the scene. 

Q7. How did Stree come your way? 

I was sitting in a cafe in Mumbai. Amar Kaushik (director of Stree) stopped by. We knew each other, of course, but had no plans to meet. He asked me what I was writing those days. I told him I was working on a Netflix show, which later became Selection Day(2018). He told me he was making a film. I asked who was writing the dialogues, and he said talks were still on. He asked me if I had time, and I said I would give it a shot. 

He gave me the first 15 pages of the script. I wrote dialogues until that point, and the team liked those scenes. If I were not sitting at that cafe that morning, I would not have gotten Stree, which ended up being a big turning point in my career.

Q8. When you think about your journey from Meerut to mainstream cinema, how does it feel?

I came to Mumbai when I was 17 with Rs 4,000 in my pocket. I wanted to write and direct films. Writing for television was never in the plan. But Mumbai is a very expensive city, and soon, the Rs 4,000 that I had borrowed from eight different people ran out. 

My goal then became to survive in this city. So when I got a job as a trainee writer with a senior television dialogue writer, I felt it would give me some sort of stability. It would help me live in the city. Eventually, I started carving out my own path towards the world of films.