A living legend, Sai Paranjype reveals her fun side, quick wit and reflects upon her expansive journey. By Upasana singh
Sai Paranjpye’s fun-loving side, insightful thoughts, incredible narrative skills and enthusiasm for life was evident in her recent outing at NSD where she spoke at length about the intricacies of her craft, anecdotes from her expansive journey and theater memories which are still fresh in her mind. She is an acclaimed director and screenwriter, renowned for her work in award-winning films like Sparsh, Katha, Chasme Buddoor and Disha.
As a director , she has written innumerable plays. “I wasn’t excited about acting but writing and directing has always been my passion”, says the Padma Bhushan awardee director Paranjpye who took us through her journey of filmmaking. An alumni of National School of Drama (NSD) who later took the opportunity to teach acting and speech at the Film and Television Institute of India before joining Delhi Doordarshan as one of India’s first batch of producers which comprised six members. Wearing a pink sari with subtle charm in her sea blue eyes, Paranjpaye took the audience through some of the eloquent chapters of her life.
Travelling back in time, the director recalled a romance-sequence between Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi and how they secretly evaded the respective authorities to get the scene shot at golf course. “For the scene, I wanted to get it shot at the golf course garden because I found that place very picturesque for such a scene. On a new day, we all packed our bags to approach the venue but unfortunately the fees they asked for were much higher than our entire budget. Since, I am one of those mischievous individuals, an idea was forming in my head. I wanted to shoot the scene without letting the authorities know about it. We followed the plan and decided to go with the required members which involved the main actors, director and cameraperson. We jumped the wall and fell straight into the garden. Peacefully, we shot the whole sequence and that one scene was one of the key elements responsible for Naseeruddin Shah receiving the National award.”
Digging into her memories about her first ever television presence, she revealed that her first programme was a huge flop but luckily, it got her the opportunity for a second programme which was based on a couple’s competition. “It was about celebrating the golden jubilee with a team of 14 couples. Earlier, we were not sure of the entire format but eventually she discovered that we got 75 entries for it and therefore the selection process went through. The show became quite popular and I was amazed to see the enthusiasm of the Delhiites.”
However, being the first lady to bring the concept of tamasha, she calls it suspension of disbelief. “ That was the time when I really wanted to try a tamasha style in acting. Ek tamasha Achha Khasa was the one that I performed and it went very well.” There was another Punjabi play that she performed and when she was asked about the most challenging direction she had ever done, she said, “Hitler on the roof” was produced after I resigned from Doordarshan.” Talking about her big breakthrough where she was invited to Mumbai for performing a musical theatre, Paranjpye shared, “That experience was different as it had a cast of around 50 people, 13 scene changes and countless sets. But primarily I liked the dream sequence attached to this play which was the most interesting part of it. To add some creativity to that part, we hid the faces of the actors with face stoking which made them appear like faceless people. That sequence caught the attention and made the show a successful one.
Shedding light on one of her personal favourite direction, Paranjpye shared that Disha, based on the plight of immigrant workers in urban India, starring Shabana Azmi, Nana Patekar and Om Puri was one such drama.
Asked about where she draws her inspiration in life, Paranjpye shared, “My grandfather R P Paranjpye and mother Shakuntala Paranjpye were the two inspirational pillars. He was an educationist, social reformer and was the Senior Wrangler at the University of Cambridge. He was the one who taught me Charles Dickens, Jane Austen stories apart from Marathi novels and short stories. I believe, he was very instrumental in shaping me but even more than him, my mother was the one who discovered the unusual writing talent in me.”
Her first children’s book was published when she was just 8 years old. Reminiscing about that experience, she said, “My mother used to read stories to me before I went to sleep and one fine day she asked me to read a story to her as she was too tired and wanted to sleep. I read a story to her which I had made and she was pleasantly surprised. She couldn’t believe that I had made a story on my own and since that day she instructed me to pen down two stories each day. I hated it at first but within a few days I had an extensive collection of stories and that is how my first book got published.”
“I believe there are a lot of children who possess some talent since their childhood days but they don’t have a doting mother like me”, she added jokingly.
Talking about her inspiration for her film, Sparsh, Paranjpye said, “I have deep empathy for blinds so much so that I can’t even bear to look at them as it is too painful. Quite ironically, I was forced to go to a blind school as part of my job with Doordarshan.”