Sai Paranjpye
Born	March 19, 1938 (1938-03-19) (age 71) Lucknow  India
Occupation	Director, Screenwriter

Sai Parānjpye (born 19 March 1938) is a movie director and a screenwriter in India. She is the director of award-winning movies, Sparsh, Katha, Chasme Buddoor, and Disha. Disha won an award at the Cannes Film Festival.

The Government of India awarded Sai, the Padma Bhushan title in 2006 in recognition of her artistic talents^[1].

Contents 1 Early years 1.1 Career 2 Personal life 3 Awards 4 Bibliography 5 Filmography 6 Further reading 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early years

Sai Paranjpye was born on 19 March 1938 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh to Youra Sleptzoff and Shakuntala Paranjpye^[2]. Youra Sleptzoff was a Russian watercolor artist and a son of a Russian general. Shakuntala Paranjpye was an actor in Marathi and Hindi films, in 1930s and 40s, including in V. Shantaram's Hindi social classic, Duniya Na Mane (1937), and later became a writer and a social worker, nominated to Rajya Sabha, Upper house of Indian Parliament and awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1991 ^[3].

Sai's parents divorced shortly after Sai's birth, and Sai's mother raised Sai in the household of her own father, Sir R. P. Paranjpye, who was a renowned mathematician and an educationist and who also served in 1944-47 as India's High Commissioner in Australia. Sai thus grew up and received education various cities in India, including Pune, and a few years in Canberra, Australia ^[4]. As a child, she used to walk up to her uncle, Achyut Ranade, a noted filmmaker of the ’40s and ’50s, up Fergusson Hill in Pune, who would tell stories as if he were narrating a screenplay ^[5]. Sai took to writing early in her life, and her first book of fairy tales, Mulānchā Mewā (in Marathi) was published when she was eight^[6][7][8].

Sai graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi in 1963^[9].

[edit] Career

Sai started her career in All India Radio (AIR) in Pune, Maharashtra, India as an announcer, and soon got involved with AIR's Children's Program.

Over the years, Sai has written and directed plays in Marathi, Hindi, and English, both for adults and children. She has written and directed thus far six feature films, two children’s films, and five documentaries. She has also written many book for children, and six of her books have won national or state level awards.

Sai worked for many years as a director or a producer with Doordarshan Television in Delhi. Her first made-for-TV movie, The Little Tea Shop (1972), had won the Asian Broadcasting Union Award at Teheran^[10], Iran. Later that year, she was selected to produce the Inaugural Program of Bombay (Mumbai) Doordarshan.

In the 1970s, Sai twice served as the Chairperson of Children's Film Society of India (CFSI), which is a Government of India organization with the objective of promoting and ensuring value-based entertainment for children^[11]. She made four children's films for CFSI, including the award-winning Jādoo Kā Shankh (1974) and Sikandar (1976)^[12].

Sai's first feature film, Sparsh (The Touch), was released in 1980, and it won five film awards, including the National Film Award. Sparsh was followed by the comedies, Chashme Buddoor (1981) and Kathā (1982). Kathā was a musical satire based on the folk tale of a tortoise and a rabbit^[13].

Sai next made TV serials, Ados Pados (1984), and Chhote Bade (1985).

Sai's subsequent movies include Angoothā Chhāp (1988) about National Literacy Mission; Disha (1990) about the plight of immigrant workers; Papeeha (Forest Love Bird) (1993); Saaz (1997) (inspired by the lives of Indian playback singing sisters, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle)^[14]; and Chakā Chak (2005), which was aimed at creating public awareness about environment issues^[6].

She also made the serial Hum Panchi Ek Chawl Ke, Partyana, Behnaa. Sridhar Rangayan assisted her in the film 'Papeeha' and in the serials 'Hum Panchi Ek Chawl Ke' and 'Partyana'

Sai directed several documentary movies, including those on Helping Hand (London), Talking Books, Capt. Laxmi, Warna Orchestra, and Pankaj Mullick. Sai's 1993 documentary, Choodiyan, on the anti-liquor agitation in a small Maharashtra village for the Films Division, received the National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues^[10].

In 2001, Sai made a movie for children, Bhago Bhoot. At the first Indian International Women's Film Festival in Goa in 2005, a review of Sai's movies was held, and it featured her best movies^[15]. She headed the jury in the feature film category of the 55th National Film Awards for 2007 ^[16].

[edit] Personal life

Sai was married to theater artist Arun Joglekar, and the two had a son, Gautam, and a daughter, Winnie. Sai and Arun separated after two years^[17], but they remained friends until Arun's death in 1992. After their separation, Arun acted in Sai's Sparsh (1980) and Katha (1983)^[18]. Their son Gautam Paranjpe is a professional cameraman, and their daughter Winnie Paranjpe Joglekar is now a home maker. Winnie acted in many of Sai's movies and TV serials in the 1980s^[19]. Winnie and her husband, Abhay, have two children: Abeer and Anshunee ^[8].Gautam starred as the male lead in Nana Patekar's directorial venture "Prahaar" with Madhuri Dixit playing the female lead.

[edit] Awards

• 1980: National Film Award for Best Screenplay: Sparsh
• 1985: Filmfare Best Director Award: Sparsh
• 1985: Filmfare Best Dialogue Award: Sparsh ^[20].
• 1993: National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues: Choodiyan

[edit] Bibliography

• Nana Phadnavis, India Book House Education Trust; Echo ed edition, 1971.
• Rigmarole And Other Plays, Penguin Books India (Puffin). 2008. ISBN 0143330667.

[edit] Filmography

• The Little Tea Shop (TV-1972)
• Jadu Ka Shankh (1974)
• Begaar (1975)
• Sikander (1976)
• Dabcherry Milk Project (1976)
• Captain Laxmi (1977)
• Freedom From Fear (1978)
• Sparsh (1980)
• Chasme Buddoor (1981)
• Books That Talk (1981)
• Katha (1983)
• Ados Pados (TV-1984)
• Chote Bade (TV-1985)
• Angootha Chhaap (1988)
• Disha (1990)
• Papeeha (1993)
• Chooriyan (1993)
• Saaz (1997)
• Bhago Bhoot (2000)
• Chaka Chak (2005)

[edit] Further reading

• Profiles in Creativity; Upadhyay, Madhusoodhan Narasimhacharya, Namaste Exports Ltd., 1991 Part II, 53. ISBN 8190034901. [1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sai Paranjpye at the Internet Movie Database
• Deepti Naval in Sai Paranjpye's next film