New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) A time will come when you will find yourself heading for the final departure lounge, wondering when your flight is to be announced. It is then that you will fervently wish to leave behind some small token of your having been around – not entirely without a purpose, says award-winning director, author, theatre, radio and TV personality of her memoir, “A Patchwork Quilt”.
“An honest life story should leave nothing out. Every detail of a life well lived should be shared with the reader. All the ups and downs, bouquets and brickbats, achievements and failures, honours and slights, conquests and heartbreaks, friendships and feuds must be faithfully chronicled.
“I do hope that this quilt can provide some warmth and comfort to those it reaches,” she adds in the book that is full of lively anecdotes and wisdom, offering an exciting peek into the creative life of a pioneer of the alternate, independent cinematic movement.
An account of her creative forays –- in film, theatre, radio, television and writing -– it had to be committed to paper, “just that it had remained locked up all this time, the key safely tucked away”.
“I am glad that HarperCollins (the publisher), located the key. It’s a relief to have let it out while there is still breath in my lungs and ink in my pen. It will also give me the chance to connect with a whole new audience after a long and varied career. Exciting,” she added.
Krishan Chopra, Publisher, HarperCollins India, described the memoir as “warm-hearted and full of the energy we have come to associate with Sai Paranjpye’s films”.
Paranjpye’s life is indeed multicoloured. Born to noted author and social worker Shakuntala Paranjpye and Russian artist Youra Sleptzoff, and granddaughter of acclaimed mathematician Sir R.P. Paranjpye, Sai started her career at All India Radio, Pune. She also launched a Children’s Theatre in the city.
She then graduated from the National School of Drama, training under Ebrahim Alkazi, going on to direct many popular and critically acclaimed plays. Later, she joined Doordarshan, where she produced the inaugural programme of Bombay Doordarshan.
She is, of course, best known for her landmark films, which won national and international awards –- “Sparsh”, “Katha”, “Disha”, “Papeeha” and “Saaz” -– and the evergreen “Chashme Buddoor”.
Her successful forays into different media still continue – she won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2019 for her Marathi translation of Naseeruddin Shah’s memoir.
Paranjpye was awarded the Padma Bhushan in in 2006 for her work in the media.
–IANS
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