After 'Rang Rasiya', Deepa Sahi will take up direction

New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) She may still be remembered as Shah Rukh Khan's Maya Memsaab, but actress Deepa Sahi is no longer interested in facing the camera again and says she would rather go behind the lens to fulfil her ultimate aim.

'I don't enjoy the process of acting. It needs a lot of patience and I am a very restless person. You drive to studio for one hour, get made up for another one hour, give shot then wait for two hours... I don't want to be in grind again. It is fun in the beginning, not any more,' Deepa told IANS.

'To be very honest, I joined the National School of Drama with the intention of being a director, but I was pushed into acting because there was an integrated course, no separate course to teach directing. So, I had no choice but to act. I don't have any godfather in the industry so I said let me enter the industry as an actress because that was the only thing I knew and that was the only opening I had.

'After I did a couple of films, I realised unless you are producing your film you are not directing your film because at the end of the day producers control everything. So, I said okay I will dig the well and become a producer first. Now I have enough experience in production,' said Deepa who has produced seven films so far.

She started with 'Maya Memsaab', which had her and Shah Rukh Khan in the main leads, and then made a string of films - 'Oh Darling', 'Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula' and 'Aar Ya Paar'. She co-produced 'The Rising'.

'I have produced one film which is ready for release called 'Phir Zindagi' and now 'Colours of Passion',' she said.

Now Deepa is ready to direct and just like her fellow filmmakers she is also planning to start her career in direction with a love story.

'It is two love stories in one. It's a relationship-based story I haven't decided on title yet. Tentatively, we are calling it 'Love in Shimla', which is registered titled so we can't use it,' the debutant director said.

She has scripted it along with some friends.

'I have written it with a friend of mine called Navsheel Mehta and couple of other people. It is like group activity,' she added.

Asked her when she is going to start filming, Deepa said: 'I am wrapping up my 'Rang Rasiya'. It will take few more months. I have already started approaching people for the casting. I will not like to take any names right now because it is at a very nascent age. It will be primarily shot in a hill station and remaining portions in some studio in Mumbai.'

She feels the current Bollywood gives more scope for individual expression.

'Bollywood is changing and the vital changes are because of the method of the viewing. Today, you don't have to be a pan Indian hit to succeed, you approach different audiences. The revenue model has changed - only forty percent of the recoveries are coming from ticket window, rest are coming from other places. Your markets are diverse and also it has become international, so it gives you more freedom. Crossover films are happening with culture specific subjects,' she said.

However, she feels big films are getting more corporatised.

She said, 'Big films are getting more uniformed; they are looking like each other. As Shekhar (Kapur) correctly pointed out, the corporate separate the script from the director and today the scripts are proposals. Having said that, today you can make proposals because there is wide variety of audience who are not limited to the intelligentsia.'

Copyright  IANS

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