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Pune, June 6: DO you mind if I smoke?�� asks Sai Paranjpye as we settle ourselves in a corner at Sidewalk, the cafe at Holiday Inn, Juhu, Mumbai. ��Back in the 1970s, I used to smoke much more and photographers used to pry around just to be able to catch me lighting up on camera,�� laughs Paranjpye, in a manner that throws back her baby-soft hair.
On the better side of 60, Paranjpye has donned many hats�film-maker, theatre director, lyricist and chairperson of Children�s Film Society of India. But Gulzar calls her Ministry of Chawls and her children know her as a self-proclaimed civic sense activist. ��They told me �Mumkul, you can�t keep yelling at people on the streets for spitting and littering. Make a film if you want to fight that problem,�� she says.
That�s how her latest offering Chaka Chak got on floor. The film is about a group of children who decide that adults have littered their world and they need to clean it up. ��Of course there�s slapstick and magic and comedy and all of that,�� she says.
��I�m happy with it, though it�s not my best,�� she candidly adds.
The film was received warmly in her hometown Pune, where it released last November. ��Sharad Pawar was at the premiere and he flagged it off with a broom,�� she laughs. Art inspired life and the Pune Municipal Corporation launched a real-life Chaka Chak in schools. Paranjpye received letters from various schools thanking her for the film.
It�s late afternoon and she�s had lunch at home. We settle for Tiramisu. ��This is cream and chocolate�sinful for someone my age,�� she grins. ��But then, when have I stuck to conventions?��
We agree. Daughter of Padma Bhushan recipient Shakuntala, Paranjpye spent her childhood in various cities across the country (and a few years in Canberra, Australia). ��I used to sit on a rocking chair in the ranch and make up stories in my head,�� she reminisces. She was eight when she wrote her first book, fairy tales titled Mulansa Mewa.
��My father was a Russian artiste. My mother divorced him when I was a baby,�� she recalls. Paranjpye credits her famous humour to her mother. ��She was an eccentric woman who loved to shock�I�m not half as bad.��
But personal life is not something Paranjpye likes to discuss. After briefly discussing her warm relationship with her late husband, Arun Joglekar, she�d rather talk about her children. ��My son, Gautam, has just made Pak Pak Pakaak with Nana Patekar. And although my daughter Vinni�s a devoted homemaker, she and her husband, Abhay, and their kids, Abir and Anshunee, are in my film,�� she beams.
With that, she steers us back to films. ��My best film was Disha (1990). It won the Best Jury and Most Popular film award at Recontre Es Cinematographique at Cannes. But it won nothing in India,�� she says.
Her first feature film was Sparsh�a tale set in a school for visually-impaired children. Has she seen Black? ��No�and I don�t plan to. Hindi films usually leave me unfulfilled and their cliches drive me up the wall. The last film I saw was Lagaan,�� she says.
That seems to have made her an Aamir Khan fan. ��But right now, I hope I can sign up Jaaved Jaffrey for my next film. It�s set in Goa and is an adult film,�� she winks.
HER HOT HUNKS
Naseeruddin Shah He�s intelligent with a strong intrinsic quality Farooque Sheikh He�s got a great sense of humour
Om Puri He gets full marks for sensitivity as a person and an actor
Ajay Devgan He�s got intense brooding looks Suniel Shetty I find him dashing and attractive
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