Simple, uncluttered and raw emotions are his forte. Never in his decade-long career as a director has he resorted to unwanted twists and turns in his shows. With interesting shows like Hasratein, Justajoo, among his credits, director Ajai Sinha is currently making waves with his show Astitva- Ek Prem Kahani.
Belonging to Zee's chosen gang, currently Sinha is busy with the post production of his mainstream cinema debut venture, Bachelor, starring Sharman Joshi, Raima Sen, Riya Sen, Manish Nagpal, Himani Shivpuri and Manoj Pahwa. Bachelor is expected to be released in the last week of September. Besides, he has a few more movie projects on hand.
Not many know that this actor-turned director-turned producer is a civil engineer by education. Coming from an academically inclined family, he found it difficult to explain to his family his aptitude for the performing arts. After his education, he took up a stable job while moonlighting as a theatre performer. To his credit as a civil engineer with CIDCO is the famous Bandra-Kurla stretch in association with MMRDA, then BMRDA and special building projects in the Mumbai suburb of Wadala.
Busy as a bee, the director met up with indiantelevision.com's Trupti Ghag at his office recently. In a free wheeling interview, he talked about his experiences in the industry, his principal peeves and mostly about his show Astitva.
Currently you are also making a few more movies. Are you planning to edge away from television? |
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What is the difference between the Ajai Sinha now and Ajai Sinha ten years ago? I certainly get less worked up now. If I had to work for Astitva - a daily serial earlier, I am certain that my blood pressure would have shot up by a good few points (laughs). |
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Speaking about 'Astitva', the show has been receiving a lot of critical acclamation off late. Did you ever envision this kind of success? |
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Would it enjoy a better fate had it been on any other channel? |
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What according to you is the reason that 'Astitva' is working so well? While television is making more and more opulent shows, bigger in budget, they are not necessarily innovating. |
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What do you think is the real issue here? While trying to make the television viewing possible for the lowest strata of the society, it is not necessary to stoop to that level. Instead of upping the thinking of the domestic workers, the channels are glamorising the 'bai culture'. Tell me do people from the affluent classes have time to do elaborate pooja, prepare different sets of breakfasts, attend to chores and then by the end of it all still manage to scheme and shed copious tears? How ridiculous can you get! Wake up! You have a responsibility here. It is because of this 'baniya' (shopkeeper) mentality that our country has not progressed |
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What about the TRP ratings? Television should be a reflection of reality; it should innovate, reinvent and not continue to piggyback ride on something that has worked. Look at the fate of movies, barring one or two movies others miserable flopped last year. Thankfully filmmakers have now understood that they need to come up with something different to sustain. Television should take a cue from the movies. |
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Haven't there been instances off late where stories 'inspired' by foreign scripts have worked well? I was traumatized when certain media sections claimed that my show was like the movie Ek Chotisi Love Story. Thank god they've stopped saying it. It is sheer stupidity if you just pick up stories from the South and try to make into a Hindi serial, just because it's worked well. Other than the fact that it is a lazy work, you are killing your own creativity. |
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But isn't it the demand of the times? If you can't beat them then why not join them? |
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Getting back to 'Astitva', how did you go about fleshing out the story? Alok Nath's character is based on an IAS officer that I know. The opening scene where he is shown chased by a dog was a real life incident. Apart from the fun elements, I have inculcated the mannerism of that IAS officer in Alok's character his approach towards situation and his reactions. |
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How did you go about casting the artistes? I chose artistes who I thought suited the character the most. I do not cast anybody for their star value. We have a very open system, no favoritism. |
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Haven't quite a few artistes have been repeated in your shows? If you mean Harsh Chayya, then yes. He is a brilliant performer and I share a great rapport with him. But that is not the reason why he is cast in my show. He wasn't in Gudgudee. |
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Did you ever think about working with other channels? |
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Why was 'Samay' taken off abruptly? |
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What is the essential difference between a weekly and daily? |
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So what next for Ajai Sinha, the director? |