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		The new toast of Tellyland He has had the opportunity to work with the best and most creative directors on television and in cinema - Kavita Chowdhary, Govind Nihalani, even Steven Spielberg! Now Sanjay Upadhyay has discovered his own voice in the babble of brilliance that surrounded his formative years on the visual medium. After the successful Saaya on Sony, he’s now directing Aatish for Star Plus. Let’s hear it for the new flavour in fugacious land. One has to keep finding interesting premises to stimulate one’s creativity. Otherwise even cinema gets stagnant. Working with people like Kavita Chowdhary and Govind Nihalani was an enlightening experience How and when did you reach your current destination on television? I started by making ads with Sudesh Iyer. Ad films didn’t jell well with me, though I must admit I learnt a lot from the experience. But ad filmmaking didn’t appeal to me as a career. After a point it became stagnant. One would think there’s more stagnancy in the television industry. You’re probably right. One has to keep finding interesting premises to stimulate one’s creativity. Otherwise even cinema gets stagnant. Working with people like Kavita Chowdhary and Govind Nihalani was an enlightening experience. I assisted Govindji from Tamas to Drohkaal. I then made a film called Papo for Business India. If you haven’t seen it, it’s because it was never aired. Fortunately, Zarine Mehta of UTV saw Papo and offered me the daily soap Trikaal on Home TV. I remember it starred Mona Ambegaonkar. Oh she came into the serial much later as an after-thought when the brief was they wanted Trikaal to be like Tara (laughs). Immediately, Mona was summoned. I guess the compromises ruined the serial. But once we were in it, we became part of the crisis management team rather than creative people frowning at the compromises. The failure of Trikaal really was a setback. The channel itself closed down, so the serial never stood a chance. So Saaya is your first major break on television? I’d consider my telefilm Papo my first major break. It’s really close to my heart. Before Saaya came on air I co-directed Gaatha for Ramesh Sippy. That again was an unfortunate experience. Nothing was under my control. Initially, it was meant to be a journey through 50 years of Indian independence. Were you around when Gaatha became Viruddh? I’d never ditch a show. I was there through all the crisis. It would be the easiest thing in the world to cut myself away from a trouble ridden show. But so much creative and financial resources go into a serial. And one must consider the losses of the producer and the channel before dissociating oneself from a serial. Madhavan has become a big star in the South. Is that going to be a problem for your Saaya? Not at all. He’s been very very co-operative. He is constantly charged about his role in Saaya. Even after the success of his film down South his attitude hasn’t changed. No,I have no problem with Madhavan. Not just Madhavan I feel very happy with all the performances. But recent episodes of Saaya have begun to show a drop in quality. It’s very difficult to maintain the same consistent quality throughout a long-running soap. I feel I have done a reasonable job. Certain aspects like the drama in individual episodes are bound to fluctuate. But the TRPs of Saaya remain consistently high. I have never compromised on the storytelling. I’m grateful to the channel for supporting Saaya even when it wasn’t doing too well in Delhi. Someone suggested we should introduce a North Indian flavour in Saaya. I refused. I already had two bitter experiences with Trikaal and Gaatha where I wasn’t allowed to do what I thought was right. These are all googlies thrown in the dark. I don’t get carried away by them. Has Saaya opened doors for you? Yes. But not too much exciting work is happening on television right now. To be very honest, I have never developed any concept for a television serial. Since I’ve been trained to make feature films, all my scripts are for the cinema. So television is just a stopover towards cinema? Not really. My approach to television is as sincere as it would be in cinema. Television is the only way I know how to express myself right now. My new serial Aatish is not a compromised work at all. Since Aatish is produced by its leading lady’s husband were you given a choice in the selection of the heroine? Not too much exciting work is happening on television right now. To be very honest, I have never developed any concept for a television serial (laughs) I did have a choice. But Reena Wadhwa had come to me during Trikaal. I gave her a few lines to perform. She was so bad that I didn’t take her on. When Aatish came along I had my reservations about Reena. But discovered she has evolved as an actress. She wants to improve constantly. It’s very difficult to not make television actors perform in the style that’s become patent on the medium. Reena makes that effort. The performances on television have to be loud to be noticed? Nothing of the sort. Subdued performances have worked for me in Saaya. The only way to win the audiences’ empathy is to have natural performances. I’d like to think the performances in my serials would make some difference to the accepted norms of television acting. Aatish seems to be a family drama with a touch of the supernatural? For my own creative satisfaction I’ve introduced a satanic element into the story. This is just to introduce some novelty into the family drama format. Family drama with Satan heading the cast. That’s a new one. (laughs) See how innovative we can get? But trust me, Aatish isn’t pitched on a satanic level. Saaya meets X Zone, huh? Blend to hai. Ab dekhe kya hota hai. I’m doing another show for a Delhi producer Anuradha Prasad for Zee. That’s called Tum Pukar Lo. It’s the story of a young enthusiastic girl brought up on left-of-the-centre beliefs and ideologies, played by Simone Singh. She meets a wanderer Harsh Chaya. They marry and she moves into his joint family, only to start losing her beliefs and convictions. It’s a dilemma that a lot of young thinking individuals have faced in the period following the breakup of Russia. This sounds more interesting than Aatish. No Aatish is equally interesting. For now television is my home ground. Anurag Kashyap is really lucky to start a feature film so soon in his career. Nothing really exciting has happened to me. I guess if television directors get trapped in the medium, it’s our own doing. I keep refusing hordes of offers on television. After Saaya I’ve only accepted Aatish and Tum Pukar Lo. I will definitely wrap up Saaya after 104 episodes. I believe the brief these days is to have at least one catastrophic incident in each episode? (laughs) So I’ve heard. A senior writer told me there must be one very drastic scene in every episode. I hope nothing drastic happens to my serials. Subhash K Jha