After appearing in several Hindi TV shows, Sai Deodhar Anand made her Marathi film debut with Mogra Phulaalaa. The film was helmed by her mother and National Award-winning filmmaker Shrabani Deodhar. In this interview with indianexpress.com, Sai opens up on why she decided to give up her successful TV career and choose Marathi cinema. Here are excerpts from the conversation: What drove you to give up your successful TV career and try your hand at Marathi cinema? I owe everything to TV honestly. My recognition, my name. Today, whatever I am is because of TV. I am extremely proud to say that. But then came a time in my life where after working for so many years, I realised that I was doing the same thing, and how it just became a thing one does to make money. It had become like an everyday job, and there was no creativity left in what I was doing. I had been quite unhappy with what I was doing. I take my work home so I was trying to figure out a way to feel happy about what I was doing and how I was doing it. I was extremely unhappy with what I was doing. I was getting that unhappiness at home too. For me, work is a way of life, so I realised that I had to do something radically different. So I wrote D.A.T.E. I was not expecting such an overwhelming response to this short that I made. You also debuted as a director with D.A.T.E. D.A.T.E was my first directorial venture and this short film is very special to me. It is very close to my heart as I wrote it when I lost my father to cancer and when my mother was still struggling to get back on her feet. My journey with this short film gave me confidence in chasing the dream that I harboured. We sent the film to various festivals and competed in various platforms. I didn't know there was such a huge international market out there. We got such an overwhelming response. We won 74 international awards. This made me believe that I am on the right track. Then Sholay Girl happened and it was a huge biopic. Doing production design for it was extremely thrilling. And then Mogra Phulaalaa happened, and I produced a film with another director. So, this year has been very fulfilling for me in many ways. Also Read | Mogra Phulaalaa movie review: A clean and simple family entertainer How was the experience of working in Mogra Phulaalaa? Mom has written and directed Mogra Phulaalaa, so it is special. It is a beautiful family film. I won't say it is just a romantic drama. Of course, the love story is beautiful, but it is a film that the whole family can watch. This is important for us because the Marathi audience is a very family oriented audience. The whole family goes and watches the film. Keeping that in mind, Mogra Phulaalaa was always a family film. My mother wrote this script one year ago, and I am indebted to her for giving me such a beautiful role. It is very fresh and has got a lot of layers and shades. It was a great experience playing this role in the film.
