In India we place women on a pedestal

Like so many before and after him, Sinha, the youngest in his family, went from Delhi to Mumbai and there sought out his fortunes. He gave up his job. There followed short serials for Doordarshan, a documentary here and there, but nothing that caught the viewers attention. Not till Hasratein, that is. Then, Sinha’s life changed completely. Viewership grew with every new twist in the story of KT, his wife and children and ofcourse, the woman he loves — Savi. With the serial still on a roll, Sinha is ready with a new one. This one is not about love triangles involving people in difficult situations, but a comedy.

“I don’t believe in doing the same thing just because it was a hit in the first instance. In fact, I had the script for this comedy with me for quite a while. I enjoy doing all kinds of things,” Sinha says. Also in the making is a serial about a 70-year old woman and another centering on the mother and son relationship.

Sinha attributes the success of Hasratein to the fact that he draws from real-life experience. “I remember how we reacted to a good-looking woman when we were in college. I know friends who lead lives like KT does. What you see in Hasratein is what is happening in society. The serial reflects the changing society to a large extent,” Sinha clarifies

.For those who don’t think society is all about extra-marital affairs these days, Sinha has a simple answer. “Well, if you haven’t come across such instances, I must be coming from a really bad background, isn’t it?” he questions, a smile on his lips. On a more serious note Sinha says that the characters of Savi and KT are drawn from real-life, from real people. “I’ve seen so much of this around me,” he insists.

Sinha is full of anecdotes from his life. The bird-watching, the friends, the fun. Explaining anything Sinha lapses into “when I was younger”. He wants his serials to talk of real people he has met along the way. This emphasis helped him when he replaced Seema Kapoor with Shefali Chhaya in Hasratein. The change came because “there were differences”. Sinha says: “I don’t know why I didn’t cast Shefali earlier. Taking Seema Kapoor was a mistake. Her portrayal of the character was never really what I wanted as a director.” Indeed, Sinha would have you believe that `sexy’ Savi was Seema Kapoor’s creation and not his. But didn’t the serial become popular because of Kapoor? “The character of Savi was more sexy then. What Shefali has done is give the character respectability.”

According to Sinha Hasratein portrays women as real people. “In India there is a mentality to place women on a pedestal as devis. People see good women only in the roles of a mother or sister. A realistic approach to the fact that women have equally tough choices to make is disregarded.”

Sinha has an analysed answer for everything. His characterisations are thorough and he can break down any one of them into tiny bits to explain their behaviour. “You can ask me why my characters do something; you cannot ask me why they didn’t do something — that is the choice I have made,” he explains.

Though Sinha is today a content man, he says he has earned everything the hard way: “Nothing came easily to me. I had to work hard for my job, I had to fight with my father-in-law to marry my wife and I had to slog to become a director. So life has been hard.”