Showing posts with label Mita Vashisht. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mita Vashisht. Show all posts
I destroyed relationships with alcohol and anger, but I don’t do that anymore-Piyush Mishra
9:04 AM
Actor, lyricist, singer, playwright, a man who can turn a word into a punch in the gut. At 62, Piyush Mishra is still impossible to slot. His memoir ‘Tumhari Auqat Kya Hai, Piyush Mishra’ reveals yet more facets: the teenage misfit; the NSD rebel; the furious artist who once threatened to douse a director in petrol over stolen credit. And also someone frightened, and brutally self-aware. Fresh off touring the US and now India with his indie band Ballimaaraan, Mishra spoke to Mohua Das about how he tamed his old ‘jungleepan’
Mohua Das (THE TIMES OF INDIA; November 26, 2025)
You insist the book isn’t an autobiography, but a novel. Why tell your true life through fiction? Did it allow you to say things that ‘Piyush Mishra’ couldn’t?
I didn’t introspect the way people imagine. I just emptied myself out. While writing, everything flowed straight from the heart. Only after finishing did I think, ‘Maybe I’ve revealed too much.’ But I didn’t want to go back and dilute it. You can never reveal everything about yourself, no matter how honest you try to be. Still, I’ve put out about 90% of myself in this book. But there are women and men in these pages who are alive and have moved on; I’ve made mistakes too. Giving a full ledger of every detail is difficult. So, I used fiction to create a little distance but the truth is intact.
In the book, you keep switching between Priyakant Sharma at home, Santap Trivedi in school, Hamlet at NSD. When do these selves take over, and which one is you now?
At home, I was Priyakant Sharma. After my aunt adopted me, I became Trivedi. Later, Mishra. And at NSD, I became Hamlet. Not because the play made me popular but something inside me shifted. To separate from Hamlet, I consciously performed characters that were completely unlike him, yet Hamlet kept walking beside me. His questions — to be or not to be? Who am I? What is my identity? What is real? What do I hide, or reveal? — became mine. But these switches don’t confuse me. They remind me I’m all of them, swinging between those selves.
You hide some identities with rhyming names — Samar Bajpayee, Aniket Kashyap, Som Puri — but reveal others like Irrfan Khan. How did you decide who to disguise and who to name?
It’s emotional. The people whose real names I’ve used — like Irrfan Khan, Deepak Dobriyal, Mita Vashisht — simply came and went from my life. But the ones I disguised — Samar Bajpayee, Aniket Kashyap, Sambal Bhardwaj, Som Puri, Nadeem Shah — had a deep emotional impact on me. If I wrote openly, my pen might have turned unfair or harsh. You’ll still know who they are. Also, there’s no slander in the book. Whenever there is a woman in the story, if there was a mistake, it was mine. Alcohol was my mistake. Anger too. I’ve exposed my own faults.
You describe fear as something that “lives, eats and drinks” with you but you also managed to tame it. Are there still fears that refuse to leave?
There’s a fear that never fully goes. Due to my environment, family dynamics, fear was inevitable. After my stroke in 2010, something shifted. I softened. The fear is still there, but it’s under control. Vipassana and meditation helped and even cured my psychosomatic issues. Most of my relationships were destroyed by anger and alcohol. That old jungleepan in me is less. I don’t do the alcohol-rage routine anymore. Passion now coexists with process. If something feels wrong, I walk away. I approach things calmly, systematically.
Was fear why you avoided Bombay for years?
Yes fear, maybe even an inferiority complex. Everyone who left before me became a star —Anurag Kashyap, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj. In Delhi, at NSD and Mandi House, I had respect even without money. That gave me a false sense of safety and I loved theatre, even if it didn’t pay. My first Bombay visit drained me emotionally and financially, and the thought of moving felt impossible. But when I finally moved to Bombay, it tamed my fears. People took me in. I learned that acting, music, writing… it’s also business. In Delhi, it was only passion.
Tell us about your band Ballimaaraan where the songs have poetry, satire, politics but you resist being called a ‘political’ artist?
Calm works better than rebellion now. I take light jabs where needed… mujhe taana kasna aata hai, par main pyaar se taana kasta hoon. I know how to tease and taunt, but with affection. The songs can be social or political, but I don’t cross the line because I want to keep talking about whatever I feel like (love, politics, society). I speak to the youth in their own slang. They see I understand them, and they value that I’m 62 and have seen more of the world. Maybe Ballimaaraan is a strange, lone lyric-driven band in that sense because I know how to talk or comment without hurting anyone. Art may pinch but its intention is never to give pain.
You end the book saying, ‘My life has been one big commotion’ but you’ve finally found ‘stability’. Why revisit the chaos now?
You can call it closure. I wrote this book three years ago, when things had finally begun to settle. Earlier, there were phases of loneliness, chaos, noise. Achievement is supposed to bring peace, but it never did for me. In the last seven years, I’ve found purpose. Before that I kept asking, is the purpose work, sex, women, money? No, yaar. There’s something beyond that. I realized the pollution was inside me. I also wanted to say clearly who I am. People had begun treating me like a saint, but my truth is very different. If they still respect me after knowing the truth, great.
Have we even accounted for the number of hours some male actors come late?-Shefali Shah
9:47 AM
Batting for stipulated work hours in the industry, ‘Delhi Crime 3’ star Shefali Shah on how long shoot days go unchecked, affecting actors’ output and the crew
Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; November 7, 2025)
How long does it take for an actor to find her way back to a character when a new season is set to roll? Shefali Shah, who returns as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi in the third season of Delhi Crime, says she wouldn’t know, for a simple reason — she never let the character leave her system. “There are parts that you do and move on. This is something I can’t move on from,” she starts.
Her emotional attachment to the Netflix series is evident. But with the attachment comes nervousness, even though she has played the astute cop, who rarely misses a thing, for two seasons, even bagging an International Emmy nomination in 2023.
“My biggest fear is that I’ll let Vartika and Delhi Crime down,” she admits candidly, before saying how the show elicits conflicting emotions in her. “When I get to know we’re doing another season, I am the happiest. But I don’t let go of that fear. I just surrender.”
Surrendering to scripts and characters is something every artiste swears by. But surrendering to the industry’s functioning style is something more and more actors are voicing out against. With Deepika Padukone’s recent episode opening a dialogue about work-life balance and stipulated working hours in the industry, many actors — including Sonakshi Sinha and Konkona Sen Sharma — have batted for regulation of working conditions on sets. In an unregulated workplace like the film industry, can there be a way for actors to negotiate working hours?
“We need to have this discussion desperately,” emphasizes Shah. “We are reasonable people. So, we realize [the need to accommodate] if a location is not available tomorrow or something has to be done now. But it can’t be the norm.”
Shah says, “I take one-and-a-half hours to reach the set and the same time to return. For those hours on set, I give it my all. I go back home, and hopefully, I can go to the gym because that’s part of my job. Then I will shower, eat, go back to the script, and then wake up the next morning for another day of work. How many hours of sleep am I getting? And how are you expecting me to come with my A-game?”
The actor echoes what Sinha told mid-day recently about the crew suffering more than the actors (What takes 14 hours on set can be done in eight, Nov 1). “On one of the last films I shot for, which had a 10-hour schedule, some of the ADs said, ‘Thank God, she leaves because that way we get to go.’ The rest of the crew doesn’t get paid extra [for the overtime]. Is it fair to them?”
What only makes matters worse is the disparity of treatment between male and female stars. Some stars have pointed out how the same demands made by male actors are readily accommodated, but viewed as a problem when asked for by a female counterpart. Shah agrees, noting, “We [female actors] are talking about eight hours and 10 hours contractually, but have we even accounted for the number of hours some male actors come late? That’s not even considered!” She emphasizes that such long working hours over years can cause burnout, leaving artistes mentally and creatively bankrupt.
But undisciplined sets are not all that we’re talking about. There are the other kinds too — the ones that spark joy and creative stimulation. Like the one led by Delhi Crime 3 director Tanuj Chopra, where Shah was joined by cast regulars Rajesh Tailang, Rasika Dugal, and Jaya Bhattacharya, as well as new entrants to the universe Sayani Gupta, Mita Vashisht, and of course, Huma Qureshi, who plays the antagonist in the police procedural drama.
“Sadly Huma and I just had two scenes. I wish we had more work but when I heard that she is doing the series, I was so excited. When we met — be it Huma, Sayani, Mita ma’am — there was no such thing as breaking the ice. It was almost like being a part of something we wanted to create together. It’s one of the most powerful female ensemble casts you’ll ever see.”
In the film industry, sets populated by women have historically been called many things — difficult, filled with insecurity, and almost all wrapped up in misogyny. She smiles as she describes this set as a place of sisterhood. “I don’t want to undermine male actors because I have worked with some amazing ones, but I have felt a silent sisterhood. I feel that for other people around me, and the same was true [on this set]. You have to see how happy I get when I am with all these beautiful women.”
Even though Shefali Shah hasn’t met Zohran Mamdani, she feels a bond with the Mayor-elect of New York City. The actor, who worked with Mamdani’s mother Mira Nair in ‘Monsoon Wedding’ (2001), shares, “From the time we did ‘Monsoon Wedding’ to date, I get a Christmas or New Year’s card [from Nair], which has a picture of all three of them. So, I have seen him from his childhood to now. I don’t know him personally, but it [his recent win] feels so good.”
Cannes Film Festival is not a place where you can boast about your project’s box office collections-Mita Vashisht
8:00 AM
A still from The Shameless; Vashisht at the festival along with director Konstantin Bojanov
Asserting that creativity is the only virtue at the film festival, The Shameless actor Mita Vashisht celebrates desi offerings being showcased abroad
Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; May 21, 2024)
Seated in a packed auditorium where cine-watchers turn up to watch her film, Mita Vashisht is evidently celebrating a milestone in her career—her offering, The Shameless, is competing at the coveted 77th Cannes Film Festival. This opportunity, however, may have well evaded the actor, who was a “last-minute addition” to the cast of the film based on two young women hoping to free themselves from the shackles of sex work.
“Whatever is meant for you, will find you,” says Vashisht, who plays the matriarch in the poignant drama, directed by Bulgarian filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov.
“I came on board two days before the shoot began because the director wasn’t satisfied with the casting for the character that I eventually played. When my name was recommended, we connected over a Zoom call, and he said I had a strong identity and would hence be apt for the role. I was told that while not a lengthy one, the role was critical.”
Ironically, Vashisht was initially unimpressed with Bojanov’s script. Addressing questions about her decision to initially turn down the role, she says, “I told him that whatever he said about the role was in his vision alone, and was not reflected in the script. He was taken aback. I said, sir, first of all, you haven’t named the character. You have only addressed her as ‘the grandmother’. Until you give her a name, how do I know what kind of woman she is? He said, ‘This is exactly the kind of input I was looking for. We will rewrite the portions and connect them to the rest of the characters.’” Vashisht was finally on board.
The offering, also starring Anasuya Sengupta and Omara Shetty, received a standing ovation at its Cannes premiere. It is one of the many reasons for celebration, as several Indian offerings, including Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, and Shyam Benegal’s 1969 drama Manthan, are being featured at the festival.
Vashisht says she is hopeful that impactful narratives will finally receive their due. “The Cannes Film Festival is not a place where you can [boast] about your project’s box-office collections. Here, the value is only in the craft and vision. It’s reassuring to know that we have so many Indian films here, because it implies that Indians are making films that do not only cater to box-office demands.”
A show like Criminal Justice 2 highlights what it feels like to be in a prison of sorts-Rohan Sippy
8:04 AM
Among the few directors to successfully hold viewers' interest in a web show's second edition, Rohan Sippy on what made Criminal Justice 2 worthy of attention
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; December 30, 2020)
While the digital platform has given opportunities to skilled writers to showcase their prowess, several shows in India have so far been relegated to being one-season wonders. So, when Rohan Sippy chronicles how he crafted Criminal Justice season 2 to successfully hold viewers' attention, we find ourselves taking notes.
"One of the appealing aspects of the show was the fact that the producer were ready to bet on the unspoken issue [of marital rape]," Sippy tells mid-day of the Kirti Kulhari-fronted drama.
Narration of a subject as critical as this one, says Sippy, could have only been done from a woman's perspective. He laments that his creative team did not have as many women as was demanded by the script, but reading sessions with his cast members enabled him to paint a promising picture. "[We had] a number of female characters that were well sketched, and brilliantly essayed by actors like Kirti, Deepti ji [Naval], Mita [Vashisht], Anupria [Goenka], Adrija [Sinha], and Khushboo [Atre], among others. During the reading sessions, their feedback was vital."
Disney+ Hotstar's Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors showcases the pain that a victim endures before being compelled to kill her partner. Understanding the trauma was a novel experience for Sippy. "A show like this highlights what it feels like to be in a prison of sorts. So many women are in such situations. Often, we would head home and keep thinking about being in this system which one can't escape."
Should TV actors get royalty for the re-runs? Industry reacts
8:30 AM
Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 2, 2020)
Makers, on their part, feel the subject [of royalty] can be discussed but the “timing is probably not right”. “What we are going through is a ‘difficult, adjustment time’ wherein there’s a question of survival. And the same [business] model has been there from the start. Re-runs of shows have been happening forever. It’s all a part of a broadcasters’ long-term investment plan. However, talks about royalty are a healthy sign. But maybe, the timing of monetary benefits talk isn’t right,” says TV producer Sumeet Mittal.
Chikhlia has reportedly said that “money doesn’t harm anybody”, and how Ramayan actors “were [originally] paid peanuts”. While Joshi apparently feels “it should have been introduced long back”, Vashisht says the “industry is not thoughtful in terms of royalties”. TV director-producer Rajan Shahi adds, “If an actor has pointed anything, it must be respected, and discussed with the industry as a whole. It can’t be decided upon in isolation since there are various stakeholders involved.”Experts feel everything also boils down to the contracts. “Vis-à-vis royalties, it’s all about a contract’s finer details,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. Shahi concurs and says, “Yes it all depends on the contract. But don’t forget that makers also take a lot of risk because only two out of 10 shows do well. But there can be a democratic discussion on it.”
Applause Entertainment announces a dark thriller drama series, Your Honor
7:54 AM
(Clockwise from left) Yashpal Sharma, Sunjoy Waddhwa, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sameer Nair, Suhasini Mulay, Mita Vashisht and E Niwas
MUMBAI MIRROR (September 12, 2019)
Close on the heels of successful drama series like Criminal Justice, City of Dreams and Hostages, Applause Entertainment, the content studio from the Aditya Birla Group, led by Sameer Nair, announced the completion of their latest drama-thriller, Your Honor. Adapted from the Israeli series Kvodo, distributed by Yes Studios, Your Honor has been produced for Applause Entertainment by Sphereorigins.
Dark, gripping and morally complex, it tells the story of Bishan Khosla (Jimmy Sheirgill), a judge known for his uncompromising honesty. His attempt to protect his son Abeer Khosla (Pulkit Makol) who is involved in a hit-and-run accident triggers a disturbing downward spiral of events, as Bishan uncharacteristically obstructs justice to hide the truth.
The series, directed by E Niwas, is adapted by writer Ishan Trivedi and produced by Sunjoy Waddhwa. It also features Mita Vashisht, Varun Badola, Yashpal Sharma, Parul Gulati, Suhasini Mulay, Richa Pallod, Kunj Anand, Pulkit Makol, Mahabir Bhullar in key roles.
Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment says, “At Applause, we aim to create premium content that will appeal to the discerning mass audience in India and across the world, and Your Honor is a perfect example of this vision. E Niwas has helped us craft a stunning thriller, and we are excited to have on board a dazzling array of talented actors, led by Jimmy Sheirgill”.
Jimmy Sheirgill adds, “The substance of the story is what convinced me to take up the part. The length an individual can go, burning all the bridges and principles for the ones he loves, is truly compelling.”
Director E Niwas says, “I am excited to mark my digital journey with Your Honor, a show packed with intense emotions and depth of characters. I am glad to have worked with creative minds like Sameer, Deepak and Sunjoy to re-create this adaptation.”
Sunjoy Waddhwa, CMD of the production house Sphereorigins says, “E Niwas has helmed the Indian adaptation brilliantly which has resulted in a truly gripping drama. Our entire team is very thrilled to have associated with Sameer Nair and Applause Entertainment.”
Your Honor will be streaming soon on a leading OTT platform.
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