Shama Zaidi

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Shama Zaidi (born 25 September 1938 at Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India) is an Indian screenwriter, costume designer, art director, theatre person, art critic, and documentary filmmaker.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Shama Zaidi is the daughter of Col Bashir Hussain Zaidi (an administrator, businessman and politician) and Begum Qudsia Zaidi (a writer, social worker and theatre person).

She was educated at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, Uttar Pradesh, India. and at Miranda House, New Delhi, India. She has a B A Hons in English from Delhi University. She specialized in stage design, gaining a Diploma from the Slade School of Art, London, United Kingdom.

She is married to M S Sathyu (Filmmaker/ Designer/ Theatre person/ Art Director).

[edit] Career

[edit] Journalism

  • Art critic for The Statesman, Patriot and Shankar's Weekly, New Delhi.
  • Written numerous articles on film, theatre and television for Cinema Vision, Cinema in India, etc, and other journals and newspapers.

[edit] Theatre

Zaidi became interested in costume design while in school at Woodstock, Mussoorie, which had extensive theatre activities. Also due to the influence of her mother Qudsia Zaidi, who started the Hindustani Theatre in the late 50s with Habib Tanvir and other friends. In her college days at Miranda House she started helping out with the stage productions there, apart from taking active interest in Hindustani Theatre.

After B A Shama went to Slade School of Art, London, for a one year course in stage design and costume design. Then worked in Germany at the Frankfurt Municipal Theatre as an apprentice and for some time as an observer in the Berliner Ensemble. (Apprentice in stage, film and TV design to Herr Hein Heckroth, Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. Herr Heckroth was the designer of Red Shoes Hoffman’s Tales, etc.)

Returned to Delhi in 1961 and designed costumes for Hindustani Theatre before shifting to Bombay in 1965 where she worked as Writer, Designer, Performer and Director for Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA), Mumbai. Since 1980 she has designed more for films and television than theatre.

Worked as Writer, Director, Costume Designer, Art Director or Artiste for the following stage productions -

[edit] Stage Productions

  • CHOU-EN-LAI , a historical costume pageant for at Lodi Gardens, New Delhi

[edit] Hindustani Theatre

  • Shakuntala (1958) - Costume Design
  • Mitti ki Gaadi (1958)- Costume Design & Artiste
  • Khalid Ki Khala (1958)- Costume Design & Artiste
  • Mudrarakshas (1962) - Direction & Costume Design
  • Sufaid Kundali (1963) - Costume Design & Artiste
  • Mera Naam Trufaldeen (1964)- Adaptation & Costume Design

[edit] Indian People's Theatre Association, Mumbai

  • BHAGAT SINGH (1969) Co director & Costume Design;
  • AAKHRI SHAMA (1969) Costume Design;
  • AZAR KA KHWAB (1970) Costume Design & Artiste;
  • GUDIYA GHAR (1972) Costume Design & Artiste;
  • BHOOKE BHAJAN NA HOYE GOPALA (1973) Artiste;
  • KHALID KI KHALA (1974) Costume Design & Artiste;
  • SAMBHOG SE SANYAS TAK (1975) Costume Design;
  • DEVYANI KA KEHNA HAI (1975) Direction & Costume Design;
  • MITTI KI GAADI (1975) Costume Design;
  • MAHANIRVAAN (1976) Direction & Costume Design;
  • EK CHADAR MAILI SI (1966) Direction & Costume Design;
  • GHODA (1991) Costume Design;
  • SHRIMAN BALE UIRE (1992) Adaptation;

Associated with the IPTA's Inter collegiate Drama Competition since 1972 as a jury member.

  • Translated / adapted over a dozen plays into Hindustani from various languages.

[edit] Cinema

Written scripts/dialogues for documentaries and feature films with Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, M. S. Sathyu and others. Also done Costume Design and Art Direction.

[edit] Filmography

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi Based on Habib Tanvir's retelling of a famous Rajasthani folk tale. Songs were by Habib Tanvir and most of the dialogues were improvised by the folk artistes.

  • GARAM HAWA (Hot Winds) 1974 / Colour / 136min / Urdu Direction M S Sathyu; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Kaifi Azmi; Costume Design Shama Zaidi

Based on a short story by Ismat Chugtai, which she expanded into a film treatment. Filmfare award for best screenplay.

  • MANTHAN (The Churning) 1976 / Colour / 134min / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Art direction Shama Zaidi

  • SHATRANJ KE KHILADI शतरंज के िखलाड़ी(Chess Players) 1977 / Hindi

Direction Satyajit Ray; Costume Design Shama Zaidi Also assisted Ray with research on the background material and translated dialogues with Javed Siddiqi for the Indian characters in Urdu.

  • KANNESHWARA RAMA (The Legendary Outlaw) 1977 / Colour / 137min / Kannada & Hindi

Direction M S Sathyu; Script Shama Zaidi Based on the exploits of a legendary dacoit of the Malnad region in Karnataka.

  • BHUMIKA (The Role) 1977 / Colour / 142min / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Art direction Shama Zaidi Based on the biography of Hansa Wadkar, a star of the Marathi folk theatre and cinema of the 40s.

  • UMRAO JAAN (The Courtesan) Colour / Hindi

Direction Muzaffar Ali; Script Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi Based on a 19th century Urdu novel.

  • CHAKRA (The Wheel) 1980 / Colour / 140min / Hindi

Direction Robin (Rabindra) Dharmraja; Script & Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi Based on the novel by Jaywant Dalvi.

  • BARA / SOOKHA (Famine) 1981 / Colour / 140min / Kannada & Hindi

Direction M S Sathyu; Screenplay & Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi Based on a short novel by U R Ananthamurthy.

  • AAROHAN (The Ascent) 1982

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi Based on a famous land dispute case.

  • MANDI (The Marketplace) 1983 / Colour / 160min / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script & Screenplay Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal & Satyadev Dubey

  • KAHAN KAHAN SE GUZAR GAYA (The Paths I Have Trod) 1985 / Colour / Hindi

Direction M S Sathyu; Original Screenplay Shama Zaidi

  • SUSMAN (The Essence) 1986 / Colour / 140min / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi Original screenplay on the Ikat handloom weavers of Andhra.

  • TRIKAAL (Past, Present, Future) 1986

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Shyam Benegal Based on an idea by Shyam Benegal.

  • ANTARNAAD (The Inner Voice) 1993

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Sunil Shanbag An original screenplay based on the Swadhyaya socio-religious movement founded by Pandurang Shastri Athavale.

  • SURAJ KA SATVAN GHODA (The Seventh Horse of the Sun) 1994

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi A puzzle screenplay based on the novel by Dharamveer Bharati.

  • MAMMO 1995

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohammad

  • THE MAKING OF THE MAHATMA 1996

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal & Fatima Meer An Indo-South African co production on Mahatma Gandhi’s life in South Africa.

  • SARDARI BEGUM 1997 / Colour / 123min / Urdu

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohammad

  • NISHANT

Art direction Shama Zaidi

  • MRIGTRISHNA

Costume Design Shama Zaidi

  • HARIBHARI 2000 / Colour / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script & Dialogues Shama Zaidi A film on women’s empowerment made for the Ministry of Family Welfare.

  • ZUBEIDA 2001/ Colour / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Additional screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi

  • NETAJI 2002-04/ Colour/Hindi-English

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script and Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari A film on the last years of Subhas Chandra Bose for Sahara Entertainment

  • CHAMKI 2005-2006/ Colour/ Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari A film inspired by the 19th-century novella “Carmen” by Prosper Mérimée

[edit] Short Films

  • GHALIB 1969 / B&W / 22min

Direction M.S.Sathyu; Research & Script Shama Zaidi. A documentary film on the life of Mirza Ghalib through his own words taken from his letters, poetry, writings, etc.

  • ISLAM IN INDIA 1982 / B&W / 120 min

Direction Shama Zaidi. A feature length documentary on the socio-cultural heritage of Islam in India. Made for the Hijri Celebration Committee, Govt. of India., celebrating the beginning of the 15th century of the Islamic Era.

  • LUPIN 1992

Direction Benaifer Mallik; Script Shama Zaidi. A short film on village adoption programme by the pharmaceutical company Lupin.

  • LAMP IN THE NICHE 1994

Direction Girish Karnad; Script Shama Zaidi. A short film on the Sufi heritage in India.

Have also scripted a number of documentaries on developmental projects for Shyam Benegal and other directors.

[edit] Television

Have either worked on Scripts, Screenplays, Dialogues, Costume Design or Art Direction for the following television productions -

  • BHARAT EK KHOJ (The Discovery of India) a TV Series - Shyam Benegal (1989-90) based on Jawaharlal Nehru's version of India's past and fictionalized into a 52 part television series. Principal writer cum editor (with Sunil Shanbag), Costume design and Art direction.

Based on a part of the novel by Thakazi Shivshankara Pillai and turned into a TV serial by Babu Bhaskar and Shama Zaidi.

  • YATRA (The Journey) a TV Series - Shyam Benegal (1988)

A television series based on two film journeys across the length and breadth of India. Written by Sunil Shanbag and Shama Zaidi.

  • ANTIM RAJA (The Last Raja of Coorg) a TV Series - M S Sathyu (1986)

Based on a novel by Masti Venkatesh Iyengar and written for television by Shama Zaidi.

  • SANKRANTI A TV Series - Shyam Benegal (1998)

Assisted the ETV Television Network set up an Urdu channel ETV-Urdu and worked as a part-time Artistic Advisor for the same from October 1999- August 2002

[edit] External links