There is an 'Anupamaa' within every household, we just don’t let her come in the forefront, says Rajan Shahi

With a string of hit shows including the ongoing ‘Anupamaa’ and ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’, the prolific ‘show-maker’ Rajan Shahi has now become the undisputed king of Indian television in the Hindi content space

With a string of hit shows including the ongoing ‘Anupamaa' and ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’, the prolific ‘show-maker’ Rajan Shahi has now become the undisputed king of Indian television in the Hindi content space. Besides experimenting with new stories and characters, he also ensures that, every episode should be reinventing itself at every step. The idea is to breaking stereotypes and themes. Over the years, he has been proving detractors wrong by making quality content and getting appreciated by the audience. In fact, he proved many wrong when he made ‘Anupamaa’ a success against the negative predictions of industry experts. In an exclusive interview with Mid Day Online, Rajan Shahi speaks about his journey, unknown facts about his loving mother, Deepa Shahi, and but, of course… ‘Anupamaa’ receiving so much positivity from all around.

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Recalling his humble beginnings, Shahi said, “I am in the television industry for the past 31 years. I had complete credo in the script of ‘Anupamaa’. I am known for creating shows that break stereotypes. Started with a simple textured show and here we are with a trending serial. Even so, the first show touched upon the colorism issue, and presently, we are dealing with a homemaker showing so much courage. Changed the dynamics of the channel, because many of my shows were charting the TRP list! We have seen a transition now: dialogues have ethics, the camera isn’t the one acting now and we hardly see netizens mocking the television fraternity now. Mediocrity has changed,” asserts the show’s producer, who also owns ‘Director’s Kut Production’, ‘Shahi Productions Pvt. Ltd’. along with his mother and ‘I Shahi Productions’ along with his daughter Ishika Shahi.

Also Read: Rupali Ganguly teams up with director Sajan Agarwal for a new project

Rajan, who is extremely particular about the subjects and themes, believes in simplicity that has the power to convey the right message. “I don’t go for subjects that are rocket science. It’s time for us to address human emotions. Again, broke the trend and saw ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ running for more than 14 years… and it’s still on air! I still remember, industry pundits, predicting that my ongoing show won’t be able to revive the television industry, especially amidst the corona virus. They told that the show’s main lead was an average-looking woman, how will she survive? Post the weekly report, what happened was unimaginable! The show received international acclaim and went on to become a trendsetter. Television is no more at its low with a serial like this,” he states.

For those not in the know, the prolific filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt is Rajan Shahi’s mentor. The former is someone he always looks up to. From Mahesh Bhatt, Rajan learnt to focus on characterization and not just creating a dramatic spectacle. This is because, when the characters and story are in tandem, magic happens. “Everyone is running behind love stories. What I felt was, why can’t a middle-aged woman fall in love again? There is an Anupamaa within every household. It’s just that we just don’t let her come to the forefront. My writer is also very sensible, he is not into the superficial world and hence he could pen the dialogues with honesty.”

The whole cast of the serial has been hand-picked by Rajan himself. “People find Rupali Ganguly synonymous with a comical side, but, I have a different avatar of hers in 1999. It was me who gave a break to Rupali! Post her first stint, she moved on, became even more famous, got married, and took a sabbatical. Because of this, Rupali never struck my mind. On the other hand, she came to know that I was looking for my lead actress, and she sent me a video from Goa. That’s when I realized this is my Anupamaa! I was meeting her after years; her physicality totally matched my character and she was vulnerable now. Another thing was that, despite Rupali being the most successful television actress, she took a break for her family. That’s my Anupamaa, again. The experiences were turning real. I didn’t even speak to the channel, took her look test. In the history of the television channel, this had never happened before, when a look test was taken ahead for the promotions of a new show! Let me disclose something, it’s my mother who is the official producer of Anupamaa, and this serial is an ode to her.”

Rajan Shahi is extremely close to his mother. Not many know about her southern roots and about his maternal grandfather P Jairaj, who was an eminent artist! “My mother is a “Naidu”. My maternal grandfather was from Telangana. He arrived in Mumbai and went ahead with his first film in 1929. He acted in innumerable silent films, and won the ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Award’ in 1981. She saw her dad winning a lifetime achievement award, and then his name appeared in the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ too. The whole screening of his life was presented in a Hyderabadi auditorium, none of us can forget that moment,” he concluded.

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