Some journeys are best revisited not through dates and milestones, but through the stories, characters, and words that have stayed behind. For Padma Bhushan awardee Sai Paranjpye, that journey has moved across radio, theatre, television, cinema, and literature. Now, with her solo show Darwal: The Fragrance of Words at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Basheer Bagh, she returns to the stage to revisit the work that has shaped her life, bringing together memories, writings, scenes, and stories in one intimate evening.
Coming to Hyderabad is not unfamiliar territory for the filmmaker, who has visited the city several times over the years. “It feels great because I’m not new to Hyderabad. I have a lot of friends in Hyderabad and I used to come here when Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava was alive. He was a very good friend of mine and was the founder of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). I was going to make a scientific film with his advice and guidance,” she adds.
The performance brings her back to a part of herself that has been at the centre of her work all along: the writer. “During my years of being active in entertainment, theatre, television, cinema, and children’s theatre, I’ve done every kind of work. I’m basically a writer, though I’m better known as a director, because being a director is more glamorous than being a writer. But I love to be known as a writer. Whatever I write, I put it across on stage, screen, or television. These writings have piled up, and I thought the time has now come when I can pause, take a little break, and look back on whatever I’ve done throughout my career,” she notes.
That pause has brought together short stories, articles, poems, and scenes from her plays and films, giving audiences a glimpse into the different forms her writing has taken over the years.
Her career has already given audiences films such as Sparsh (1980), Chashme Buddoor (1981), Katha (1982), and Saaz (1997), along with plays including Maza Khel Mandu De (1986) and Sakkhe Shejari (1982). Across popular cinema and theatre, writing has remained the thread connecting her work.
Darwal carries several threads of this creative journey, drawing from her memoirs and earlier projects. These include the reading of her book on Akashvani titled Saysangat (2026) and a 38-episode series for DD Sahyadri (Mumbai Doordarshan Kendra) titled Katha Saichi (2023), which traced her life in the arts. The performance also moves beyond her professional journey, opening up glimpses of the people and experiences that shaped her, right from her grandfather and writer mother who was also a Padma Bhushan awardee to her Russian artist father, her travels, and love for animals.
Among these memories is one of the more poignant pieces in the performance, taking her back to the emotional experience of meeting her father after many years and the loss of her grandfather. In bringing such moments to the stage, Darwal becomes more than a look back at a long career. It becomes a collection of memories that continue to live through her words.
