Shama Zaidi (born 25 September 1938) is an Indian screenplay writer, costume designer, art director, theatre person, art critic, and documentary film maker. She is married to director M. S. Sathyu. Shama Zaidi Was Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at ICA - International Cultural Artifact Film Festival in 2021.

Background

Shama Zaidi is the daughter of Bashir Hussain Zaidi, a politician and educationist, and his wife Qudsia Zaidi. Her mother Qudsia was an associate of Habib Tanvir, the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

ideologue and theatre personality. Shama was the only daughter of the couple and she has two brothers. Both her parents were closely associated with the "progressive" communist movement in India, and Shama grew up in a strongly

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

environment. She was educated at Woodstock School,

Mussoorie Mussoorie () is a hill station and a municipal board, in Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hil ...

, and then at

Miranda House Miranda House is a constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. Established in 1948, it is one of the top ranked colleges of the country and ranked number 1 for consecutively seven years (as of 2023). History Miranda ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. She has a bachelor's degree in English from

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

, and a diploma in stage design from the Slade School of Art,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She is praised for her excellent screen writing in T.V serial "Bharat Ek Khoj".

Career

Journalism

* Art critic for '' The Statesman'', '' The Patriot'' and ''

Shankar's Weekly ''Shankar's Weekly'' was an Indian satirical magazine published between 1948 and 1975. It was founded and run by Keshav Shankar Pillai, a pioneering political cartoonist. The magazine has been compared to the UK's '' Punch''. The weekly print ...

'', New Delhi. * Written numerous articles on film, theatre, and television for ''Cinema Vision'', ''Cinema in India'', etc., and other journals and newspapers.

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 1950s with Habib Tanvir and other friends. In her college days at

she started helping out with the stage productions there, apart from taking an active interest in Hindustani Theatre. After her B.A., Shama went to Slade School of Art, London, for a one-year course in stage and costume design. She 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 Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

am Main,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Herr Heckroth was the designer of Red Shoes Hoffman's Tales, etc.) She 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 People's Theatre Association (IPTA), Mumbai. Since 1980 she has designed more for films and television than theatre. She worked as a writer, director, costume designer or art director for the following stage productions –

Stage productions

* ''Chou En-lai'', a historical costume pageant at Lodi Gardens, New Delhi

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

Indian People's Theatre Association, Mumbai

She had been 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.

Cinema

She has written scripts/dialogues for documentaries and feature films with

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

, Shyam Benegal, M. S. Sathyu and others. She has also worked as Costume Designer and Art Director.

Filmography

* '' Charandas Chor'' (1975) (The Thief Charandas) 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. * '' Garm Hava'' (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 (shared with Kaifi Azmi). * '' Manthan'' (The Churning) ''1976 / Colour / 134min / Hindi'' Direction Shyam Benegal; Art direction Shama Zaidi * '' Shatranj Ke Khilari'' शतरंज के खिलाड़ी (Chess Players) ''1977 / Hindi'' Direction

; 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 1940s. * '' Umrao Jaan'' (The Courtesan) ''Colour / Hindi'' Direction Muzaffar Ali; Script Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi Based on a 19th-century Urdu novel. * ''

Chakra A chakra (; ; ) is one of the various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, part of the inner traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The concept of the chakra arose in Hinduism. B ...

'' (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 ''Bara'' ( ) is a directed and produced by M. S. Sathyu. It is based on the novel of same name by U. R. Ananthamurthy. Simultaneously shot in Kannada and Hindi, the film starred Anant Nag, C. R. Simha and Loveleen Madhu in lead roles. The film ...

'' (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 weaver A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

s 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

Dharamvir Bharati Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular Hindi weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'', from 1960 till 1987.The Illustr ...

. *'' Galige'' ''1994'' Direction M. S. Sathyu; Screenplay S. Ramaswamy, Shama Zaidi & Satish Sehgal * ''

Mammo ''Mammo'' is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language film by Shyam Benegal. It stars Farida Jalal, Surekha Sikri, Amit Phalke and Rajit Kapur. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi in 1995. Farida Jalal won Filmfare Crit ...

'' ''1995'' Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohamed * '' The Making of the Mahatma'' ''1996'' Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal &

Fatima Meer Fatima Meer (12 August 1928 – 12 March 2010) was a South African writer, academic, screenwriter, and prominent anti-apartheid activist. Early life Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of Durban, South Africa, into a middle-class family ...

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 Mohamed * '' 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. * '' Zubeidaa'' ''2001/ Colour / Hindi'' Direction Shyam Benegal; Additional screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi * '' Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero'' ''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 Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...

for Sahara Entertainment * '' Chamki Chameli'' ''2005-2006/ Colour/ Hindi'' Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari A film inspired by the 19th-century novella "

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

" by

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...

* '' Mujib: The Making of a Nation'' ''2019-22/ Colour/Bengali'' Direction Shyam Benegal; Script and Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari A film on the life of

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

Short films

References

External links

*
Garam Hawa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaidi, Shama 1938 births Living people Indian women screenwriters Indian art directors Indian costume designers 20th-century Indian women artists People from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Filmfare Awards winners Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Indian scenic designers Women artists from Uttar Pradesh Indian women journalists 20th-century Indian designers Hindi-language screenwriters 21st-century Indian designers 21st-century Indian women artists Screenwriters from Uttar Pradesh Indian graphic designers Indian women graphic designers Women costume designers Women theatre designers Indian art critics Indian women art critics Twelvers Indian Shia Muslims Miranda House alumni