A theatre and cinema veteran of nearly four decades, Mita Vashisht believes the process of making films or TV scatters one's inner self, whereas theatre helps bring it all together and gives a sense of rootedness.
Vashisht, a National School of Drama graduate, has worked in award-winning films including “Drohkaal” (1994), “Dil Se..” (1998), “Ghulam” (1998), and “Taal” (1999) as well as popular soap operas such as “Swabhimaan” (1994), “Hip Hip Hurray” (1998) and “Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki” (2005).
“With TV and film, the process has a lot of people in it, there are a lot of elements and now there is social media too. In some strange way, it scatters your inner being, what theatre does is it brings all your many parts together and gives you a sense of rootedness,” Vashisht told PTI in an interview.
After graduating from NSD in 1987, the 55-year-old has remained active in theatre, most notably through her solo play in English and Hindi, “Lal Ded”, based on life of the medieval Kashmiri mystic, which is in its 18th year of production.
“The kind of response I get from an audience, they don’t leave the theatre for almost an hour after watching Lal Ded, they hang around. So theatre is that deep quiet core that sustains me. I think it is also the most democratic medium. Theatre involves your entire body, your mind and your emotional space,” the actor said.
Talking about her journey in films and TV, Vashisht noted that apart from facing a “male dominated” industry, an actor also has to overcome other obstacles too.
“It is not just male dominated, it is also dominated by a certain idea of royalty. If you are a mainstream actress, you are treated a little differently. If you have done a Hindi film where you have two three songs to your credit, which have been shown on TV, it helps. But if you have not done that or if you have done a certain type of cinema then there is always a kind of discrimination," the "Kaagaz" actor said.
According to Vashisht, a lot depends on the directors you work with and how they classify the cinema that you have been a part of.
“And you have to have a hit song. Then even if you have done two films, you are a star for the rest of your life,” she said.
Vashisht, who has worked with the likes of Govind Nihalani, Priyadarshan, Mani Ratnam, Mani Kaul, and Kumar Shahani, said that she enjoyed the variety and the different types of cinema they made.
“I just enjoy the differences of each filmmaker, the fact that they are so different from each other. I have enjoyed the variety of directors I have worked with. Their cinemas are so vastly different and the fact that I could lend myself to each one, it was a new journey and I always loved the variety of that journey,” she said.
