Shama Zaidi


Shama Zaidi 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.

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 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 environment. She was educated at Woodstock School, Mussoorie, and then at Miranda House, New Delhi. She has a bachelor's degree in English from Delhi University, and a diploma in stage design from the Slade School of Art, London.

Career

Journalism

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 Miranda House she started helping out with the stage productions there, apart from taking 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.
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, Mumbai. Since 1980 she has designed more for films and television than theatre.
She worked as writer, director, costume designer or art director for the following stage productions –

Stage productions

She had been associated with the IPTA's Inter collegiate Drama Competition since 1972 as a jury member.
She has written scripts/dialogues for documentaries and feature films with Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, M. S. Sathyu and others. She has also worked as Costume Designer and Art Director.

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.
Based on a short story by Ismat Chugtai, which she expanded into a film treatment. Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Art direction Shama Zaidi
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.
Direction M S Sathyu; Script Shama Zaidi
Based on the exploits of a legendary dacoit of the Malnad region in Karnataka.
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.
Direction Muzaffar Ali; Script Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi
Based on a 19th-century Urdu novel.
Direction Robin Dharmraja; Script & Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi
Based on the novel by Jaywant Dalvi.
Direction M S Sathyu; Screenplay & Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi
Based on a short novel by U R Ananthamurthy.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi
Based on a famous land dispute case.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Script & Screenplay Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal & Satyadev Dubey
Direction M S Sathyu; Original Screenplay Shama Zaidi
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi
Original screenplay on the Ikat handloom weavers of Andhra.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Shyam Benegal
Based on an idea by Shyam Benegal.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Sunil Shanbag
An original screenplay based on the Swadhyaya socio-religious movement founded by Pandurang Shastri Athavale.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi
A puzzle screenplay based on the novel by Dharamvir Bharati.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohamed
Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal & Fatima Meer
An Indo-South African co production on Mahatma Gandhi's life in South Africa.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohamed
Art direction Shama Zaidi
Costume Design Shama Zaidi
Direction Shyam Benegal; Script & Dialogues Shama Zaidi
A film on women's empowerment made for the Ministry of Family Welfare.
Direction Shyam Benegal; Additional screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi
Direction Shyam Benegal; Script and Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari
A film on the last years of Subhas Chandra Bose for Sahara Entertainment
Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari
A film inspired by the 19th-century novella "Carmen" by Prosper Mérimée

Short films