A first look at producer Anuj Saxena's new show
Shaheen Parkar
shaheen@mid-day.com
Actor-turned-producer Anuj Saxena turns daily soap maker. He has just shot Niyati (working title), a saga about 'a modern-day happy-go-lucky girl whose life gets entrapped on the wrong side of fate'.
Though he features as Suhas in the Sony daily Risshton Ki Dor, Saxena had floated his production house, Maverick, in March last year to pursue new avenues in producing television shows, adfilms, docus as well as feature films.
Ensemble cast
Directed by Swapna Joshi with Prashant Bhatt as creative head, the cast includes newcomer Sudarshana in the title role with Mahesh Thakur, Kitu Gidwani, Amit Sadh, Sushmita Mukherjee, Aamarpali, Ila Oberoi, Manish Khanna, Shivani Gossain and Suchitra Bandekar.
Shot across various locales in Mumbai, Saxena describes Niyati as a saga of two families — The Darbars and the Chauhans — and how fate destroys these two families. "It is the story of a woman who must now live, not for herself; but for what she did not want to do or be."
Quality matters
Says Saxena, "I am looking forward my show going on air. For me, the most important thing is the quality, content and the look of the soap. Currently, the pilots we have shot, are based are either our own ideas or request from certain channels. I hope I can present viewers with shows that are better than the best."
Best remembered for his role as Abhay in Kkusum, Saxena's earlier venture was a game show, Khiladi No 1, for Zee Smile. He has also produced a documentary, Fables of Birth, directed by Sahana Bhattacharya, about the mid-wives of India.