Deepa Sahi (born 30 November 1962) is an Indian actress and producer from an Army background, who is best known for her role as Maya in the 1993 movie ''

Maya Memsaab ''Maya Memsaab'' (also known as ''Maya'' and ''Maya: The Enchanting Illusion'' in English) is a 1993 Indian mystery drama film directed by Ketan Mehta and starring Deepa Sahi, Farooq Shaikh, Raj Babbar, Shah Rukh Khan, and Paresh Rawal. The fi ...

'', opposite actor Farrukh Sheikh. She made her directorial debut with the movie '' Tere Mere Phere'' in 2011.

Early and personal life

Deepa Sahi at Esha Deol's sangeet ceremony 02

Deepa Sahi, an ethnic

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

, was born in

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, district and is governed by the Dehr ...

in an Army background and is the youngest sibling in her family. She grew up in

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. Her family later shifted to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, but she continued to stay in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. She had an elder sister who died at the age of 18. Sahi pursued her education at Indraprastha College for Women, and was a gold medalist in Sociology from

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as "D School", is a Higher Educational Institution within the University of Delhi. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establ ...

. Sahi later joined the

NSD In Internet computing, NSD (for "name server daemon") is an open-source Domain Name System (DNS) server. It was developed by NLnet Labs of Amsterdam in cooperation with the RIPE NCC, from scratch as an authoritative name server (i.e., not imple ...

with the aim of becoming a director. However, she started receiving acting offers from her NSD days, which prompted her to shift to acting. Sahi decided to direct her first film in the early days of her career but the film, ''Nana Karte Pyaar'' which was supposed to star

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest an ...

and

Hema Malini Hema Malini (born 16 October 1948) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician. She is primarily known for her work in Hindi films. Known for starring in both comic and dramatic roles, she is one of the most popular and successfu ...

failed to take off due to a recession. She is married to film director

Ketan Mehta Ketan Mehta (born 21 July 1952) is an Indian film director who has also directed documentaries and television serials since 1975. Early life and education Born on 21 July 1952 in Navsari in Gujarat, Mehta did his schooling from Sardar Patel V ...

, who is the nephew of freedom fighter

Usha Mehta Usha Mehta (25 March 1920 – 11 August 2000) was a Gandhian and freedom fighter of India. She is also remembered for organizing the Congress Radio, also called the ''Secret Congress Radio'', an underground radio station, which functioned for f ...

. It is the second marriage for both of them.

Early career

An alumnus of NSD,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, Sahi started off with a theater career, with strong

Leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in so ...

leanings and social activism a core value of the productions she was involved with. In her early film career she collaborated with noted auteur Govind Nihalini and made her debut with the 1984 film ''

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...

''. This was well received, and she subsequently acted in ''

Aghaat Aghaat (English: Harm) is a 1985 Bollywood film directed by Govind Nihalani and produced by Manmohan Shetty under the banner of Neo Films Association. It stars Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and Bharath Gopi in lead roles while Amrish Puri, Pank ...

'' (1985). Her thespian achievement, however, will always remain her role as the independent-minded and empowered lower-caste Punjabi woman she played in the highly acclaimed

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

'' Tamas'' (1986).

Commercial cinema

After marrying film director Ketan Mehta, she acted in several of his films including ''

Hero Hiralal ''Hero Hiralal'' is a 1988 Indian film directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Sanjana Kapoor in leading roles. It is a movie about an auto rickshaw driver who falls in love with a film actress. The movie showcased performances b ...

'' (1988), ''

'' (1992) and ''

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India! ''Oh Darling Yeh Hai India'' () is a 1995 Indian musical parody film directed by Ketan Mehta, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepa Sahi, Jaaved Jaffrey and Amrish Puri. It also stars Anupam Kher in a supporting role. Plot Don Quixote (Amrish Puri ...

'' (1995). She wrote the screenplay for ''

''. ''

'' was controversial for featuring an explicit sex scene between Sahi and then upcoming actor

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood ...

. Her other notable films include '' Hum'' (1991), ''

Trinetra ''Trinetra'' is a 1991 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by Harry Baweja. The film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Shilpa Shirodkar, Deepa Sahi in lead roles, with Dharmendra in a special appearance. Plot Trinetra is the story of the reve ...

'' (1991) and '' Ek Doctor Ki Maut'' (1991). Her last film appearances was in her husband's film '' Aar Yaa Paar'' (1998) She got a

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

best supporting actress nomination for ''Hum'' and National Award (Jury) for ''Maya Memsaab''. In 2015, she returned to acting after 18 years appearing in her husband's film '' Majhi – The Mountain Man'' in a cameo role as

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

Production career

She became a producer in 1993. She has produced seven films to date: Besides this, she has produced 12 TV series and is promoter of Maya Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. one of India's leading animation studios. She was the CEO of

Maya Entertainment Maya Entertainment Group, Inc. was an independent multi-platform video distribution company. Moctesuma Esparza founded the company in Los Angeles, California in 2007.from maya-entertainment.com (domain for sale as of May 2014) Maya Entertainmen ...

from 2000 to 2002 and was responsible for the long-term strategy of the company; she made many entries into other animation avenues such as MAAC, etc. After her stint as the CEO of Maya Entertainment, she returned to her first love cinema. She made her directorial debut with the 2011 film '' Tere Mere Phere''. Together with Ketan Mehta, she co-founded an animation company, Cosmos-Maya

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahi, Deepa 20th-century Indian actresses Living people Punjabi people Indraprastha College for Women alumni National School of Drama alumni Indian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian women film producers Film producers from Uttarakhand 1965 births Indian women screenwriters Indian women film directors 20th-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian film directors Hindi film producers Hindi-language film directors Film directors from Uttarakhand Women artists from Uttarakhand Artists from Uttarakhand Actresses from Dehradun Screenwriters from Uttarakhand Writers from Dehradun Women writers from Uttarakhand 21st-century Indian actresses Businesspeople from Dehradun Businesswomen from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian businesswomen 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesswomen 21st-century Indian businesspeople