Shama Zaidi

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

Journalism

 * Art critic for The Statesman, The Patriot and Shankar's Weekly, 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 Miranda House 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 am Main, West Germany. 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, 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.
 * Charandas Chor (1975) (The Thief Charandas)

Based on a short story by Ismat Chugtai, which she expanded into a film treatment. Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay (shared with Kaifi Azmi).
 * Garm Hava (Hot Winds) 1974 / Colour / 136min / Urdu Direction M S Sathyu; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Kaifi Azmi; Costume Design Shama Zaidi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Art direction Shama Zaidi
 * Manthan (The Churning) 1976 / Colour / 134min / Hindi

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.
 * Shatranj Ke Khilari शतरंज के खिलाड़ी (Chess Players) 1977 / Hindi

Direction M S Sathyu; Script Shama Zaidi Based on the exploits of a legendary dacoit of the Malnad region in Karnataka.
 * Kanneshwara Rama (The Legendary Outlaw) 1977 / Colour / 137min / Kannada & 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.
 * Bhumika (The Role) 1977 / Colour / 142min / Hindi

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

Direction Robin (Rabindra) Dharmraja; Script & Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi Based on the novel by Jaywant Dalvi.
 * Chakra (The Wheel) 1980 / Colour / 140min / Hindi

Direction M S Sathyu; Screenplay & Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Javed Siddiqi Based on a short novel by U R Ananthamurthy.
 * Bara/Sookha (Famine) 1981 / Colour / 140min / Kannada & Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi Based on a famous land dispute case.
 * Aarohan (The Ascent) 1982

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script & Screenplay Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal & Satyadev Dubey
 * Mandi (The Marketplace) 1983 / Colour / 160min / Hindi

Direction M S Sathyu; Original Screenplay Shama Zaidi
 * Kahan Kahan Se Guzar Gaya (The Paths I Have Trod) 1985 / Colour / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi Original screenplay on the Ikat handloom weavers of Andhra.
 * Susman (The Essence) 1986 / Colour / 140min / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Shyam Benegal Based on an idea by Shyam Benegal.
 * Trikaal (Past, Present, Future) 1986

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Sunil Shanbag An original screenplay based on the Swadhyaya socio-religious movement founded by Pandurang Shastri Athavale.
 * Antarnaad (The Inner Voice) 1993

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi A puzzle screenplay based on the novel by Dharamvir Bharati.
 * Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (The Seventh Horse of the Sun) 1994

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

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohamed
 * Mammo 1995

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script Shama Zaidi, Shyam Benegal & Fatima Meer An Indo-South African co production on Mahatma Gandhi's life in South Africa.
 * The Making of the Mahatma 1996

Direction Shyam Benegal; Screenplay Shama Zaidi & Khalid Mohamed
 * Sardari Begum 1997 / Colour / 123min / Urdu

Art direction Shama Zaidi
 * Nishant

Costume Design Shama Zaidi
 * Mrigtrishna

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script & Dialogues Shama Zaidi A film on women's empowerment made for the Ministry of Family Welfare.
 * Haribhari 2000 / Colour / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Additional screenplay and dialogues Shama Zaidi
 * Zubeidaa 2001/ Colour / Hindi

Direction Shyam Benegal; Script and Dialogues Shama Zaidi & Atul Tiwari A film on the last years of Subhas Chandra Bose for Sahara Entertainment
 * Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero 2002-04/ Colour/Hindi-English

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

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