There are many who are creatively inclined to developing new ideas either in the fiction or the non-fiction genres. But here we have one extremely talented person who excels not only in the fiction space, but also has a good body of work in the non-fiction zone.

She’s had an overwhelming experience of over two decades as a television software professional. After having held designations of Director, Creative Director, Supervising Producer, Writer, Executive and Creative Producer for various production houses, she’s now helming the creative zone as the Creative Director for Life OK’s newest offering, Ek Nayi Umeed – Roshni, produced by Pulse Media Entertainment.

We are talking about none other than Shruti Anindita Varma who with her oodles of experience, has pulled up the unique hospital based concept, one-of-its kind on Indian television.

Here’s the lady getting into a very lively and chilled out conversation with Tellychakkar.com.

How did the journey of Ek Nayi Umeed – Roshni start?

Well while I was working at Endemol India, I started work upon a concept called Hospital. The idea stayed with me for quiet sometime and finally we ended up making a pilot. But as luck would have it, the show never saw the light of the day.

It was very disheartening as it was like an unfulfilled dream. And suddenly I got a call from the Producers of Pulse Media who are the producers of Ek Nayi Umeed Roshni. They told me they were making a show that revolved around a family of doctors and the Protagonist of the show was a doctor too. This was enough for me to be excited and agree to be a part of such an interesting journey ….  This is a completely new and innovative concept …  but for me it is like finally achieving a dream, and today I cannot tell you how proud of it I am.

So when you began the re-work for the show with Pulse Media, what was the basic idea from which you had to build on?

See, the initial thought was to have a concept of a hospital, wherein there will be a family of doctors. Well, the only last reference to a hospital based concept we had was Sanjivani, for which I had been the writer. We did not want a Sanjivani, or a Grey’s Anatomy. From there started the journey of working through innumerable scripts.

What is the best part of your team?        

Fortunately, my team comprising of my director, producers, writers etc have not been over-exposed on TV. They were mostly people who were into films, and not the regular GEC people. So their mind was very clean and it was easier for us to work on what we wanted.

Tell us about your vast experience in the industry...     

I have been in this industry for 25 years now. I started directing when I was 19 years old. I have had the opportunity to write screenplay and dialogues of Sanjeevani, Haqeeqat, Rishtey, Ye Meri Life Hai. I have developed new and different concepts like Saara Aakash, Manzilen Aur Bhi Hai, Zaike Ka Safar, Aap Ki Awaaz.

I have also worked with Balaji Telefilms as the head of Non Fiction division, with Gajendra Singh as Creative Director, with Miditech as Creative Director and Supervising Producer and with Applause Entertainment as the head of Non Fiction and events. I have been the Creative Director for Antakshari, Voice of India, Raaz Pichle Janam Ka. With Endemol, I have conceived and developed great properties like Police Dial 100.  

The cast of Roshni has been huge.. How did you manage to get ace actors like Amol Palekar, Divya Seth, Raghuvir Yadav and others on board?

It’s a privilege to have such a talented bunch of actors on board. In fact, we shot the pilot with a completely different cast. Not many would know that we had Satish Shah playing the Nanu in the pilot. After the pilot got approved post research, Satish Shah could not be a part of the show as he fell ill. We were really upset, as he fit the role so well. We had to brainstorm again on the actor to play the Nanu as he was very important in our show. One fine day, one of our team members suggested the name of Amol Palekar; but we were apprehensive as we had not seen him acting for a long time now. But when we met him, he was so keen on the project that he agreed. In fact, he was a bit nervous to begin with, as he had not acted for 30 long years. However, when he started to open up, he showed his real class. His chemistry with our protagonist Pooja Gor is so tremendous, that we have been forced to increase their scenes.

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Also take Divya Seth. She gets back to TV after 6 years. When we offered her the role, she said she was waiting for such a project. Then we have Raghuvir Yadav who is a great talent.

Talking about the protagonist, we had a new girl by name Sarosh in our pilot. But the channel did not approve of her, and we were on the lookout for a good actor. And when we called Pooja for a meeting, she asked us such intelligent questions that we knew we had got our girl. Incidentally, Pooja comes from a family of doctors, and she was too keen on meeting real doctors and going through workshops before she started.

Also take actors like Rahul Vohra Vikram Kapadia, Sahil Anand they come with so much of an experience. The rest of the cast is very fresh.

Tell us about the shoot in London?         

They were very much well-planned and we shot quite a lot in London. In fact, we wanted to shoot a library sequence in London which has gone on air in the first episode. We initially thought of recreating a library, but that did not work out. Ultimately we found the library of St. Georges Hospital in London apt for the scene. But to shoot one sequence at the library, it cost us a very huge sum. Finally, we gave in and shot at the place.

Lastly, take us through the high level of promotion at the Times Square...

Yes, just like the unique concept, the channel wanted to promote the show in a different way. Hence the idea of Times Square came in. Our target audience is not only the housewives, but also the male crowd, youngsters, professionals like doctors, engineers etc. So we have done the best, and the response has been really huge. We have got rave reviews for our protagonist Pooja Gor, and we are really looking forward to a great run..

All the best, team Roshni!!