Pawan Parkhi, who started off as an actor in the TV serial Chand Grahan, later went on to direct umpteen number of shows. Direction became his passion, as while acting, he realised that a director has more control over a show than anybody else. Hence, he started assisting his director on the same show and later went on to direct some well-known shows on his own. Tellychakkar.com entered into a freewheeling chat with Pawan. Excerpts from the interview; Tell us something about yourself? As I always wanted to be a part of this industry, I first did a theatre workshop in 1991. It was a 45-day acting and direction workshop at the National School of Drama (NSD). Post this, I got my MA Degree in Indian Theatre from Punjab University (1996-1998) where actress Mahie Gill was my batch mate. Soon after that I shifted to Mumbai where I directed six stories on a show called Mission Fate (2004-2005) for Sahara One. This show was basically a compilation of stories of Kargil war. After this, I went on to direct many serials that include Shakalaka Boom Boom, Left Right Left, Jugni Chali Jalandhar, Maryada, Pavitra Rishta, Aap Ki Antara, Dwarkadheesh and finally Meri Maa. What kinds of alterations have come across in a director’s role with the interference of the channel and the creatives in the last few years? Initially, when I took up Mission Fate, I used to direct, cast and also work on the script at the same time. But off late, the scenario has changed completely. These days the channel sends us the story after which the production people set up things while the creatives work. The director has to only execute what he has been asked to do on screen. So, basically a director’s job has become very easy and, like earlier, he does not have to wait back on the sets or sit on edits till there is a very important scene. He can go back home after the pack up. But does that mean that the director is no more the captain of the ship? A director is definitely in control of things, but today he does not have the right to change things and because of this, a lot of old directors get offended. But for me, this is fair as a writer and the channel work in tandem on the character for days together. The director cannot simply go ahead and change their hard work in seconds. Apart from that, these days, directors change in 15 to 20 days and hence a channel or a production house cannot fully rely on the director. Today, if there is one director tomorrow there will be another and the only people who will narrate him the story would either be the creative or the channel. Directors have just become babysitters, as the show is no more their baby. Hence, we cannot just go and treat somebody else’s kid the way we want. However there are times when the creatives expect us to do a lot of illogical stuff, which we do question. But at the end of the day, you have to give in. These days, a lot of new actors are roped in to play leads. How difficult does it get to handle them? These actors are not very raw as they reach us after the long casting process. However, at times, the speed the director works in does get affected. The speed is usually calculated depending on how many scenes we complete in the given time. And if there is a new actor, the director will have to work hard to get the desired results as new actors are not seasoned ones. Hence, one has to work hard. But at the end of the day, instead of seven scenes, I might complete only five. Continue… For example, while I was doing Dwarkadheesh, we had a lot of newcomers and naturally, things used to get delayed. However, Vishal Karwal (who played Krishna) was one brilliant actor. I was indeed amazed that he would complete long scenes (big paragraphs) in a matter of 15 minutes, in spite of him being a newcomer. However, while I was working with Cezanne Khan in Sita Aur Geeta, the work used to go really fast as Cezanne is one of the best actors I know. He knew everything about the technical aspect as well. Similarly, work was quick with Sushant Singh Rajput and Ankita Lokhande while I was doing Pavitra Rishta. Isn’t it difficult dealing with big stars as they have their own set of tantrums? Everyone has tantrums but the directors never have to deal with it; the production people have to. Many a times, the shoot does get delayed when actors come in late but since they are an experienced lot, they do not take time to give their shot. A new actor will take the entire day to shoot five scenes while well-known actors like Raqesh Vashisth and Indrani Haldar will complete the same in no time. Do you think that TV directors will ever get to take the charge of a show completely like film directors? In films, a director takes his story to the producer hence the story completely belongs to him or her. However in TV, when you’re working with a production house like Balaji where even the scripts come with things like low angle shot and pan shot, I don’t think a director has much to do. Hence, it can never be a director’s medium as director does not get the TRPs. To tell you the fact, however well a scene is shot, if the story is not appealing, the TRP will fall. Hence I do not see TV becoming a director’s medium. These days shows go off-air in three months time. Comment on it… Earlier, channels would never bother till 32 episodes as they never counted on those episodes. However, these days, shows are going off-air in three months time which is sad as the audience takes at least that much time to associate with the show. In fact, there are times when the audiences do not even know if the show is on-air, if not publicised well. Everybody does not create hype about their show like the makers of Madhubala do. This show managed to get very good TRP in the first week itself, but the same does not happen with every show. Where do you see a TV director five years down the line? I do not see anything changing for a TV director from here. Since TV is not a director’s medium, one will not see major changes. Any message for the producers and the channels… The production house must trust their directors as though a show is their baby. Hence they must not take sudden decisions and ask the director to leave in a short period of time. But if they have a major issue with the director, they can definitely replace him or her. As it’s not just good for the director, but also for the production house as there are times when the execution of a show suffers due to the change in the director. If fact, the constant change of directors has become a kind of a joke. I remember I was on the sets of Kasamh Se for a few episodes when Ram Kapoor entered the sets and the first question he asked was: “Who’s the director today.”