Sanchayita was six when she iscovered that people paid to watch movies. Since her family was involved in the film business, watching films was not just a regular event, but film business was dinner table conversation. Sholay was the first film to hit her emotional cord. Maybe because the terror was psychological or that she thought Sanjeev Kumar was her father’s look-alike, it caused her pain every time she watched it. For her, Gabbar was the epitome of his filmy villain and the “distributor” word she often heard at home represented the real live Gabbars. She had fun doing a TV show during her school and college days. During that period, she became close to the theater as an actress and later had a cameo role in an Assamese feature film. But, she was looking for something more. The business part of filmmaking was more appealing to her. To be honest, she never had the nerve to direct until she saw Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy. Ray’s and Kristov Kieslowski’s treatments made her look at films from a different angle and gave her the confidence to direct one later in life.
Sanchayita Sharma was born and bought up in Guwahati before moving to London in the later part of the year 2000. She holds a degree in business from Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University. Her television career started in 1995 when she hosted two pilot episodes for a song based television program called Your Request, a personal favor she did for her brother Chinmoy Sharma’s production house Sangeeta Advertising Agency. Her brother and his then partner Mridul Borman along with the workers and officials in Doordarshan liked her style; it got her in front of the camera. She thought, how hard can it be?, it was a show interviewing celebrities and playing songs on request. This show was the first in North-East (NE) India to complete 100 episodes. It was on air for more than seven years (later called From London with Love) and was on top of the TRP ratings for more than 54 weeks on Doordarshan (NE).
Theatre was her first love. She also ventured into the theatre world acting in plays like Romeo and Juliet, Street Car named Desire, Poroxuram, Kongseng and participated in the Nandikar International Theatre Festival with Seagull, a well known theatre group from Assam led by Baharul and Bhagirathi Islam (multi-award winners and NFD Graduates). After being exposed to European films during her days in London, she ventured to make her short film The Passage which was screened in the Cannes Film Festival (2005). This endeavor ultimately led her into the world of cinema. Several of her projects at the moment (feature film, music videos, documentaries) are in various stages of development. She just completed a twenty minute piece for Al Jazeera International, the new English channel based in London. This documentary is part of her full-length feature on the conflict in Assam.
Open to the idea of doing Hindi and English movies, Sanchayita continues to explore the realities of life and the emotions of the common people in contemporary Assam - a theme which is very close to her heart. Her aim is to contribute in providing focus and to bring Assam to a world audience. She says, “To the world, Assam is synonymous with tea, but there is more to it. I want to show that amidst all the beauty and stories of unrest, somehow, the people of Assam find inner strength in themselves and life goes on ...and that, for me is admirable.”
You can find more about her at http://enazoree.blogspot.com.
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