Durba Sahay

Born on 16th December 1962, After establishing herself as a gifted actor, Durba Sahay, has made her directorial debut with "The Pen", a much acclaimed short film full of fresh fragrance and innovative ideas. Entering the stage as a child performer in Rabindra Nath Tagore's dance dramas, Durba has shown her talent in different arenas of the theatre and films in different capacities including those of Playwright, Actor, Director, Script writer and Production Designer and has registered success in all these departments. Detesting stereotypes, Durba Sahay has experimented with new and somewhat unconventional ideas and has treaded her own path instead of trekking on the beaten track. The child performer grew into an established artist with effortless ease and has never looked back. Author of Raftar, a collection of short stories based on diverse themes including women empowerment and taboos like AIDS, Durba Sahay has revealed an entirely different shade of her creative personality in The Pen. The short film made by Sahay has converted the messenger (pen) into a message. Durba's role as the snobbish wife of a bureaucrat in the National Award winning film "Patang" (Film, 1994) came for positive appreciation. She has also performed in an internationally acclaimed documentary titled "Beyond the Himalayas", the 5 hr Documentary on "the Silk Route", (1994-95) with Gautam Ghosh as Dircetor. As an actor, Durba displayed her natural talent in culturally diverse plays like "An Inspector Calls", based in a purely European setting and "The Government Inspector" depicting the political intrigues, conspiracies, corruption and kinked human relations in a muffassil - rural scenario prevailing and thriving in India. Durba's solo performance "Jirah" based on her own writing, and Directed by Ramgopal Bajaj is ready for public viewing. Also a cultural activist, Durba has her own Cultural centre with well equipped auditorium and Theatre repertory which has produced several plays, (staged in different parts of the country.), and organized exhibitions and musical shows. Durba Sahay was also awarded the "Silver lotus" for producing "Patang", adjudged as the best Hindi feature film directed by Gautam Ghosh with Shabana Azmi, Om Puri and Shatrughan Sinha in the lead roles.