Mita Vashisht

Mita Vashisht

Vashisht at the premiere of Janleva 555 in 2012
Born (1967-11-02) 2 November 1967[1]
Pune, Maharashtra, India
Other names Meeta Vasisht
Occupation Actress
Years active 1987–present

Mita Vashisht (born 2 November 1967)[1] is an Indian television, film and theatre actress.

Early life

Mita Vashisht was allegedly born on 2 November 1967 in Pune, Maharashtra, India to Rajeshwar Dutt Vasisht, a retired Colonel in the Indian Army and Meenakshi Mehta Vasisht, a teacher and musician.

A post-graduate in literature from Punjab University, Chandigarh and a graduate from the National School of Drama[2] (Delhi) in 1987, Vashisht is also visiting faculty to some of the premier design, film and theatre institutes of India – the NIFT (Delhi), FTII (Pune), NSD (Delhi) and the NID (Ahmedabad). She has also conducted theatre workshops in the UK (London, Birmingham, Leicester) and in Damascus. She teaches students of fashion design, film direction and acting, using theatre techniques.[3]

Career

Vashisht has worked in off-beat cinema as well as in commercial roles. She has worked in theatre and has written scripts as well. Since 2004, she has performed her solo play in English and Hindi, titled, Lal Ded, based on life of medieval Kashmiri mystic Lal Ded, all over India.[4]

Apart from acting, Vashisht is also actively involved in social work. She has worked with children in remand homes and with sex workers (she started a theatre troupe by enlisting 30 sex workers).[5]

Vashisht has written and produced three short films, as well as a serial for television. She has worked as executive producer on the award winning film The Name of a River (A BFI (London)- NFDC (India)- Bangladesh film co-production).

In June 2001, Vashisht established Mandala, space for arts collaborations research and education. Its aim was to spearhead a new movement in the arts, to centre stage and individuate the performing arts in society (she considers that imperative, in the face of an electronic media onslaught) and to aid artistic collaborations.

Her first project under Mandala however took an unusual twist. A chance theatre workshop that she conducted with trafficked minors in a remand home in Mumbai led to four years of her full-time involvement with the cause of self- empowerment and rehabilitation of trafficked minors. (trafficked minors i.e. minor girls rescued from prostitution from the city brothels).

As artistic director of Mandala she created Mandala TAM (theatre arts module)--- a methodology and a training process based on the performing arts that proved to be highly successful in helping the trafficked minors to heal and transform mentally, physically, emotionally and intellectually.

Theatre

She has performed in the 75 minute solo theatre performance Lal Ded, based on the life and poetry of the iconic woman mystic and poet of Kashmir Lal Ded.[6] Lal Ded performances have been invited to and featured in the following National/International theatre festivals in India and abroad.

Film and television

She has also produced ad directed television programs and documentaries. She is working on She of the Four Names, commissioned by Public Services Broadcasting Trust, India. (PSBT) based on Lal Ded.

Vashisht played a key role in Ekta Kapoor's Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. She played the role of the uptight principal on the show Suvreen Guggal on Channel V India and Akbar's evil stepmom in the serial, Jodha Akbar on Zee TV.[7]

Selected filmography

Year Film Role Director Notes
1987 Var Var Vari Nayika Kumar Shahani
1989 Chandni Chandni's friend Yash Chopra
1989 Siddheshwari Siddheshwari Mani Kaul Documentary film
1989 Jazeere Asta Govind Nihalani
1990 Khayal Gatha Rani Roopmati Kumar Shahani
1990 Drishti Prabha Govind Nihalani
1990 Kasba Tejo Kumar Shahani
1991 Idiot Nastassya Mani Kaul
1994 Tarpan Lachmi K. Bikram Singh
1994 English August Nri Dev Benegal
1994 Drohkaal Sumitra Govind Nihalani Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress
1998 Dil Se.. Terrorist Mani Ratnam
1998 Zindagi Zindabad Botanist Sumitra Bhave
1998 Ghulam Fatima Vikram Bhatt
1999 Taal Prabha Subhash Ghai
2000 Snegithiye SP Prema Narayanan Priyadarshan Tamil film
2001 Maya Maya's Aunt Digvijay Singh
2001 Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi Main villain Rahul Rawail
2002 Pitaah Thakuraien Mahesh Manjrekar
2003 Patalghar Begum Abhijit Chaudhary Bengali film
2004 Oops! Sharon/Sakshi Deepak Tijori
2006 Shevri MayaGajendra Ahire Marathi film
2009 Anubhav Dr. Kamla Rajeev Nath
2009 Aladin Karate Instructor Sujoy Ghosh
2009 Antaheen Mrs. Mehra Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury Bengali film
2011 Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge Ma'am Nupur Ashtana
2011 Trishna Trishna's mother Michael Winterbottom
2013 Gangoobai Daksha Priya Krishnaswamy
2014 Youngistaan Suhasini Singh Deo Syed Ahmad Afzal
2014 Rahasya Brinda Chhabria Manish Gupta
Others

Television

Year Serial Director Notes
1988 Space City Sigma Ashok Talwar, Bizeth Bannerjee
1989 Bharat Ek Khoj Shyam Benegal As Suhasini, Wife of Dhananand [episode 11,12]
1989 Mr Yogi Ketan Mehta
1993 Pachpan Khambe Lal Deewarein P.K. Mohanty
1994 Swabhimaan Plus Channel
1994 Kirdaar Gulzaar
1997 Ghum Anup Singh
1998 Saalgiraah Anup Singh
1999 Vijay Jyoti Gajendra Singh
1999 Hip Hip Hurray Nupur Asthana
1999–2000 Star Bestsellers aired on Star Plus
2001 Kaaun Balaji televisions
2001 Khauff TV series
2005 Bombay Lawyers NDTV
2005–07 Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki Balaji Telefilms
2012–13 Suvreen Guggal – Topper of The Year Ravi Bhushan
2015 Sense8 Sahana Rasal
2015 Kaala Teeka Jethi Maa

Film Jury member

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 Kolwankar, Gayatri (26 April 2016). "TV actors and their birthday bash pictures". The Times of India. p. 15. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Ferral, Glacxy (25 November 2008). "Mita reveals it all". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
  3. ↑ "For the love of the stage". The Hindu. 11 November 2012.
  4. ↑ C.S. Lakshmi (1 May 2005). "Songs of a mystic". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012.
  5. ↑ http://www.garhwalpost.com/index.php?mod=article&cat=Dehradun&article=3510
  6. ↑ Meenakshi Shedde (14 November 2001). "How theatre can empower the meek". Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "Mita Vashisht to play Akbar's evil stepmom in Jodha Akbar". The Times of India. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
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