Kangana Ranaut pays tribute to a 'lost hero of cinema', Sai Paranjpye

Sai Paranjpye, filmmaker and writer best known for Chashme Buddoor and Sparsh, turned 83 on Friday and Kangana Ranaut shared a special message for her.

Actor Kangana Ranaut paid tribute on writer-director Sai Paranjpye's 83rd birthday, and called her one of the "lost heroes of cinema". She also shared pictures of the filmmaker behind classics such as Chashme Buddoor and Sprash.

Sai Paranjpye turns 83 on Friday.

She tweeted, "There are many lost heroes of Cinema who media conveniently forgets... Today is the birth anniversary of one such hero one of the first women writer and director Sai Paranjpye ji who made exceptional cinema like Sparsh and Chasme Buddoor. Wishing you a very happy birthday maam." Sai has also made children’s films Sikander and Jadoo ka Shankh.

Sai was born to a Russian émigré father and an Indian mother, Shakuntala a famous writer and social worker. Sai's grandfather was RP Paranjpe, the first Indian senior wrangler at the University of Cambridge.

Sai holds four national awards, in various categories, for Sparsh, Katha and Choodiyan. She was also conferred with the Padma Bhushan in 2006.

She recently released her memoirs, titled A Patchwork Quilt. The book charts her journey from All India Radio to the Film and Television Institute of India, to creating some of the most memorable movies in the Hindi film industry.

Remembering what it was like to work with Basu Bhattacharya on Teesri Kasam, Sai wrote in her memoir, "Buying or hiring anything was taboo in Basu's book. 'All actors will bring their own costumes,' he proclaimed. Apparently, this was the modus operandi in all his films. I felt no end embarrassed. It was perhaps excusable in amateur theatre, but for a full-fledged feature film to practise this kind of economy was ridiculous and unheard of." They worked together on the Shabana Azmi-Naseeruddin Shah film, Sparsh.