Didn’t think getting this award was big: Zorawar maker Rajiee M Shinde

The film producer talks about winning the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Foundation Award and says it was her husband who made her realise it was a ‘big deal’.

Film producer Rajiee M Shinde’s efforts to put Punjabi entertainment industry on the international map reaped rewards after she was recently awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Foundation Award for Woman Entrepreneur of the year for TV & Films 2016.

The film producer talks about winning the award, and says her husband made her realise it was a “big deal”.

A big deal, right? Rajiee realised that only after talking to husband Rajesh Panaji Shinde. “It was announced when we were promoting my film, Zorawar, and so, my first thought after knowing that I’ll be getting the award was to alter my plans to promote it. Also, when I got the call I was about to board a plane, so I just called my husband and told him, ‘Listen. I have won this award and we’ll have to change our plans for this’,” says the producer, adding that her husband couldn’t believe she was taking the award so lightly.

“He said, ‘Are you serious? You are thinking about promoting your film when you have won this award?’ He thought I was joking and was pretending as if it wasn’t a big deal. But I didn’t really think about it much because I was so caught up with film promotions.”

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Rajiee — who has conceptualised popular Punjabi reality shows such as Voice of Punjab and Mr Punjab — is glad she made that call. “After the conversation with him, it dawned on me that it is a huge achievement and since then, it is something that I am extremely proud of. I am humbled and this (award) will only encourage me to work harder,” she says.