“The success of ‘Dear Aajo’ has given my writing a strong fillip,” says Mayuri Deshmukh

Mayuri Deshmukh is known to bring characters to life as a popular film and television actor but the teleplay ‘Dear Aajo’ marked the beginning of her journey as a writer. The Zee Theatre offering will now be screened on Airtel Spotlight.

Mayuri wrote ‘Dear Aajo’ as a contemporary drama that explores the relationship of an Indian grandparent with his American granddaughter. The granddaughter is forced to live with him for a short amount of time. Used to enjoying a liberated existence on her own terms in America, she finds her life with her protective and grumpy grandfather to be restrictive. But what starts off as a difficult journey soon takes a sweet turn when they brave their differences and form a strong bond, to a point that the granddaughter refuses to get married and leaves him behind. This brings a new set of problems for them.

Mayuri’s interest in writing dates back to the time when she was doing her Masters and the positive response to ‘Dear Aajo’ has now encouraged her to spread her wings even more. As she says, “The success of ‘Dear Aajo’ has given my writing a strong fillip. The play started as a writing exercise but now I have begun to trust my instincts as a storyteller a lot more. I am so grateful to the audience for the love they have given to my first attempt at writing.”

For Mayuri, the characters in the play were woven out of nostalgia, experience, and imagination. She says, “I play Shanaya, a 17-year-old American-born Indian girl, and a lot of her mannerisms came from my own NRI cousins. The portrayal of the grandfather came from my own longing for the time when I was a child. As we grow older, it becomes impossible to spend as much time as we want with our elders. The story progressed seamlessly once I had established who the protagonists were going to be.”

Mayuri loved playing a character that she had created and says, “Because I had written and conceived Shanaya, it wasn’t very difficult to portray her. The picture in my head was very clear about how Shanaya would evolve from a brat to a woman who has adapted to the Indian milieu and yet retained her own ideas. I would love to write more and see many more of my stories come to life just like ‘Dear Aajo.’

Apart from Mayuri, veteran actor Sanjay Mone also stars in the play.