Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 29, 2012)

 

Kavita Barjatya lives a life quite like the one her cousin, Sooraj Barjatya depicts in his productions — in a big, happy family, joined as much by personal ties as by professional ones.

Thirty-four-year-old Kavita heads the television division for Rajshri Productions, supervising everything from “scratch to telecast”.

Sensing her potential to be a one-woman show, Barjatya asked Kavita to diversify into television in 2005. Their soaps like Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki and Yahaan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli gained much popularity, too. “We have brainstorming meetings, but we have never argued. Sooraj is my guru,” Kavita smiles.

The daughter of Kamal Kumar Barjatya, the eldest brother among three siblings, Kavita grew up pampered. When she was not studying, Kavita remembers picking up trophies for kathak.

She may be 10 years younger than the reticent producer-director, who introduced happy joint families to Bollywood with 1989’s Maine Pyar Kiya, but she has kept Rajshri relevant today.

So, would Kavita attempt a new kind of Rajshri cinema? Clearly, a large section of filmgoers enjoy gaalis and innuendos, now. Kavita answers after a pause. “We have made films and serials based on the what we were brought up. We have no ‘tera-mera’, it’s all ‘hamara’. My grandpa, Shri Tarachand Barjatya, set the motto ‘Family Entertainment’ for our company. We will continue to produce clean, wholesome family entertainers.”

She does admit, though, that change is the need of the hour. “We need to package our films in a fresh way, and we’re working on that. In cinema, there is no right or wrong. If a filmmaker tells his/her story convincingly, it works.”

Meanwhile, even as Barjatya has signed on Salman Khan for a film that may hit the floors next year, Kavita intends to produce a film, which she hopes to release in 2013.