Vijaya Mehta's eyes were always twinkling, her smile was always warm, her sari usually a collector's piece. She put on no elder statesman airs. But when she was in director mode, she allowed her actors and technicians no slack. Deepa Gahlot doffs her hat to the undisputed doyenne of Marathi theatre and one of India's most influential directors and actors, who shaped the landscape of Indian experimental theatre.
'She taught us that acting wasn't something people did because they couldn't do anything else. It was a skill. A skill that needed to be constantly polished and shaped, and the respect you command with that.'
