Saie Tamhankar : Bold, Beautiful and Enormously Talented Multi-lingual Actress

Glamorous #SaieTamhankar is a big name in the #MarathiFilmIndustry and she also works in other different languages, viz. Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam. Saie was a state level Kabaddi player and she has pursued her passion for sports as she owns a team called “#KolhapuriMavle” in #ZeeMaharashtraKustiDangal. Saie claims that she was a tomboy in her school, college day’s which helps her in portraying strong roles. She has been active in films, television and web arena. Currently she is part of the most popular comedy show on Marathi television, #MaharashtrachiHasyajatra as a judge and her presence and glamour has helped the show gain additional popularity. She was recently seen in #SwwapnilJoshi starrer web series #Samantar2 wherein her bold role was appreciated by many.

Just a few months back Saie Tamhankar starrer Pondicherry was released and her performance was hailed by viewers as well as critics. They said, film directed by noted filmmaker Sachin Kundalkar (who directed Rani Mukherji starrer Aiyyaa), was entirely shot on an iPhone. The movie is conglomeration of human emotions and she had Vaibhav Tatwawadi and Amruta Khanvilkar as her co-actors. Shot entirely in picturesque Pondicherry the city itself is portrayed as a character. In fact Saie has dished out a superlative performance and this year she’ll be grabbing maximum awards for this role. As a preparation of the role in Pondicherry she had taken a break from social media. She terms it as a social media detox and clarifies that it was needed to concentrate on a difficult role. Importantly she did not have any assistants, due to covid restrictions, and managed her own make-up, hair, costumes etc. which was liberating for her. Talking about her character Nikita in Pondicherry she says, “I play a mother of a 10 year old boy whose father is away on a ship. To look after the house she works in a restaurant and later works as a guide to foreign tourists in the eponymous city. To have an additional revenue she rents a room in her house for ‘house guests’. Though the character is vulnerable at times, she is a strong woman too. Nikita has control over her emotions but in real life I am exactly the opposite. I fall in love easily”. Adding further she says, “Playing Nikita was draining as it’s an intense character. I get pulled towards the characters that have a lot of pain and emotions in their journey. But I get involved in every film like that. Maybe, career wise, it has worked in my favour.”

Saie Tamhankar’s new web series Pet Puraan released recently and is loved by the viewers. This one is available on SonyLiv and is in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali. Talking about the series Saie said, “After the trailer of Pet Puraan was out I realised that majority of my friends are pet-parents. It’s very much today’s subject is relatable to today’s young couples. When I heard the script I had no reason to say no.” Adding further she said, “Today’s youth is vary of having babies, so they opt to be a pet parent. There are quite a few young couples who do not want to have kids, at least for a few years after the marriage. Pets are like family members and their love is unconditional. I hope the new wave translates into coming days and transforms into something. Also I hope people adopt pets rather than buy them.”

In the said series it’s shown that husband and wife are under the pressure from the respective families to have a baby. They decide to be a pet parent but both have different views on pets. One likes dogs and the other cats. To find a way they decide to have both as pets. But it is believed that cats and dogs can’t co-exist. “These are myths. I strongly believe that cats and dogs can co-exist. We are breaking a societal myth. People who are afraid of that myth will get to know something new.” opined Saie.

The pets have played major roles in many films like Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit starrer Hum Aapke Hain Kaun had Tuffy, Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra starrer Dil Dhadakane Do had Pluto, Akshay Kumar’s Entertainment had Entertainment and the list goes on. Now the question is, how the film makers extract ‘performances’ from the pet animals. On a similar question Saie answered, “You know it is difficult to work with animals as they are not actors. You do not know how they are going to behave in a shot. For us everyday was a new day. A lot of things have happened without planning. It could be a reaction or a movement. Our entire scene shifted 360° because of the pets. I think they have created magic. I will never ever forget this experience. I feel grounded.”

Saie Tamhankar is very active on social media and her photographs are much awaited. She carries her attires with grace and looks good in westerns and great in sarees. Kriti Sanon headlined ‘Mimi’ was released digitally due to pandemic induced lockdown where in Saie played Kriti’s best friend and her performance garnered a lot of love from the viewers. She also starred in Tamil web series Navarasa which is created by Mani Ratnam. Her latest web series Berojgar written and directed by Arjun J Mohite is out and is garnering audience support. She’ll also be seen with Lalit Prabhakar (who is her co-star in Pet Puraan) in an upcoming Marathi film Medium Spicy.