MUMBAI: Siddharttha Vankar is one of the most bankable names in the television industry. The Creative Director is the most important force behind popular TV shows like Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar meiin, Teri Meri Doriyaann and Doree among others.
In an exclusive chat with TellyChakkar, Vankar, who is currently working on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2, spoke about working with legendary Smriti Irani and his upcoming book Shakti: The Sacred Feminine.
Talking about working with Smriti Irani, Siddharttha said, "It’s amazing to work with Smriti Ma’am… she is an absolute delight to work with. She gives us so much of room for our creativity. She is one of the very few absolutely dedicated actors I have worked with. The moment she gets into the Tulsi's saree and get up, she only becomes TULSI. It’s very seldom you see a single person doing so many things for everyone and yet being so humble and caring."
(Also read: Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2: Mihir performs puja with Noina; Tulsi confronts him)
We also asked Siddharttha about his new book Shakti: The Sacred Feminine, he said, "I think I wanted to write a book on the 51 Shakti Peethas because somewhere, I’ve always been obsessed with the way stories of women in our mythology have been told — or more importantly, how they’ve been silenced. Sati’s body being cut into pieces and scattered across the subcontinent is more than just a myth to me. It feels like a metaphor for how women are remembered — fragmented, dismembered, worshipped in parts but rarely seen whole."
He said, "When I look at the Shakti Peethas, I don’t just see temples or pilgrimages. I see fifty-one memories of pain and power. Each site is a reminder of a woman who burned, a woman who was dishonoured, a woman who turned her agony into energy that still shakes the earth. I wanted to give those sites voices — not as stone shrines, but as living stories of rage, resistance, and rebirth."
"Maybe I was also drawn to the structure. Fifty-one Peethas gave me a map, a framework. Every goddess, every Bhairav, every town, every story — each could be a chapter. And I know myself: I like to work with epic structures, word counts, divisions. The Shakti Peeths lent themselves to that naturally, almost like they were waiting for someone to write them not as religious accounts, but as a living feminist epic," he added.
Vankar further said, "On a deeper level, I think it was my own way of reconciling with the idea of memory. These shrines are pieces of a body torn apart, yet they became eternal. That paradox — of erasure and immortality — spoke to me. I saw in it the story of every woman who has been told to adjust, to be quiet, to endure. Writing this book felt like reclaiming those silences."
"And maybe, if I’m honest, it was continuity. I had already walked with Draupadi, with Karn, with Kumbhakarna, with the fallen and forgotten. The Shakti Peethas were the next natural step. Instead of one voice, there would be fifty-one. Instead of one woman, the many faces of the same cosmic feminine. And through them, I could speak not just of gods and goddesses, but of women today — their bodies, their battles, their sacred geography," he shared.
Siddharttha concluded saying, "That’s why I thought of it. Because it wasn’t just a book. It was a way to stitch the body of Sati back together in words."
Well, here's wishing Siddharttha Vankar best wishes for his new book!
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(Also read: Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai: Maira plans to get Armaan and Abhira together)
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