Sai Paranjpye is one of India's internationally acclaimed Indian film-directors and scriptwriters. Her films include Sparsh, which she received many awards for, Katha, Chashme-Badoor, Saaz and Disha, for which she won an award from the Cannes Film Festival.

Her father, Youra Sleptzoff, a painter, was the son of a Russian General who died in battle. Her mother Shakuntala Paranjpye was one of the first Indian girls to study at Cambridge, going on to launch the family planning movement in India. Sai was brought up by her mother, whose name she took; and her maternal grandfather, Sir R.P. Paranjpye, India's first Senior Wrangler (Cambridge), a renowned educationalist, public servant and India's first high commissioner to Australia. Sai wrote her very first book at the age of eight. Her ability to weave fairy tales at such a young age made her mother realise that her daughter was blessed with some innate talent, which if given the right direction could blossom into a rewarding career.

She began her career at All India Radio in Pune. From AIR (Pune) she moved on to theatre and then to television and films. Theatre has always been and will remain her first love, particularly the Marathi theatre. One of the prime reasons for this is its ability to connect with a live responsive audience. In an industry dominated by men, she has managed to carve a niche for herself.

Sai served for two terms as the Chairperson of Children's Film Society, Government of India. This extremely rewarding experience involves making decisions about various subjects related to children's films, an area in which she has won numerous accolades at both the national as well as international level. During her tenure she made four children's films for CFSI.

Sai asserts, "if you want to know the real me, try seeing it in my films which are laced by a gamut of human emotions and which cover a range of subjects that are ignored by today's filmmakers and writers. Today's cinema suffers a real dearth of good scriptwriters. The same old story is repackaged and sold to the audience in a new form. We need more writers who can reach out to the masses effectively."