If not for filmmaker Sooraj R Barjatya, Renuka Shahane would possibly have given up acting nearly three decades ago. At least, that, she recalls, had been the plan. After playing Pooja in the 1994 blockbuster, Hum Aapke Hain Koun…!, Shahane had almost made up her mind to quit being in front of the camera. She wanted to pursue a filmmaking course at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. "I told Sooraji about my plans. And he said, 'Are you crazy, you just can't leave [acting]." Barjatya instead suggested that she learn on the job. "He said, 'Look at me, I don't have technical training. If you get a good team [to work with you], and have a vision and story to tell, nothing should stop you.' That seemed to make a lot of sense, because I was getting a lot of [acting] offers at that time," recounts Shahane, when we speak to her days ahead of the release of her Hindi directorial debut on Netflix, Tribhanga—Tedhi Medhi Crazy.

Starring Kajol, Tanvi Azmi, and Mithila Palkar, it's a dream that took an eternity to realise, but patience has been second nature to her. "I have always been passionate about direction. I began by assisting Dr Vijaya Mehta in the serial Lifeline [it aired on Doordarshan]. I was the fourth assistant there. Vijayabai was like an institution. She was so thorough and such a great guru to have. At that point, I thought I am going to do this forever. After my MA in Psychology, I was planning to do a PhD and then go to film school. Basically, I wanted to take the proper route and get trained. But life happened, and I became a professional actor."