Sukhmani Sadana – From a Small-town Girl to Writer and Actress

Yes, I came here to study advertising because I used to love watching ads on TV and I was pretty unsure and unclear of where it would lead me in what profession I’d pick up. But at that point, when I was 20 years old, all I knew was that I really liked watching ads and media kind of fascinated me.

I was lucky and fortunate enough to have campus placement. And I worked there for about 2 years, first, as an intern, and then I was working as a copywriter and I loved ads, and I loved Bombay. And it seems so fascinating to watch shoot. And, you know, it was just a different world for me because I come from a background where my father was a businessman manufacturing shawls.

And my mother was a teacher in a school and my brother wasn’t to finance so there was no open door from our family, anywhere to Bollywood or let’s say media, so I started really enjoying it and that was a changing moment of my life, and once I finished Ogilvy there was a film director, who offered me that hey since you’re writing ads, why don’t you try to write scripts for movies and then I even wrote couples of films with Kunal Koli. With Ekta Kapoor, I started scripts for travel shows, I even wrote for Vikram Bhatt, so then I opened up my brains and mind into writing for films and moved on from ads to films.

 So while I use to write for people and pitch scripts to them suddenly they were like you look quiet ok yourself why don’t you only act in my ads and slowly Ogilvy was putting me into their ads and the scripts I was writing for travel shows they asked my why don’t you only host it so I was like why not and I hosted them too, and at that time I was barely making any money so it seemed like easy money and I still didn’t think I would turn into an actress one day because I was just doing it for fun, I mean who wouldn’t want to travel across the world and get paid too 

So I was actually just acting for the sake of it because I enjoyed it and I was having fun with it, but before I knew it, it became a career path.

Aditya Copra from Yash Raj Films asked me to act in a TV show for him, called Khotte Sikke. That was a big one for me, because I was like, okay, I’m doing a TV show. Like I’m doing a proper TV show, which is 3 months, shoot, you know, this is not a joke anymore like you actually did like “acting-acting” and that one also, people were like, are you writer and actress?

And I was like, no, I’m a writer. And they’re like, but you act like that for fun and then slowly. So do the web cities world opened and then after they love bites and then I hosted more than 100 travel show episodes and then I started hosting for NDTV good times, CNNIBN discovery channel and national geographic.

I got a lot of work in web series and I shot for five web series during covid. And I think that’s when I accepted and made peace with the fact and also literally got myself a writer and an actress but writing never stops for me and it never will. I will never stop writing.

I still write last year wrote Joggi and I was a part of the rocketry, Udan Patola’s. So my hustle time is falling short, and I’m having time management issues. But I’m still doing both, actually, all three writing acting, and hosting

As a woman in my profession. What’s the biggest obstacle? I faced. 

I know it’s going to sound really funny but the biggest obstacle I faced in my profession as a writer was that I looked too groomed. You know, I think I was not the writer who, you know, wore a Jhola or a Kolhapuri chappal and went for meetings, trying to look very ethnic like I was a very intellectual girl.

I look a certain way, I’m modern and progressive, but at the same time, my mind because I’m from a small city is very, very versatile. I can think like a small town, girl, I can think like a city girl. I understand people’s emotions very well. My communication skills are good and I believe that I can tap into people’s insights very well.

Or I wanted to show people that I can be on screen? I can have my girls and I can have my red lipstick on and I can look all glammed up but I still have the soul of a pure writer. So that was the thing that was my main challenge and I have totally dealt with it very well.

How did I get my style? 

Well, honestly, I think I like every human being does for the longest time. I wasn’t sure what my style is. I was trying to copy people. I was trying to see what was trending. I was trying to be westernized. I was trying to be Indianized but then you know with age you realize who you are and you find yourself very comfortable in your skin my style is pure, what I feel and exactly the state of my mind is what she was in my clothes on a day.

When I want to be comfortable, I wear the most comfortable clothes on the day. I’m feeling like I want to up my game. I go glam when I feel like I want to be stylish, I am stylish. I don’t listen to anyone, I don’t follow anyone, I don’t follow any trends, I wear what makes me feel good because I feel what I wear is directly proportionate with my mood so, and vice-versa. So my style is mine, it’s unique. A lot of people think I’m stylish. I think everyone is stylish as long as you are. The unique setting proposition, If you just are who you are, then you are stylish according to me

Where do I get my inspiration from? 

I don’t think of any one person who inspires me as such, but I have a habit of seeing people who are very ambitious or driven or successful and trying to understand what they do and try to do at least a little bit of that.

So I can, you know, learn from them. I try to surround myself with people who can increase my knowledge, can add value to my growth. I want to be the best possible version of myself in life. So if somebody is fit, I like taking tips from them. Somebody is rich.

I like to take financial tips from them. If somebody is a good mother, I want to take tips from them. How I could be a good mother in the future. If somebody is a happy person, I want to know how to be a happy person if someone’s spiritual. I would like to know how to be spiritual and vice-versa.

It’s important to take the best element of every human being around you. I don’t believe in finding people’s negativity because we all are flawed, and I think, honestly, everyone is struggling and dealing with their own demons and their own issues. So, just try to take the best inspiration that you can’t from everyone.

And don’t try to take the negativity from whoever’s around you, You can’t control who’s around you, right? So just take the best from everyone Apart from that, the inspiration that I have is, I think the city just gives me so much that. I feel like I’m must give it back.

You know, people have trusted me and they’ve given me opportunities and I can’t let them down. You know, I have left my hometown, I’ve left my family, and I’m sitting so far away in Bombay for what To make a career. And if I don’t do that, and I’m just busy and it working on socializing, then the whole purpose of my, my being here.

So I wake up every day. Reminding myself that I’ve come to the city for a reason and I make sure that I do that. Of course goes without saying, I enjoy life. I party with my friends, I believe in networking and socializing, myself, and relaxing and chilling.

All of that. But my inspiration is just this, that I want to be the best version of myself every next, every the next day the following day. Yeah. And of course, I’m very inspired by my mother. I’m very inspired by my grandmother. I’m very inspired by a lot of people who have who are so successful or happy in life or content in life. I tried to learn from all of them.