Meet Shruti Tewari | Screenwriter, Filmmaker & Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shruti Tewari and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shruti, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
If not me, then who? This is the question that expanded my playing field as an actor and I became a storyteller in my own right. I am an immigrant from India and have spent the last three decades in America. For all the changes I have witnessed in my time here, the slowest to change was the representation of immigrant women from South Asia in our media. While it is fun to resort to a Shakespearean framework and build stock characters around the protagonist, South Asian immigrant women continue to be presented as limited, and limiting, stereotypes – either they are loud-mouthed, opinionated gossip mongers who live to disavow the American dreams of the protagonist, or they are inconsequential weaklings, meekly following the commands of the men around them. Both are a far cry from women I have known, both, in India and within the Indian diaspora in America. I decided to write stories about women from the Indian diaspora, giving them authentic and fully-fleshed out narratives that hold a much greater resemblance to our lived experiences as educated, thinking, contributing members of society. As a screenwriter, I have written four features, one pilot and four short films, that have garnered many laurels at reknowned competitions including Austin Film Festival, WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab, Big Break, Big Apple Film Festival and 1497 Screenwriting lab for South Asians. As a filmmaker, I have completed three short films and am in development for two features, having accumulated laurels and awards for each of my films including a Silver Remi award at WorldFest Houston.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am an Indian American writer from the Bay Area with a surprising array of lived experiences. From growing up in India to becoming a graduate student at Columbia University; from investment banking on Wall Street to multitasking as a soccer mom and a startup executive in Silicon Valley; from mentoring in juvenile halls to acting in Hollywood; and currently, from writing and directing to becoming a voice for immigrant women through my storytelling, the diversity of my experiences is my biggest asset.

I have been a SAG-AFTRA actor in the American film market for over a decade and have been part of several projects that went to the biggest stages including Cannes. While working on a big Bollywood blockbuster opened doors for me in film, the type of roles being offered quickly shrank to irksome stereotypes of my ethnicity and gender, making the roles as alien to me as I was to the industry. This was my motivation to reclaim our narratives and infuse some authenticity into portrayals of immigrants, especially women from the South Asian diaspora. Thus, began my journey as an independent filmmaker and a voice for immigrant women.

I am especially proud of all my scripts that have placed in numerous screenplay competitions ranging from Austin Film Festival to Big Break. I have also completed the Sundance Collab directors and producers programs to develop my first feature, “Flares,” the screenplay for which is an award winner at the Alliance of Women Filmmakers Scriptwriting Competition and a finalist at WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Lab and Big Apple Film Festival. In 2021, my episodic pilot was a finalist at Female Voices Rock and second rounder at Austin Film Festival screenwriting competitions. This year, I have written two scripts. One is a feature rom-com, “Layup in a Lehenga” that is an Indo-Western narrative steeped in references to Bollywood, Basketball and Sartre. I am looking forward to building my team for this project. The other is a short script, “Check Out Grandma.” that promotes intermingling between generations and shines a light on the alienation of the elderly population, a major concern in immigrant communities.

I am also proud to have written, directed and produced three short films thus far. My first film, “Trail Past Prejudice,” inspired by rising violence against immigrants in the US, played at over a dozen film festivals worldwide and won the Silver Remi Award at WorldFest Houston. My suicide-prevention film, “Mum,” is currently on OTV and garnered several laurels and awards at international festivals. My short film, “Stain Resistant,” the screenplay for which was a finalist at Female Voices Rock and a quarter finalist at Atlanta Film Festival, was developed in the Women of Color Filmmakers Lab last year. I was awarded grants by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Bravemaker Film Festival to partially fund this project.

As a fiction writer, I am excited to have finished a full-length play, after spending a year in Playground – a playwriting incubator. On the non-fiction front, I published an essay, “Unburdened of Unmade Choices,” in an anthology that topped the charts on Amazon in two categories. I am looking forward to the publication of another essay, “Exploring the Inifinite” in an anthology featuring female filmmakers, an excerpt from which already appeared in American Kahani.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
While there is no dearth of exciting hang out spots in and around Los Angeles, I would definitely customize my itinerary to the taste of people visiting. Those with kids would likely spend a lot of time at Disney attractions and the Santa Monica Pier, enjoying the rides and taking in the sunshine. If it were a friend with a creative spark like mine, I would definitely connect with my filmmaking tribe and try to get them on a live set to experience the highs and lows of getting a film made. The more indie the project, the richer the experience. I would also spend a day visiting studios that are available for rent to indie filmmakers. Seeing a bar, a police station or a hospital come to life within a warehouse setting can also be a memorable experience for those who might be considering stepping into the filmmaking field themselves. A trip up to the Getty Museum is a perennial favorite and a great place to capture glorious sunsets over the city, besides the artistic immersion.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to the Women of Color Filmmakers Lab that I was a part of last year.

After submitting my application, I was invited to join a cohort of a dozen women of color, who were mentored through the process of making a short film, from script to showcase. To say that this was the most gratifying experience of my life would somehow trivialize all my other forays into finding my voice, so I will just state that this was a truly cherished experience in my creative journey. If the lab gave me the power to execute on my dream of turning words into moving imagery, it was my cohort of accomplished women that ably guided me through some tumultuous times, an intrinsic part of any filmmaking journey. The lab took place over a period of six months and the theme for our scripts was “the infinite.” I interpreted it to mean “endless,” and connected it to my effort to shed light on the endless limitations set upon a woman’s choices within a patriarchy, which in itself has had an impact on endless generations.

I wrote the screenplay for “Stain Resistant,” pulling from a story I had been researching and developing for a few years. The story revolves around the issue of suppressed trauma and the need for women from the South Asian diaspora to break their silence, reclaim their choices and choose self-preservation over self-sacrifice. In one of the writing exercises with a lab mentor, I wrote a scene filled with nostalgia for simpler days of youthful musings, and this became the opening voiceover in my film. Our final scripts were due within four weeks of the start of the lab, and that was both intimidating and exhilarating, having had the opportunity to refine our scripts under the guidance of experienced screenwriters and mentors. As we started to assemble our pre-production teams and budgets, the lab held weekly sessions to educate us on how to shoot within a low budget. We also evaluated various crowd-funding options and I was fortunate to receive a couple of grants, fiscal sponsorship and the support of friends and family to meet my funding goals.

On the directing front, I was required to define and refine my cinematic perspective. Artistically, I’ve been inspired by directors like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta whose portrayal of the feminine is, both, delicate and hurt; restrained by society, yet screaming to break free. My exploration of the female mind strives for a similar balance between social constructs and independent thought, while also provoking reflection through artwork and ornamentations placed in a frame.
In keeping with the theme of the lab, I looked toward reflective surfaces to underscore the endlessness of specific concepts. I opted for mirrors in key shots, to not only showcase the inner turmoil within a character’s journey but also to magnify the multitudes my characters carried within them, as products of multiple cultures and value systems. The lab helped me identify and articulate my distinct voice which presents itself as a gentle revelation of egregious occurrences, amplified by the impact on my characters’ choices and portrayed through poetry, metaphor, and cultural nuances.
With a clear vision for the film and detailed preparation to back it up, I shot my script over two schedules, three days and four different locations. In this process, I most enjoyed being able to provide opportunities to several other people of color, a majority of whom were women.

After a lifetime of memories made at the lab showcase at a beautiful outdoor setting in Pasadena, I walked away from the experience richer in learning, camaraderie and the belief that women filmmakers can pack a punch in their storytelling when given a chance. For women of color, while there still is no clear path forward, it is entirely up to us to lay down the bricks, pour the cement and leave our colorful footprints on our newly minted pathways.

Website: https://www.shrutitewari.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shruti_tewari/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrutitewarifilm/

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Other: https://www.imdb.me/shrutitewari

Image Credits
Shruti Tewari, Ryan Castaneda, Cynthia Smalley