Meet Vishnu Sinha | Screenwriter, Director & Educator

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

Hi Vishnu, how do you think about risk?
Nothing creative has happened for me without risks. For me, risk taking has been the difference between feeling unfulfilled or disengaged and creating work that I would like to talk about in the future. I believe it’s how the most exciting storytelling takes place.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been working in film for close to a decade but I started out as a theatre actor in Delhi. I took the jump behind-the-scenes when I started to find acting in adaptations of Western plays limiting and wanted to write and direct films that would feel closer to my reality at the time. I worked at a film production house, freelanced, and started directing and making narrative short-films. My desire to write brought me to where the best TV was being created. I attended Columbia University and graduated with an MFA in Screenwriting which helped me figure out my voice, rigorously improve my writing, and find a community of filmmakers. I am interested in making people laugh before making them cry when they least expect it. As a result, my work tends to be both dramatic and comedic in nature. I am most proud of my latest short film, ‘Strawberry Cream’, a coming-of-age story about a queer Indian boy, and my work as a writer on ‘The Royals’, an upcoming Netflix India original TV series. I am grateful to all the support I have received along the way and as an educator at Columbia and QueerFrames, a screenwriting lab dedicated to South-Asian queer filmmakers, I intend to give back to the writers and filmmakers of tomorrow.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Besides the sights that this city is already famous for, a week in New York would have to include my favorite foods. Absolute Bagels and Barney Greengrass for bagels and lox, Variety or La Cabra for coffee and cardamom buns, Adda, Hyderabadi Zaiqa, and Masalawala for Indian, Rowdy Rooster for Indian fried chicken, L’industrie and Prince Street for pizza, Shu Jiao Fu Zhou for dumplings, Birds of a Feather for Chinese, Taqueria Ramirez and Los Tacos No. 1 for tacos, Super Nice and Peter Pan for donuts and Daily Provisions for crullers, Bunna for Ethiopian, Mace, The Wayland, and Katana Kitten for cocktails, and Via Carota for the best Italian food, if not the best food in the city, hands down. For when you’re not eating, nothing beats a walk or a lie-down in Sheep’s Meadow, hanging out at Madison Square Park, reading a book at Jadis, The Hungarian Pastry Shop, or Book Club, or a mid-afternoon movie at The Metrograph or Angelika followed by a slice of blueberry pie at Petee’s. Truly, grab a beverage and/or a friend and just walk around. Something exciting is always afoot.

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?
This is very good-Indian-boy of me but first, foremost and forever, a shoutout to my family who have always been there for me, especially my Mom who is a constant pillar of support and love and has unshakeable faith in me. My uber-talented friends at Columbia and my advisor, Katherine Dieckmann have played a massive role in shaping my stories and my creative voice. Last but not the least, I am grateful to Neha Sharma, head-writer for ‘The Royals’, whose mentorship, encouragement, trust, and generosity has meant a great deal to me. I am enormously grateful to all these people.

Website: https://www.vishnusinha.com

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