Meet Rita Jhawar | Actor and Pianist

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

Hi Rita, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I am from India , based out of Kolkata in West Bengal.I am a Chartered Accountant by qualification, a Builder by Profession and an Actor by Passion. I come from a business family. My family background, my qualification as well as my business ingrained in me risk taking. I belong to a very simple family, who believes in hard work, determination, honesty, and at the same time team work. My father has gone through very difficult time of our country’s partition but he faced the difficult situation very bravely when he came back from Pakistan. His life has deeply affected me as well as made me a very strong person. My Mentor whom in India we call Guru has impacted my life in past many years. From a Corporate Person he transformed me into a right brain thinker, An Artist, A Performer and a Pianist.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am actor, producer and pianist. As an independent film producer I am happy and satisfied that we are making films which are not only content rich and based on original stories but also globally recognised as these are not limited to any specific place, country or religion, These are philosophically rich and at the same time very spiritual and experimental. I am happy and content with the variety of characters I have played in eight feature films which are different in each movie, challenging and gave me artistic satisfaction. Well it was not so easy to reach where I am. As a film producer, it was a very challenging. Since we were making movies with own funds, so we became experimental and shot movies with limited resources. We have shot Five Feature Films with just One iPhone or a smart phone and by no means it was easy. Acting made me a new person. So far my most challenging role has been as Jenny Adam in Black & White Silent Feature Film ‘Notes to a Lover from Jenny Adam and her beautiful family’ where I have played an immortal witch bound to a wheel chair and no dialogue.
There is nothing impossible in life though it can be difficult but that can be overcome if one is forward looking, focused, determined and live with immense belief in whatever he/she does.
I want to be known as passionate artist and somebody who is willing to experiment for the sake of art.

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?
I live in Kolkata which is more than 350 years old city with very rich history. There are so many places to visit, Victoria Memorial , a beautiful place with museum inside and outside very interesting Horse Cart ride, very old church St Paul Cathedral Church, Mother Teresa place, a very interesting boat ride on river Ganges with very scenic beauty, Dakhineshwar Temple which has a historical and spiritual interest, cultural and spiritual centre at Belur Math, old city which is filled with beautiful heritage buildings, Indian Museum and many more. Kolkata is very rich in its culture, history as well as food. One will get all type of food of different part of globe. I would love to take them to many exotic eateries.

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?
My Mentor Mr. Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar,His presence in my life has impacted me very much and brought a 180 degree changes in my thought process as well as my work style. Being a workaholic and a Corporate person and Chartered Accountant, I was a perfectionist and lived my life by the rule book and moved with definite plans only, which he broke totally. He pushed me into art, which perhaps was there in me latently and he recognized it. His philosophy is look forward, be focused, be creative in whatever you do. The Artist in me was spotted by him. His philosophy motivated me very much and this gave birth to our Media Company, NEZ Moving Pixels. We have so far made 12 feature films and a few short films. Our Films have travelled to various film festivals world across and have garnered accolades and recognition. I learnt the nuances of film making from him and finally started acting in his movies. So far, I have worked in Eight Feature Films and as lead actor in a few. We being Independent Film Makers, have gone through real difficulty in establishing ourselves. With own funds we made our movies and received harsh treatment from a few Film festivals and that provoked us to start our own film festivals to promote real cinema through NEZ International Film festivals. We are ardent fan of European Cinemas and that was the reason for us to start NEZ Magic Lantern Film Festival specially dedicated to European Cinemas.

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