Sweta Keswani on her move to the West and resuming work in India again: I want to do women-oriented projects

Sweta Keswani talks about moving to Hollywood, wanting to resume work in India after over a decade and lack of opportunities for brown actors in the West

Having done successful shows like Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand and Baa Bahoo Aur Baby in the 2000s, Sweta Keswani went away from the Indian TV industry after getting married to NYC-based lawyer Ken Andino in 2012. The actor moved to the US and went on to do a few roles in the West in shows like The Blacklist, New Amsterdam and Roar. After more than a decade, now Sweta is looking to work in India again.

Sweta Keswani

“My daughter's almost 12, so I am ready to come and do start-to-finish projects and go back. I couldn't have done it earlier because I had no family support over there. Now that my daughter’s older, I can move here for work and then go back. The OTT platforms in India now make sense for me,” she says.

However, the 44-year-old is finding it challenging to navigate the industry: “It is kind of bizarre. I don't know who is casting and how do you even reach them? I'm trying to meet friends and ask them, but it will take time, and it’s fine because I'm not in a rush. I'm going to be acting till I'm dying.”

Ask her about the kind of work she wants to do, and pat comes her reply, “Whatever work I have done in the US have all been women-driven projects, that's what my calling is. I want to do women-oriented projects here too, where I can make a difference or incite some social change.” She adds, “Cinema provokes thought, so we have an obligation. Taking it lightly, and making anything frivolous, it's just a waste.”

The actor is also glad about meaty roles being written for women above a certain age in Hindi industry today. “In 40s, when women start getting written off, is when we find our groove. We don't care anymore about log kya bolenge and there's no people pleasing, hence you feel liberated. Our voices are different, and we feel like rockstars. Having women of our age in stories, it's so fresh,” she insists.

Reflecting on her stint in the West, Sweta asserts that while it’s challenging to make it there as an actor of colour, but this isn’t something one should complain about. “Do you see white people in lead roles over here? So, what makes us think that people out there will relate to us in a lead role? They are serving their native audience there first. And when it comes to people of colour, there are African-Americans who haven’t been given the opportunity to work before, then come the Native Americans, Latin Americans and then Indians. So, we can't complain. It's wrong,” she says, adding, “I wouldn't have survived if I'd moved there for work. If it wasn't for my husband and his job, I would not have been able to survive for more than a year in New York. When people see my showreels that I have worked with Dustin Hoffman, Zach Galifianakis and Elizabeth Banks, they don’t realise that it's been after 13 years. What they don’t see is that many of my roles had a lot of their scenes cut.”

The actor is now trying to create work for herself: “I am learning acting, screenwriting and now direction. I am empowering myself to produce work for my own. Otherwise, how long would one wait for? If you want different results, you have to do things differently. We are navigating a broken industry.”