We recently connected with Ritu Singh Pande and have shared our conversation below.
Ritu, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
This might sound weird, but I knew that I had to pursue professional acting and filmmaking during the postpartum period following the birth of my second child. This moment was all the more significant because, at one point in my life, as an actor, I had deliberately chosen to leave behind the rigors and challenges of nepotism in the Mumbai (India) entertainment industry. While I absolutely cherish motherhood to the core, those days left me feeling unsettled, with questions lingering about whether this was the ultimate purpose of my life. I felt burdened by a responsibility that demanded a surrender of my individual or soulful explorations. It was a complex feeling, because as unsettling as it was, it was also a moment of joy and fulfillment, from which perhaps came this longing to share my energies, my life, and its experiences with more than just my own biological children.
While postpartum may have initially triggered these feelings of restlessness, they were fundamentally rooted in a lifelong struggle against societal and familial pressures, driven by ingrained patriarchal norms. These norms had shaped my perceptions of what a female experience should be since my childhood. To understand this moment a bit better, I want to rewind into my background.
I grew up in an industrial town in Jharkhand, India, where only a handful of women pursued careers, especially in the small community that I grew up in. Ever since I was very young, I had an innate inclination to do everything that girls weren’t supposed to do when compared to boys around me. I consistently surprised, confused and occasionally angered my parents with interests that defied the norm. Whether it was my passion for mountain climbing—I would sign up for rock climbing camps led by Bachendri Pal, the first woman to conquer Mount Everest—or I joined the Army during my college years — or I dreamed of a career in running. I wasn’t interested in safe vocations that were more readily available in our town. I was perpetually thirsty for adventure, drawn to activities considered highly unconventional for girls. I was fighting against something— a feeling of being trapped. I found myself at odds with most girls around me. As I grew older, this sense of estrangement and isolation intensified, and I felt profoundly misunderstood, especially among women from whom I expected the most support .
Soon after college, I made the life-altering decision to move to New York, perhaps in search of a fresh start. I soon realized that the societal constraints I had hoped to escape were still present, albeit in a different form. I faced unique challenges as an immigrant, often feeling like an exotic fetish or an outsider, someone who was not quite American. The pressures to conform and assimilate was relentless.
Anyway, in that moment of birth of my son, I had a thrust of an awakening and an awareness that I needed to continue to grow and not fall into the trappings of safety. My kid was only a few months old when I rushed to film school. I believe my creative path has made me a better mother, and vice versa.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an actor, producer, and film director, and I have a deep passion for storytelling.
My foray into independent filmmaking began about ten years ago as an actor navigating stereotypical roles for South Asian Indians, shifting my persona, bouncing from one to the other. However, I truly found my stride when I co-starred with Aidan Quinn in a film that explored the impact of forced migrations from Guyana to the United States. This production was a grand adventure. We were shooting in unsafe areas in Guyana with an American crew, even within its jails. One particularly crucial and challenging aspect of the shoot was capturing a unique moment – a massive passing Diwali parade, which occurred just once a year. It was a high- stress shoot in which a sequence of events unfolded that tested the production team, including the need to support our female director when she encountered on-set obstacles from her own team that were unfortunately common at the time. This compelled me to jump in with two feet not only to preserve the role that I absolutely loved, but also to support the director and her ambition for the film. As we returned to New York, we regrouped and reassembled our team. I took on the roles of producer and executive producer for ‘FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS.’ Thus started my journey into the storytelling process and commitment to stories that are authentic, rare, and insightful reflections of contemporary America. Durga Entertainment was born this way – it is a boutique film production company based in New York.
At its core, Durga Entertainment is a womb for my passion, and a platform primarily dedicated to exploring hard to understand characters, mainly women who have been unfairly viewed through narrow lenses, leading to minimization, mischaracterization, and misrepresentation of their stories..
Recently, I have completed a short film called ‘BORROWED PLUMES.’ Seen through the lenses of three generations of South Asian Americans, the film offers a nuanced perspective on racial insecurity in America. It is coupled with media misrepresentation of minority perspectives and how it can hurt people. Having spent nearly twenty years in New York while embracing my quintessential American spirit, I have struggled with others’ definitions of my identity, The film aims to engage audiences in conversations about how our society, despite its appearance of heterogeneity, is in so many ways perhaps a collection of homogenous tribes and that makes an individual’s ability to transcend definitions of tribe a challenge. It’s an interesting dilemma.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I love weaving complex and intricate narratives that shine light on the dingy corners of my own human psyche, challenging it, helping me break free from my own limitations and confines of conventions, and nudging me to truly embrace the expansiveness of a genuinely creative process.
Most importantly, I find profound love and joy in collaborating with key creatives, producers, and actors – a magical experience in which everyone comes together to bring a story from its imagination to its realization. I hold each of those collaborations close to my heart.
Lastly, what I absolutely love the most is working with actors and guiding them to deliver memorable performances, allowing them to breathe life into characters by drawing from their own life experiences.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn was the idea of constantly trying to please and meet the expectations of people who are significant in my life, sometimes bending over backwards to do so. No one should have to change themselves in order to be accepted or loved, because in doing so, you’re essentially altering yourself and snuffing out the most beautiful and authentic aspects of yourself, one flame at a time. This notion of being nice and a good woman based on societal or familial expectations, was squashing the pursuit of my greatest dreams and personal growth.
Contact Info: