From Marylebone To Mumbai, Bridgerton’s Banita Sandhu Is Going Places
I meet Banita Sandhu at a pivotal time in both our lives – after living in London since she was a teen she’s now moving to Mumbai. And, after spending most of my formative years in Mumbai, I have only recently moved to London. So before I launch into my carefully prepared list of questions, she asks for my advice. “Would you get a chicer, cuter apartment on the first floor or a fifteenth-floor one that’s not as well done, but can be made cute?”
Memories of wading home in knee-deep water in the Mumbai monsoon come flooding (literally) back to me and I say, “15th. Definitely.” I am tempted to offer more worldly tips and tricks on navigating traffic in Bandra (the “Marylebone of Mumbai” Sandhu jokes), or where to get the best food in the city, but a few minutes into our conversation, I realise that Sandhu hardly needs my advice – she’s had it all planned out since she was eleven.
“I’m excited for a new chapter in my life, I’ve always wanted to live in India for a bit,” says the British-Indian actress, who had a small but memorable role in Bridgerton Season 3, where she played Miss Malhotra, one of the debutantes. But the role didn’t just fall into her lap. Sandhu has had her sights set on a career in film and television since was a child (“My dream was to be a Disney Channel prodigy”), and her parents took it very seriously too. She went to acting workshops from a young age, and there, amidst the scripts and cameras, is where she felt the most alive. “It was a no-brainer. I always knew this is what I was going to do.”
It was a no-brainer. I always knew this is what I was going to do.
Opportunities didn’t come knocking on her door from the beginning. “It speaks of the time this country was in. As a brown child, I was lucky to get one audition every couple of years,” she says. It was only once she turned 18 that casting from India started coming to London, and after Sandhu had acted in a few advertisements, the work started pouring in from India. “I think that’s when my eyes opened to the racism I didn’t realise I was facing in the industry [in the UK].”
“I just thought no other actors were getting auditions either, but it turns out that it was because of the colour of my skin that I wasn’t getting them. Working in India was amazing then because I was like, oh, this is what it’s like to be embraced for your craft and talent and not for anything else.”
The biggest show in the world
Fast forward to 2022, Sandhu was in Spain on holiday with her family when she got the Bridgerton call. Her agent sent a self-tape through, and just two days later, she was asked to come to London. “It was all so quick – there were costume trials before I knew it,” Sandhu says. “It was so surreal because it felt like I was working on the biggest show in the world – the set design, the costumes, it was a really cool production set to be on. Money was being spent and being spent well.”
Sandhu makes her Bridgerton debut within the first four minutes of season 3, where her character Miss Malhotra – dressed in bright pink florals and deeply immersed in the latest copy of Lady Whistledown, is described as “quite the catch.”
It felt like I was working on the biggest show in the world – the set design, the costumes, it was a really cool production set to be on.
Later, she rather memorably wears a tall white feathered headdress that makes her look about seven feet tall. (“It’s quite light, you just need some spatial awareness if you’re going through a door.”) For Sandhu, the creative process on the Bridgerton set felt incredible when it came to costumes. “The attention to detail is amazing, and working with John [Head of Costume Design for Bridgerton Season 3], was a dream come true.” But what trumped the costumes and the set, was just the people.
Sandhu’s Instagram features a reel of her dancing with some of the Bridgerton cast including Nicola Coughlan and Claudia Jessie. When I ask her about it, Sandhu laughs and says, “It’s how it was – we would all hang out, read our books, or do these dances – it was a real sense of camaraderie, there was no hierarchy, everyone was just really nice.” She insists that there was never any tea or drama between the cast members – that was all reserved for the show, it seems.
It was a real sense of camaraderie, there was no hierarchy, everyone was just really nice.
When Season 3 finally came out – about two years after she shot her scenes in it – Sandhu was overwhelmed with the response she got. About here, halfway through our conversation, I become aware that (not for the first time) the actress has a hard time admitting how impactful and memorable she is on screen. “I just thought one or two people might notice me – and one of them might be my aunt,” she says. Well, time has proven that it certainly wasn’t just her aunt – all of her 670k Instagram followers can probably vouch that there’s no ignoring Banita Sandhu.
Films that matter
Among those followers are two people who are pretty much Hindi cinema royalty, who can’t stop singing Sandhu’s praises. “Banita Sandhu was like a beautiful poetry in [the film]Sardar Udham,” director Shoojit Sircar says in a video released by Amazon Prime. Actor Vicky Kaushal adds, “Her eyes are magic.” This is the film that Sandhu, who plays a deaf and mute girl called Reshma, is most proud of so far – and it’s the hardest to watch.
Sardar Udham is a cinematic portrayal of the life and motivations of Udham Singh, a revolutionary who assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, the man who served as the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab during the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. This was one of the bloodiest episodes of colonial rule in India, where British troops opened fire on a peaceful gathering in Amritsar, Punjab, killing hundreds of unarmed Indian civilians. “As a Punjabi, Sircar sir knew how important it was for me to do this film,” Sandhu says. “The shot [of the massacre] is set up like it’s happening right in front of you and the cameras just happen to be there. It’s tough. I remember going back to my hotel room and crying my eyes out.”
There are so many period dramas in the UK about every single king in this country, but is there anything on colonial history? Not really.
Sandhu believes in the importance of having these big cultural movements shown in films, TV and literature. “I don’t think colonial stories from India’s side have been told so authentically or in the mainstream media. There are so many period dramas in the UK about every single king in this country, but is there anything on colonial history? Not really.”
East meets West
At 27 years old, Sandhu has already made her mark in the East and West. She made her feature film debut starring opposite Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan in the 2018 Hindi film October. The following year, she landed a role in Pandora, an American sci-fi television series which aired on The CW.
Over the past few years, she’s navigated accents, languages, genres and timezones.
Over the past few years, she’s navigated accents, languages, genres and timezones and while her schedule may seem exhausting (“I’ve been living out of my suitcase”), she feels incredibly lucky. “I feel at home working in the UK, US or India. Some people only have one place – I’m so lucky I get to feel that way across three different continents.” On a film or TV set, at the crux of it, the industries she’s been exposed to all have the same sense of community, Sandhu explains. “Everyone is working together to make – I like to say a piece of art – producers might want to say a piece of content.”
Sandhu has developed a habit of code-switching, juggling between accents depending on who she’s around. “I guess it’s just deeply psychological – maybe I’m just trying to fit in,” she jokes. “But it works for my craft, so I’ll take it.” And while the actress is every bit as put together as you would expect, she has only recently learned how to cope with the toll this profession can put on the mental health of a young actor, especially when it comes to playing out tough, often traumatising, storylines. A skill she has learnt from Kaushal is how to switch on and off. “I was so method in my first movie and it really took a toll on my mental health. Now I’ve got to a point when I’m a lot more switched on and off and I think that’s helped improve my work, and my sanity.”
I love my job and I take it so seriously. I want to be the best I can be but I also need to give myself some grace.
“I love my job and I take it so seriously. I want to be the best I can be, but I also need to give myself some grace. It got to the point where I was punishing myself or making myself suffer [to accurately play characters] – and that’s what I did at the beginning of my career. From the critic’s point of view my films did well, but was it sustainable? No. And I want to be in this industry for a long time. So I had to learn to just switch on and switch off.”
The next chapter
While the past few months have been a whirlwind of fashion weeks across Europe, Sandhu is now looking forward to the next chapter in Mumbai. She is keen to put on her producer’s hat for a project that’s still hush-hush, but I’m told revolves around bridging the East and the West. And Sandhu is also keen to finally stay in one place for a while. “There have been times when I’ve lived between three continents every month. Now that I’ve turned 27 this year, my Saturn return has hit me, and I just need to do things that serve me mentally and physically. So yeah, I’m just going to stay put for as long as I can.”
