Shefali Bhushan

Shefali Bhushan is an Indian director, actor, producer and writer. She rose to fame with her directorial debut, Jugni, an internationally acclaimed musical film. Shefali was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, but her family moved to Delhi when she was just five. Her father, Shanti Bhushan Shanti Bhushan is an Indian writer who has worked >> Read More... a senior advocate in the Supreme Court of India, was the former law minister of the country, while her brother PrashantBhushan is a prominent lawyer, politician and an activist, known for filing PILs on social issues. However, she inherits the creative legacy from her mother, KumudBhushan, who is a trained Kathak dancer and a painter.

Bhushan finished her schooling from Modern School, New Delhi. After that, she completed her graduation in Economics honors from Delhi University, in 1992. Since her school days, acting was her first love. She got her first role when she was in 5th standard, as a lawyer. However, her first professional encounter with acting happened during her college days, when her association with Drama Tech, a theatergroup based in Delhi, began. She was also a part of another theater group called Act One, which firmly established her as an actor, fuelling her passion towards this field. Then there came thepoint which made Shefali a filmmaker, rather than an actor. After her graduation, she applied to the National School of Drama (NSD) and JamiaMiliaIslamia for the Master's degree.

She could not make it to NSD due to a shortage of seats. However, she got accepted into Jamia and completed her post graduation in Mass Communication in the year 1994. Holding a degree, but more importantly, passion towards the field, Bhushan started by shooting an ad in Jaya Ganga, as an assistant director in 1995. But very soon, she came back to Delhi and continued shooting current affairs shows for local television. Bhushan's yearning for the unexplored, however, remained unquenched.

Being trained in Hindustani classical music, she always wanted to set her foot out, and find out raw talents the Indian soil encrypted within its impervious corners. Together with a handful of people, she founded a website called Beat of India, in 2000, with the aim of encouraging the rich folk music of India. She traveled far and wide, for six years, unearthing talents, and in the process, training herself for the future. One fine day, the highly optimistic young girl emailed the music legend, A.R.Rahman, asking whether he'd like to work with her.

To her surprise, she got a reply. It was Rahman who introduced her to RakeyshMehra, who agreed to work on a project with her, but things did not materialize eventually due to Mehra's busy schedule. The plot was picked up by Saregama, but three months before the start of the shoot, the film unit was shut down.

Shefali now made her mind to work on a script that did not require big names and bit by bit, Jugnitook form. The movie made its impact at various film festivals like London India Film Festival, Indian Film Festival The Hague, Festival of the Global-USA, Khajuraho International Film Festival, Lonavala International Film Festival, etc. Being a versatile artist herself, Shefali believes in the thought of unifying commercial and art cinema.

She appreciates the work of the Oscar-winning Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar Caballero, and enjoys watching films directed by Raj Kumar Hirani. Bhushan has also acted in offbeat documentaries like Iyatta:Class (2016), and Mission Sunday (2015).