Breathing life
into untold stories.
A collaborative space
committed to telling the stories
hidden amongst us.
A place where no story
is other.
Mission
Bodhini is a collaborative space committed to telling the stories hidden amongst us. A place where no story is other.
We are a group of global, like-minded collaborators who choose to unearth the untold and othered stories and perspectives in our everyday narratives. A creative and critical storytelling space where boundaries are dissolved, and the nuances of identities are heard and seen. Where stories that were once marginalised or reduced to stereotypes are given new life.
Founded by Pallavi Sharda, a performing artist who, while journeying to actualise her childhood dream of acting on screen discovered the challenges of being an Indian-origin Australian woman, Bodhini Studios is a safe house for artists to bring conceptually ‘othered’ stories, identities and feelings into the mainstream with the intention of breeding intercultural understanding and empathy and celebrating our common humanity.
What We Do
Stories: ideation, incubation & dissemination
Community Engagement & Impact: leadership, community mentorship & empowerment for creatives
Consultancy: pathways to understanding, creating new normals & debunking diversity
the enthu cutlets
(there are more: they’ve just been too busy creating to send their bios through to HR)
OUR FOUNDER
Pallavi Sharda knows what chasing your dreams is all about. From a young age, enthralled by its magic, she wanted to join the Narnia-like world of Hindi cinema. While many kids growing up in white/western suburbia might think it, Pallavi packed her bags and actually did it. Cue fake exchange program to a university in New Delhi at 19, cue toilet flushing her good Indian girlness, cue flying to Mumbai with 2 bags, zero contacts & 400 rupees to start door-knocking in Bollywood.
(Don’t worry aunties, she still finished her degrees - LLB (Hons)/BA (Media Comms)/Dip. Modern Languages (french) to be exact)
A classical (Bharatha Natyam) Indian dance exponent, in India Pallavi quickly became known to audiences for her unique rhythmic folk & ‘filmy’ dancing. She really nailed the dancing around trees brief. But, after making inroads in the notoriously difficult (& sometimes downright scary) world of Bollywood; Pallavi again went ‘homebound’, this time to create space as a brown woman in the western screen arts. Because, you know, ceilings exist to be smashed & plus why chill at the summit when there’s anouther mountain to climb? She came ‘home’ once again…only to find that… well…. diversity ain't' really a thang.
Pallavi is a truly global performer. She is the first Indian-Aussie mainstream Bollywood lead actor and the first Indian origin leading actress on the Aussie big and small screens. Her credits include Hindi films such as Hawaizaada & Begum Jaan, Gurinder Chadha’s British period drama Beecham House, ABC Australia’s Les Norton with David Wenham & Rebel Wilson, Warner Bros film Tom and Jerry, Netflix UK drama series The One, and action film Blacksite alongside Michelle Monaghan & Jai Courtnay. In 2023, Pallavi received a Logie nomination for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress for her role in Aussie drama ‘The Twelve’ and starred in the global hit Netflix rom com Wedding Season. She will next be seen in the Aussie version of ‘The Office’ (Amazon Studios).
Pallavi founded Bodhini Studios with a view to centring South Asian-Australian stories on a global stage because…. it’s a real thing, a robust identity, and the stories really are phusst class.
OUR DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
Sunanda Sachatrakul is a performer, writer and producer conceived in New Delhi and corrupted in Bangkok who came out in New York City and again (as a comedian this time) in Los Angeles. They moved to Naarm/Melbourne in 2019 for love (how romantic!) which has proved stronger than their aversion to the often cooked weather. They're interested in telling stories that reflect the uncensored experiences of the South Asian diaspora and queer and gender-diverse people of color through a cosmopolitan lens. They love to laugh, so although politics always plays a role in their work, humour and heart is at the, well, heart of everything they do.
Their queer rom-com pilot was long listed for the Australian Writers' Guild's Monte Miller Award in 2023 after developing it in the prestigious screenwriter accelerator program, Impact Australia. They've since written for the ABC Fresh Blood animated contender of 2024, "Starship Q Star" and have been notetaking in different rooms for Fremantle Australia.
As a performer, they were nominated for the Best Newcomer award by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2022 for their solo show, "Sunanda Loves Britney," praised as a "wonderful comic actor" by ArtsHub for their debut role in a RedStitch production, and named Melbourne's top comedy pick for Melbourne Fringe 2020. They are also a core collaborator of the award-winning physical theatre troupe, The Wholesome Hour and have been touring their children's show, "Polite Mammals" around Australia.
As a producer, Sunanda has worked with Lucia Aniello and Paul Downs (Hacks), Broad City (Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson), Micheal Che (SNL), (if you've been hangin' for a name-drop) on web series, shorts and even an indie feature film that received multiple awards.
When they're not busy writing, performing or producing 'very important work', you can find Sunanda at the different childrens' hospitals in Melbourne, telling poop jokes as a Clown Doctor with The Humour Foundation. They know their audience.
Projects
In Development:
Feature film:
The story of Lisa Sthalekar. The unlikely hero who led Australia’s to world cup victory.
