When she was very young, Pooja Sampath’s father had asked her to ‘only do things that made her happy’ and that is the one advice that she has followed all her life. A partner of Centrestage and its executive producer and casting director, Pooja also handles production and PR for their improvisational comedy show The Improv and in between directing ad films, short films and videos, she has also somehow found time to head the curriculum design and academics of a new film school!
One of the spearheads of the new wave media movement in Bengaluru, Pooja and her compatriots have been actively keeping talent in the city by creating paid media opportunities to aspiring actors, performers, filmmakers and students interested in the industry.
“The idea was to stay close to the place we were brought up in, to stay close to family and friends,” says the Sophia School and Mount Carmel College alumnus. She continues, “The idea for the new wave media movement came from the general notion that to make it big in the media industry in our country — there was no other place but Mumbai. My family had always encouraged me to explore new things as a child. They and Saad Khan (who co-partners Centrestage with her) have been the most important inspirations to me.”
A disastrous TV commercial acting experience when she was 14 years old, is what, Pooja feels, started the journey for her. “I did not say no to any activities and went on to do dancing, singing, swimming, skating, acting to training for the district level Juniors Go Kart championship, and learning new musical instruments, which I can’t remember how to play anymore. In this long list, the one thing that caught my attention as a child was performance. I bought a handy-cam and began writing scripts with my cousins during summer vacations and started filming and editing them. We would have screenings of it at home for family and relatives. I never realised back then the impact this would have later in my life,” says the casting director.
The challenges of a woman running an entire movement in the city are many and Pooja is not on to play up the particular heroism in a woman achieving what she has. “Sure, there are a few preconceived notions about a woman’s ‘skillset’ at first, but once you get to work and focus on doing work, and getting things done — woman, man, young, old? None of it makes a difference. The biggest challenges for a casting director are the steep deadlines, to find the best suitable actor for the part within the extremely short time given to us,” says the woman who enjoys dancing and writing, even though she does not think that she is very good at the latter.
