SONIA BAHL
Screenplays. Books. Advertising. Notes to self. Grocery lists.
Screenwriter | Novelist
Born and raised in Kolkata, Sonia has lived and worked in Mumbai, Delhi, Jakarta, Miami, Brussels, Johannesburg and Singapore. With home being everywhere and nowhere, she developed a deep belief in the power of the moment—the idea that unexpected human connections can alter the course of a life, a theme that runs through much of her storytelling.
She cut her teeth in advertising, creating campaigns for everything from coffee and cars to condoms and candy, while secretly dreaming of morphing 30-second commercials into full-length feature films. Eventually the dream grew too loud to ignore. Sonia threw caution— and her full-time job as Executive Creative Director at McCann-Erickson—to the winds and pivoted to a new career: screenwriting.
Sonia now writes for both the page and the screen from Singapore, where she lives with her honorary proofreader husband and their made-for-the-movies golden retriever, Ari Gold. Her gorgeous, itinerant daughter currently claims London as home but returns often enough to keep her room intact.
#BOOKS
At eight, Nira had only one over-powering wish—to pee standing up like a boy. In fact, to be a boy.
Join Nira as she steps into her brother’s clothes and becomes the self-appointed Al Caponesque gang leader of the neighbourhood boys. Her oddball yet madly loving family shapes her personality, and a poignant relationship with her brother’s best friend shapes her life. She uses uninhibited candour to detail her coming-of-age journey from Calcutta to London, from tomboy to reluctant woman-in-progress… always trying to fit in, but always failing. She’s a laugh a minute, and yet she breaks your heart with her subconscious, percussive yearning for the one person who is always too old, too far, too married to be hers.
A flight from New Delhi to new York. Two strangers, seat 7A and seat 7B, who have nothing in common. Absolutely nothing. Except they are both hoping the seat next to theirs remains empty. It doesn’t. Mid-flight turbulence and infant incontinence forces them to interact—the cool wall Street guy and the mom-with-the-drool-stained-sweater-and-ordinary-aspirations. Blistering wit, opposing views, and some unexpectedly poignant admissions keep them addictive engaged and hopelessly sleep deprived through the fifteen-hour journey. Touch down… And they leave the cabin without a backward glance, jumping right back into their dramatically different lives. Never to meet again. But somehow they continue to travel together—interlocked forever through an inexplicable connectedness. Can one meeting change everything forever? The Japanese have a term for it: ichi-go ichi-e. One time, one encounter, lasts a lifetime.
TWO CITIES. TWO STORIES. ONE INVISIBLE THREAD.
On an ordinary afternoon in Calcutta, Leela, a photographer, steps out of a cafe and sees a man with the air of royalty and the look of ruin. A dirt-streaked face, broken slippers, but eyes that hold centuries. Before she can raise her camera, he’s gone.
Across the world, in London, Neel stumbles upon a gifted young street performer playing the harmonica. Once dismissed as a drifting heir, Neel is still carrying the weight of a love he could not hold on to. But something in the boy’s music stirs him and sparks the beginning of a dream.
As Leela hunts for a face that won’t let her go and Neel chases the impossible, their stories begin to move in rhythm.
#MOVIES
#Q&A
SONIA BAHL: I’ve always said the itinerant life is a double-edged one. You fit in everywhere and nowhere. You’re on the outside even when you’re inside. Not in an alienating way, just that a part of you is always observing from a zoomed out perspective. Particularly when you’re moving around with your child. As a parent you can see how race-colour-culture-language-gender agnostic they are and it feels so acutely precious, you want to make sure they hold on to that state of mind forever. As a storyteller I suppose it translates to me finding my voice in themes about deep connection in the swirl of differences. The things that bring us together.
SONIA BAHL: The boring stuff is I was born in Kolkata and have lived most of my adult life abroad—Indonesia, America, Belgium, South Africa—and I now live permanently (I think) in Singapore. Here’s some real disclosure: I am a fan of people who don’t fit in. I am a fan of random encounters. I am a fan of deep connections. I am a fan of people who listen, like really listen. I am a fan of people who are deeply touched by nature. I am a fan of authenticity. I am fan of trying…die trying, actually.
SONIA BAHL: I want to tell you I take my laptop and watch the Milky Way from a pollution-free beach but honestly, it’s supremely quotidien what I do! I am fairly obsessive and routine-based. Jack Russel-ish in my stubborn need to finish what I’ve started. It’s pretty much all I do during the day, barring weekends. And sometimes, it spills over to the night if there’s a deadline. I find the large windows in my study with nearly daily rain exquisitely comforting. I do not work like a hyper-cool person in PJs or run on endless cups of coffee. I have a fairly gentle (euphemism) stomach so water with a slice of lime works well.
SONIA BAHL: I don’t think we can ever extract who we are from what we create. The lines are always blurred. Without being too literal about the how and where, to me this is about that rare connection. We’re all looking for deep connections we are wired to; it’s part of our molecular structure. Just that in the minutiae of the day-to-day and the overwhelming dependence on social media interactions, finding that real connection is never easy. But when it happens, it almost spoils you for everything else. It doesn’t have to be romantic or sexual or hormone-led! Everyone’s been there. Sometimes, after a five-minute conversation you’re going – “Kill me already!” And at other times, even after a five-hour conversation, you have no idea where time evaporated. It’s that simple.
SONIA BAHL: That’s the thing about authentic connections. There are no laws, no norms, no boundaries. You morph into a lighter, smarter, more energetic version of yourself. Everything just flows. It’s exactly the same when you’re writing something you feel at a granular level. The nuts and bolts of two contrasting voices in gender, beliefs, and language weren’t a studied effort. In fact, it felt fairly seamless. Not because I am a pro! I’d say because one subconsciously melds the personal with what one notices and has been impacted by. Not sure if it’s a plus or a bane, but I find myself unconsciously attuned, with a seismographer’s attention, to the dips and tremors in what people are saying. Even more to what they aren’t.
SONIA BAHL: All writing helps. But I’m certain it’s the many years spent as a copywriter that deserve a high five. The devotion to brevity, seduction through simplicity, and avoiding boredom at all costs, it’s been tattooed into our systems for posterity.
SONIA BAHL: You don’t fit in? You have no idea what a gift that is!