Producer Chitra Vakil Sharma shares her life story!
#ChitraVakilSharma was an extremely naughty and curious kid. The co-producer of the web series #Tandoor recalls how being the youngest in the family, she knew she would get away with almost anything.
“I was extremely pampered, especially by my grandpa… I was quite naughty. Have done everything from pressing the neighbour’s bell, hiding below the staircase, scribbling on the building floor compound, staying in a skyscraper to screaming from the 8th floor to strangers. Basically, everything that didn’t make sense… It was the 80’s and there was no social media, so I had to keep myself engaged,” she jokes before talking about how she was never a career-oriented kid.
“I would take each day as it comes and would never think I will be doing this or that when I grow up. I enjoyed playing the whole day, eating yummy food, sleeping and having fun with friends. I was a chatterbox,” says the producer.
Her parents were her world. “My dad was a doctor with JRH Railway Hospital and retired as an MD, so he used to keep extremely busy. He loved his profession and was very passionate about it. He would ensure to take out time for his children, me, my elder brother Rahul and elder sister Rohini. He would spend quality time with us, make tomato soup, egg bhurji for us during weekends. On the other hand, mom’s a simple homemaker. Her life revolved around the three of us and dad. She loved dressing us up, cook our favourite food,” she adds. Chitra was not at all into outdoor games and enjoyed playing Ludo and business. She plays both games with her daughter Tanvi even today. “It’s like a therapy… In fact I have actually survived the first lockdown on Ludo king,” she reveals. There is one incident that happened during her school time that she can never forget. “One of the days, during lunch break, I wanted to have Ragda pattice and we had no permission to leave the school premises. So my friends and I decided to sneak out to eat the pattice and come back without anyone noticing. I still remember when we came back, we saw our parents and principal waiting for us,” she laughs.
Chitra was mediocre in studies. Her father had the toughest time trying to teach her. She was always compared to her elder sister, who was brilliant. As a friend, she was the most helpful and trustworthy person. And, she was the brain behind all the wildest and naughtiest things that they have done as kids.
So when did you decide on your career? “As I said, I was never career-oriented and thought I would be like a simple homemaker like my mother. But yes for my pocket money I started doing part-time jobs quite early. In my 20’s, I worked in Suniel Shetty’s game parlour Astro Mischief. Then I worked with a bowling company and then came the sudden BPO industry boom. Joined ICICI moved to WNS growth was extremely good but to me it always meant pocket money to make ISD calls to my friends based in Dubai. I was still not serious about what I wanted to do till 2009 when a lot of things changed for me both in my personal and professional lives, and from serious chiller, I became a serious workaholic. My elder sister, who’s a well known media lawyer, Advocate Rohini Vakil Kapoor, started her law firm called Consulta Legal and under her guidance, I started copyrights and trademarks work for the entertainment industry. That’s how my association with showbiz began…. After a decade I decided to start my own production house Tsm Productions. That’s my story so far,” she adds.