We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sudeep Kanwal. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sudeep below.
Sudeep, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I was 16 when I moved from India to New York—a tricky age to leave behind everything familiar just as the world starts to make sense. The first few years were mentally tough. I had to say goodbye to my friends and adjust to an entirely new culture, which gradually turned me into an introvert.
But everything changed when I operated my first 16mm camera in college. Filmmaking gave me a voice again. Soon after, I landed an internship at a wedding studio, where I learned to edit and shoot events. Within months, multiple studios began hiring me as a freelancer, and their trust in my work became a huge morale boost. Through freelancing, I was able to pay my way through grad school—weddings funded my MFA in film.
Alongside my work, my family has been my greatest pillar of support. They’ve always pushed me to strive for better. My brother and partner, Sumdarash Kanwal, was the one who suggested we start our own studio in 2006. My resilience comes from two things—my craft and my family.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I recently completed my first feature film as a writer and director, Privacy, a psychological drama that premiered at BiFan (South Korea) and has since screened at international festivals like Cinequest (San Jose). The film received strong critical acclaim and has now concluded its festival run. I’m currently seeking the right distribution partner to bring it to a wider audience.
Privacy is co-produced by House of Talent Studio, the company we founded in 2006. It’s incredibly rewarding to see how, alongside our work in wedding photography and cinematography, we’ve been able to expand into short and feature-length films. Balancing work and passion isn’t always easy, but that challenge is what makes the journey so fulfilling.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
If I have to narrow it down to three things then for me it’s passion, adaptability and finding a mentor. A year into college, I dropped my computer science classes to pursue film—a rare choice for a South Asian immigrant in the early 2000s. Many questioned my decision, especially since filmmaking offered no clear career path. The pressure was real, and the first thing people asked was, How will you make a living?
That question led me to weddings. Some film students dismissed it as unartistic, but for me, it was survival. Without financial stability, I couldn’t pursue filmmaking anyway—I wasn’t willing to be a starving artist. Shooting weddings allowed me to hone my craft, earn a living, and maintain creative freedom. I got the perks of a career without the 9-to-5, all while being my own boss.
Passion comes first, but so does adaptability. If you love something, pursue it, but be open to adjacent opportunities that sustain your craft. Finding a mentor helps early on, but once you have the skills, never undersell yourself.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
From time to time, I grapple with self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Most of the time, seeing another artist’s work fuels my inspiration. But every now and then, I come across something so remarkable that I feel like I could never measure up—whether in photography or filmmaking. And then there are moments when things just don’t go as planned. In those times, my wife, Ayesha Khan, is my anchor. She pushes me forward when I’m on the verge of giving up, reminding me of my own worth. I truly lucked out in finding someone who believes in me even more than I believe in myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.houseoftalentstudio.com/
- Instagram: @sudeepkanwal @houseoftalentstudio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sudeepkanwal
Image Credits
House of Talent Studio
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