Seema Rahmani
Seema Rahmani is a film actress, television presenter, writer, producer, director, singer, event host, poet, and a philanthropist.
She currently lives in India.
Early life
While her family background links to Pune, Maharashtra, Seema was born and raised in Kuwait where her father worked with an oil company and her mother as an English teacher in a Kuwaiti government high school. She did her initial schooling at Indian School, Salmiya, Kuwait, after which she left for the U.S. at the age of 15. She completed high school in Newark, New York, a Bachelor of Science with a minor in Mathematics at State University of New York at Fredonia, and an M.A. in Marketing/Advertising from Emerson College in Boston. She enjoyed a marketing/advertising and public relations corporate career for a few years before she started her acting career.Career
Seema took time off from her public relations corporate job in Los Angeles, California in 1997 to visit Spain. Upon returning from Barcelona, she decided to leave her corporate career and join theater in Los Angeles, thus beginning her acting career. She soon landed stints in two television series - Alias for ABC and Roswell for Warner Brothers 2000-2001.Rahmani moved to India in 2003 and worked in films such as Vinod Pande's true-story inspired Sins in 2005 where she was noticed for her range and fluency in exploring a character's vulnerability, Zee TV Films' Arjun Varma, and Missed Call by Mridul Toolsidas and Vinay Subrmanium, which was adjudged the Best International film at Israel's Red Sea International Film Festival. Rahmani's performance received accolades in the super-hit comedy film Loins of Punjab Presents in 2007, which won the Audience Award for best feature film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. These films gave her recognition and drew the attention of independent filmmakers looking for an "effortlessly natural" actor and a "quintessential Indian face".
In 2005, only two years into her arrival as an actor in the Indian film industry in Mumbai, and in the wake of a media sting operation that brought acts of incredulous unprofessionalism of Bollywood "power-positioned" personalities to the forefront of intense media discussions and debates, politically incorrect but honest, Rahmani uninhibitedly contributed to public awareness in the controversial matter by authoring a genuine and journalistic personal account of ungentlemanly behaviors she had experienced. The article was lauded and published by Outlook Magazine and The Times of India. Rahmani said she felt "a sense of responsibility to help silence wasteful talks that denied an obvious compromising of ethics in what should be an art-dedicated, safe, fair, and respectful environment for actors to work in."
Her work between 2007-2012 as host/anchor of the super hit TV show on animals called Heavy Petting, which aired on NDTV Good Times, brought her recognition both as a television presenter and spokesperson for compassion towards animals and animal rights. She and her crew traveled the length and breath of India, passionately and lovingly eradicating cultural fears associated with animals and showing viewers how and why to care about them.
As a film actor, Rahmani again demonstrated her versatility in the critically acclaimed 2012 independent film Good Night Good Morning and in the lighthearted comedy Love Wrinkle-free.
In 2013 Seema revisited the theater circuit after ten years, this time in Delhi, writing, directing, producing and acting. Her play Life Like Rainbow Grey, the premier performances of which were sponsored by The American Embassy in New Delhi, in celebration of Women's International Day, was very well received. The play, which then went on to be selected for The Contemporary Arts Festival, is a true to life account of her experiences working with children who were wards of the state of California and living in an institutionalized group home run by a religious establishment. The play, which includes doses of original poetry and song, also delves into the subject of healthy parenting and marriages. Rahmani then authored a compilation of short-acts and monologues, and skits for children. She went on to co-write and direct several plays.
Her literary offerings include "The Journey of a Truth Seeker," a memoir published in 2020, "Hold the Space of Truth," a spiritual self-help and healing handbook, published in 2020, and a collection of short stories for children. Her first book of poetry "Euphoria, A Journey Unravels..." published through a Kolkata publishing house in 2003, was deeply appreciated by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in a personal letter to her, listing poetry he resonated with.
Seema has produced a timeless music album "Rab Se...", an original collection of carefully crafted empowering & loving lullabies and songs in Hindi "for children and their adults" . The album features revered and respected singers from India, namely, Rekha Bhardwaj, Roop Kumar Rathod, Suresh Wadkar, ghazal maestro Sudeep Banerjee, plus Aditi Paul, Dilip Shankar and herself. The music and songs in this album have been appreciated for their unique therapeutic and relaxing effect on both children and adults.
Her work as a TV-show anchor forayed into her hosting select live events, including the 21st Annual World Travel Awards Asia and Australasia Ceremony held in 2014, in India, an awards event called "The Oscars" of the travel industry by The Wall Street Journal.
Humanitarian Work
Rahmani's naturally inclined animal welfare work began early in her childhood in Kuwait. As an adult, since the early 90s, she was involved in animal welfare in India, specifically with relevance to street animals' birth control, rescue, treatment, rehabilitation, and adoption in various pockets of Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, and Rajasthan. She spearheaded critical and sensitive rescue and animal birth control operations, including restructuring inhumane practices into humane operations both in Mumbai and in Panchgini.In 2014, Seema adopted an underprivileged residential "jugghi" in South Delhi with the intention of replacing the negativity, hostility, and violent behaviors she witnessed with a peaceful, positive, and productive attitude towards life and each other. She worked with the slum's children and several parents, empowering them through counselling and discussions. She brought to the children yoga, meditation, creative arts, educational field trips and fun outings in nature. Her goals were received wholeheartedly by over 40 children and their families and the upliftment of children's lives through an empowered sense of self was achieved over a span of three years.