Sharmin Ali

Early life and education

Sharmin Ali was born on 8 August 1988 in West Bengal, India. She pursued her schooling all over the country and completed her schooling from Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram. As a child, Sharmin had a stammering problem. She overcame her speech defect and is a professional speaker today. She graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from HKBK College of Engineering, Bangalore.

Career

After completing her Engineering degree, Sharmin began her career working for a consulting firm. Sharmin quit her corporate career soon to follow her passion for writing. Sharmin wrote her first book YOU (You Own Urself), which is about getting to know oneself. Following her success as an author, she launched her first story-writing product ‘The Speedy-Story-Writing-Wagon’ and founded the company ‘your-first-book.com’. Sharmin is a theatre enthusiast and started her own production house, ART-RIGHT-IS. She was called to speak about her success as part of the Talk at the Millionaire Maker Seminar.

Literary

Sharmin wrote her first book, YOU (You Own Urself), at the age of 24. YOU talks about her life and chronicles her journey as an entrepreneur. YOU was released in June 2013. YOU was launched on 26 June 2013 in Bangalore by Varun Agarwal and Siva Selvaraj at 1 MG Mall, Oxford Bookstore, Bangalore. YOU narrates the story of her life from her struggle as a child with speech disfluency to the public speaker that she is today. She later launched YOUR-FIRST-BOOK, claimed to be a first of its kind story-writing product that provides training and guidance to those who want to start writing. The workshops help people in expressing themselves and get started with writing their first book. Sharmin is on a mission to create a thousand authors in the next three years and hopes to make a path-breaking contribution to the literary world.

Theatre

Sharmin Ali's first performance on stage was at the Alliance française, Bangalore. Soon after she started her own production house ART-RIGHT-IS. She gathered a group of amateurs, professionals and theatre enthusiasts and formed the Artrightis Theatre Group. The most famous shows by Artrightis Theatre Group include Potli Baba Ki Paltan and EREBUS- darkness personified, which were showcased in Bangalore and received critical acclaim.

Books

YOU (You Own Urself)

As a young author, Sharmin presents her perspective on knowing oneself. Quoted from the book the blurb goes: “A journey that encompasses four parts, from knowing about yourself to introspection, from getting inspired by the 'blabbering janta' to realizing your own secret destiny to freedom, Y.O.U talks about trespassing the status quo and breaking into a new world. It is a road meant for each one of us suffering from a claustrophobic and nonchalant life that has led us astray. Get redirected on the right track and create history. It's high time you realized that this is your life and 'You Own Urself'!”. This non fiction book received critical acclaim as it went beyond a self-help book with Sharmin sharing her experiences. It appeared in the list of bestsellers released by The New Indian Express on 4 February 2014.

Plays

Potli Baba Ki Paltan was staged On 1 May 2014 at Rangoli Arts Center, MG Road.
It was a production performed by a group of amateurs, experts and theatre enthusiasts. For the first time, there was a combination of gurus and shishyas on stage, being directed by a group of both first-time and expert directors. It was a camaraderie of talent, passion and desire on stage. The show encompassed short sketches from various genres like comedy, drama, tragedy, etc.

EREBUS- Darkness Personified staged at the Rangoli Metro Arts Centre, MG Road on 14 June 2014. It was a show based on the Greek mythology portraying several shades of the Greek God Erebus who personifies darkness. The show describes itself as "An orgasm that lasts for 70 minutes: Self-Hedonism and Paranoia!”. It was staged at the Rangoli Metro Arts Centre, MG Road on 14 June 2014.

The Penis Monologues was written by Jason Cassidy from the USA and produced by the ART-RIGHT-IS Company. Jason Cassidy gave Sharmin Ali the privilege of adapting his play to suit the Indian audience. It explores male attitudes towards sex, women, violence, emotional insecurities and what it’s like to have a penis. While the initial plan was that Ali would direct the play, as the rehearsals began, three directors joined in, each directing the monologues. The lack of any props, apart from a single chair and central spotlight, is compensated by an intense script. While the play is sure to tickle the funny bone, beneath it, the play sends across a message loud and clear - women need to understand and respect a man's emotional needs. The Penis Monologues was first staged on 28 August 2014 in Bangalore, India.

Aurora was staged on 22 November 2014, at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore. Aurora was a collection short plays.

Chutzpah premiered on 17 April 2015, at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Bangalore. The play is titled ‘Chutzpah’ (Hebrewish word). ‘Chutzpah’ refers to audacity, indignance and the power to do something unconventional. The characters are based on women who have broken free from their inhibitions and defied the stereotype. The play celebrates the latent power of all women in a 90-minute musical satire written by Sharmin Ali herself, in a time when gender issues are being addressed more frequently in India. A group of activists took offence to the play's title, ‘Chutzpah’, a Hebrew word meaning audacity. They mispronounced and misunderstood the title as a vulgar word in Hindi.