Neema Sharma grew up in Lucknow in a conventional traditional family full of bankers, engineers, and doctors, and never imagined she would work in film. And today Neema is an assistant director and production filmmaker with more than a decade of onset experience across India, Europe, and the US. She is a graduate of the Directors Guild of America’s New York Assistant Director Training Program (one of the most competitive paths into the industry that exists!).
She’s worked on movies and shows like Extraction, The Gray Man, Minx, and two major South Asian American projects coming to Netflix including the highly anticipated Best of the Best, which comes out on Netflix next week.
I spoke with Neema for the Brown Voices Project about how she got started in the film industry, what it felt like to walk onto a set where everyone looked like her, and what she would tell young South Asian kids who want to do something nobody in their family has ever done.
Some wise words for Neema on how to figure out what you want to do:
If you don’t know what you want to do, be sure of what you don’t want to do.”
Neema Sharma
Neema didn’t have a clear plan in high school, but she relied on her brother’s advice to figure out what you don’t want to do, and let that guide her.
“My brother in his wise words said: if you don’t know what you want to do, be sure of what you don’t want to do. And I come from a family of bankers, engineers, and doctors, and I was like — I don’t see myself doing any of that.”
Neema Sharma
The moment that clarified everything for Neema came when reading Rabindranath Tagore’s The Postmaster for an English literature class: instead of imagining the book as a play, she visualized it as a film (protagonist on boat; camera on a gimbal following him). So she enrolled in Symbiosis in Pune, one of India’s first undergraduate programs for media and communication, and by her third year landed an internship on Shaitan. That movie came out a few weeks after she graduated and her career had officially begun.
Neema’s career trajectory, from Shaitan to Peddlers to The Lunchbox to The Wedding Guest to Extraction to The Gray Man grew and was built on reputation.
[Related: an interview with Broadway actor Vishal Vaidya (who was also in the Berkely Repertory Theatre’s musical of The Lunchbox)]
By the time I was finishing a job, somebody would call you. Word of mouth is big in our industry. If you’re good, and sincere, and you want to learn, I don’t think you need to worry about anything else.
Neema Sharma
While working on Extraction an executive producer and a first AD noticed she had an American passport, and started pushing her to apply for the DGA New York Assistant Director Training Program.
She ended up working on The Gray Man in Paris and Prague with Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and the Russo brothers as her first American job.
Two recent projects have been a different experience. First, the excitedly anticipated Best of the Best, a college musical coming to Netflix this month (September 2026) and starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Priya Kansara, Hasan Minhaj, was the first time Neema walked onto an AMERICAN set where almost everyone looked like her.
A lot of times it hits you: you’re the only person of color, or one of the four women in a room filled with men.
Neema Sharma
And suddenly you walk into a room where pretty much every other person looks like you or speaks like you. It felt so special. It wasn’t caricaturish in any way… so beautifully done.
She had a similar experience working on Unaccustomed Earth for Netflix (based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s book). This project had a crew that wasn’t predominantly South Asian but was very mindful about getting names right, understanding rituals, and knowing how people would dress and behave.
You’re like “my god, it’s happening.”
Neema Sharma
I asked Neema what her advice would be for young South Asian kids looking to go into a creative field, or even just a field different from what their parents would want for them and she said:
If you’re being truthful to yourself and you see yourself doing something that’s non-traditional, go for it with all your intent and purpose and dedication. I have worked 100-hour weeks and wanted to go back and do the same thing over and over again because it just feels so right and true.
Neema Sharma
Do it for yourself to begin with.
Do it for you.
She also offered one more bit of tangible advice for kids: reach out to people doing what you want to do, because more often than not, they’ll be willing to talk to you.
Neema, thank you so much for being a part of Brown Voices.
This conversation is part of the Brown Voices project — an ongoing series of conversations with South Asian Americans building lives that defy the stereotype of what success is supposed to look like for us. You can also see a snippet of this conversation in the book coming next month: Brown Voices: South Asian American Experiences in Schools rereleases October 13, 2026.
Follow Neema on Instagram at @NeemaSharmaa
