Entertainment / How Puja Mohindra Created Her Own Opportunity To Get The Hit Netflix Drama ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’

How Puja Mohindra Created Her Own Opportunity To Get The Hit Netflix Drama ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’

Entertainment Jun 20, 2022

by Matthew Currie

Rising actress-writer-director Puja Mohindra from hit Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer takes time out of her schedule to chat with us about the importance of gender and BIPOC representation, and how she goes about creating her own stories and her own opportunities.

You’ve just seen her in the small-yet-pivotal role of Sonia Patel on David E. Kelley’s legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer — a continuation of the Michael Connelly novels/2011 Matthew McConaughey film that’s been a top trender for Netflix since its May debut. Being on a show that hits No. 1 on the Netflix scroller is a big deal for any actor.

Yet on the day we chat with Puja Mohindra, the Chicago-based hyphenate isn’t thinking so much about her on-camera career (which of late has also included a recurring role on NBC procedural Chicago Med). She’s hard at work developing a feature film: Lakshmi in Love, which she’s set to produce, write and direct.

It’s the latest creative endeavour from the consummate self-starter, who in 2016 also created and starred in her own acclaimed web series, Geeta’s Guide to Moving On — a TV pilot for which was also in development with the producers of black-ish. Though it didn’t go forward, the script for this TV version of Geeta’s Guide, retitled Welcome to Shakti, was listed on WeForShe’s annual WriteHer List as one of 2020’s best unproduced, female-penned pilots.

In our convo, Puja discusses the love of storytelling that drives her career, the hurdles that are preventing more diverse voices from being invited to the table in the entertainment industry and why she finds mediocrity oddly inspiring.

Matthew Currie: So, did you get into acting first and then the creating, writing, producing came later?

Puja Mohindra: I actually was a journalist first. I was always a writer before I was an actor. I started my journey in dance. I was acting in high school, but I don’t know if I really thought about doing it professionally. Then things kind of shifted when I had a little bit of a period where I was really only focused on acting. And then there came a time where I realized all these things are related. Acting, writing, creating, dance, journalism, directing — it’s all really about telling a great story. I like telling stories, and I love telling stories that service humanity.

MC: What’s it like being on a show that hits No. 1 on Netflix?

PM: It is a surreal experience. I just think it’s also a testament to Netflix . . . it’s such a unique thing, such an impactful thing to have a story be on one platform that can reach so many people so quickly around the world. I’ve heard from so many people around the world who have seen it, and it hasn’t even been out a month yet. I think that’s really cool, and I feel very grateful.

I have been a part of a hit show before. Chicago Med is definitely a huge show that people love to watch, but I think the big difference is the whole streaming component, because I have family in India, Spain, Africa and I’ve never heard them say, “I watch Chicago Med”; it’s a broadcast show, so it’s not so easy to watch Chicago Med. Everyone around the world has Netflix.

It just tells you the power of streaming, and also the global village. When we hear about something good now, you don’t just hear about it in Canada and the United States. You hear about it in Asia and Africa and Europe. TV and film aside, that to me is really special, feeling like we’re part of a global village and that we’re all connected and that we can all relate to one another through stories.

MC: This is also a show that serves as an interesting study in the current state of diversity on film and TV in our culture, given that Mickey Haller, the main character, was played by Matthew McConaughey in the first film, and now we have Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the series.

PM: I think it’s such a relevant topic, not only in film, TV and theatre, but across corporate cultures. Diversity, inclusion and representation is such a priority for brands and companies. And in TV and film . . . you know, I’m a hyphenate: I act, write, produce, create and direct. In terms of diversity on the acting side, I think it’s so nice that we’re seeing Lincoln Lawyer, and you really saw every single age range, ethnicity, gender, culture . . .

What I have to say in terms of writing and creating and getting more diverse stories out there, I think we have more work to do.

There’s a big chicken-and-the-egg dilemma. Because if you look at diverse communities, they’re younger communities. What do I mean by that? My parents are immigrants, there was nobody that I knew when I started in this industry, absolutely nobody. So, our communities are coming of age in terms of being in this industry, having opportunities and having, most importantly, experience. A lot of times what happens is [studio] executives want to give diverse communities opportunities but then the big dilemma is, “We want to hire a woman-of-colour director.” They do want to. But then, when you look at woman-of-colour directors, the statistics are they get three to four per cent of the directing jobs. When the numbers are so, so, so low, and then you actually do have somebody, you look at their résumé and you’re like, “We want them to have directed three or four features before we give them a $100 million Disney movie,” like Ava DuVernay got for A Wrinkle in Time. And it’s like, well wait a second. How are they going to be able to get the experience to direct a big-budget project unless they get experience? Then they don’t get the jobs because they don’t have experience. It becomes this vicious cycle.

That’s what I’m observing. [But] I’m a glass-half-full person. There are people who are taking bigger risks to invest in diverse talent, to nurture them and mentor them.

I think we’re going to see more and more independent projects come through. I know at Tribeca right now there are two films by South Asian filmmakers, and I think it’s going to take the independent space to be able to take bigger risks and gamble on diverse talent, and when it pays off, we’ll see the corporations, the people that have to do the hiring within the studio system, hopefully invest in under-represented talent.

MC: What has your experience been like pitching projects . . . like, for instance, Welcome to Shakti?

PM: When Lena Dunham pitched Girls to HBO, she didn’t even have a name for her protagonist. She barely had a logline. But when people like us who are considered under-represented writer-creators . . . Last summer, I was asked to prepare a huge pitch for Welcome to Shakti. I know my whole entire show: all the characters and their arcs for the entire series, all their quirks and idiosyncrasies. I’ve planned every season for the entire series. Even my series finale is fleshed out and complete. And . . . I didn’t get the opportunity to do the pitch. It’s sitting on my laptop. It just goes to show you that underrepresented creators have to jump through so many hoops. It puts you in a position when you’re under-represented to have to prove that you are capable and should have this opportunity. But that’s OK. It takes time for big systems to change. And I’m a total optimist. Some people call it “development hell.” I prefer to call it “development heaven.” Everything we do and go through prepares us for the next creative project and opportunity to be of service. When the time is right, I’ll pitch Welcome to Shakti and find the best and most amazing home for the project to make the series, where it can be of service to humanity. I trust the divine timing of everything.

MC: Was there a moment in your career where you did feel the need to pivot and shake things up, to get to where you are now as a writer, director, actor and all-around storyteller?

PM: I think after some time of auditioning and doing this bit part and that bit part — I’m not saying those weren’t great experiences, an actor needs to build their résumé and get experience on-set — but it got to a point where I was like, “I am not working to my full potential.” I want to do something to pivot. And what happened: the universe is so generous and I really believe it’s sending us signs all the time. I went to Sundance for the first time, and I saw a lot of amazing films and was so inspired. And I also saw a lot of mediocre films. I was like, “Wait, if these people did these movies and they got into Sundance, I can do that.” I literally got inspired by work that was just OK.

Main Image Photo Credit: www.instagram.com

Matthew Currie

Author

A long-standing entertainment journalist, Currie is a graduate of the Professional Writing program at Toronto’s York University. He has spent the past number of years working as a freelancer for ANOKHI and for diverse publications such as Sharp, TV Week, CAA’s Westworld and BC Business. Currie ...

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How Puja Mohindra Created Her Own Opportunity To Get The Hit Netflix Drama ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’

by Matthew Currie

Matthew Currie

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