Detailed Bio
Selina Sheth, born 1972 in India, is an author, journalist and screenwriter working across fiction and non-fiction formats. A postgraduate from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, she began her career in the 1990s as a broadcast journalist, segment producer and anchor for BBC World, Star TV India, MTV Asia News and Asia Business News. Subsequently, in the early 2000s, she was appointed Content Commissioning Editor at Sony Entertainment Television (SET), Mumbai.
Since then, Selina has had rewarding stints as a story and screenplay writer in commercial television and film. Highlights include the 26-episode telenovela Akanksha on El TV, popular romantic comedies Aur Phir Ek Din on Star Plus and Raahein on Zee TV, the children’s comedy Vicky Aur Vetaal on Walt Disney India, and three of SET India’s long-running dramedy series : Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (an adaptation of the Colombian hit Y Soy Betty Le Feu), Ayushmaan (based on the US weekly Doogie Howser M.D.) and C.A.T.S (a version of the international hit Charlie’s Angels). Along the way, Selina co-created Zee TV’s Agnichakra, a crime series produced by Vinta Nanda and nominated for the Indian Screen Videocon and RAPA awards. She also directed the documentary feature The Red Thread Zens on author Amrita Pritam’s life and work, and wrote the screenplay of a short film Before I Go, After I’m Gone, loosely based on the story Last Night by James Salter.
Selina served as a script consultant for the 2008 Hindi film dramedy Dil Kabaddi (directed by Anil Senior; starring Irrfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Soha Ali Khan and Konkana Sen Sharma) and the 2015 English feature M Cream (directed by Agneya Singh; starring Imaad Shah and Barry John). More recently, and in collaboration with actor- producer Soni Razdan, she has adapted the story of Manju Kapur’s best-selling novel Difficult Daughters to a drama mini-series format for a leading digital entertainment platform.
Selina has co-created and developed film, television, web series and podcast concepts for a range of production companies and broadcast networks, amongst them the popular digital platforms Arre, Netflix India, Amazon Prime and Voot Select, as also Vishesh Films, Indian Films, Agniputra Films, Balaji Telefilms, Synergy Adlabs, Adai Productions, DJs, Cinevistaas, UTV, Rose Movies, TV Today, Tracinema, Troiiika Picture Company, Mass Productions, Sanjay Khan Productions, Fish Eye Network, Clockwork Films, Once Upon A Time Productions, Television Eighteen (now Network 18), BBC World, Star Television India, Sony Entertainment Television India, the Zee TV Network, Home Television, Sab Television, Walt Disney India, MTV Asia News, Asia Business News India, Business India Television, Doordarshan, the Toronto-based Kahani Film Company and HBO Asia.
Selina’s essays and articles have appeared on the award-winning infotainment websites Arre, Scroll, Live Wire/The Wire, Transformation/Open Democracy, Kitaab International (South Asia), The Daily Eye, Le City Deluxe, First City, Cosmopolitan India, The Times of India, The Pioneer, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Yoga Journal Singapore (now Yogahood Online), Taylor & Francis Group and Roli Books.
Short fiction by Selina has been published on leading literary platforms. In 2017, her story Working Title was showcased via Juggernaut Books. Another, In Three Months A Tree, was shortlisted in 2018 for the Adda story anthology by the Commonwealth Writers Foundation, UK; it was published by Out Of Print in 2020. A third piece E-Love, has appeared in The Bangalore Review. Flash fiction titled Blue has featured in Nether Quarterly.
Based mainly in Mumbai, Selina has served as a guest lecturer at the FX School (2016) and as a panelist at the Elevate Writers Conclave (2019). A reader and world traveler, she has working knowledge of German as well as spoken Hindi, and is a long-term student of Hatha Yoga practice and philosophy.
Selina is currently at work on her debut novel, Any Time, Some Time.