About Amanda

Amanda Sodhi is a Los Angeles based screenwriter, lyricist, journalist and advertising/PR/marketing professional.  She has been working with screenwriter-director Atul Sabharwal on two screenplays since 2008, has written a dark comedy “Bhaag” which has Karm Chawla attached as the cinematographer. Amanda has co-written Rohit Gupta’s film "Life! Camera Action..." which has premiered at the prestigious MIAAC Film Festival (NY), was screened at IIFF 2011 (Tampa, FL) alongside Dhobi Ghaat and Udaan, opened the Museum of Fine Arts Boston South Asian Film Series 2011, and is all set for screenings at the International Film Festival Thailand, International Film Festival Ireland, Youth Inernational Film Festival UK, International Film Festival Australasia, International Film Festival South Africa and Silent River Film Festival in Irvene, California. The film has won the “Best Feature Film-US” award at the Swansea Bay Film Festival (Britain), “Award of Excellence-Best Experimental Film” at The Los Angeles Movie Awards 2011, and has won 5 awards at the Accolade International Film Awards and The Indie Fest, both film competitions based out of California. Amanda Sodhi shares a nomination with Rohit Gupta for Best Screenplay at the World Music & Indpendent Film Festival 2011 which will take place in August in Washington, DC. Amanda has also written lyrics for Bollywood singers Madhushree and Krishna’s upcoming albums, Rohit Gupta’s upcoming film "Life! Camera Action...," and will be working with Screen and Filmfare Award winning singer Kavita Seth on a project.  Recently, she wrote two songs for Gaurav Dayal. 

Amanda is the music correspondent for Gibson-India, and is also a Bollywood correspondent for the ProVoices team at AllVoices.com, PlanetBollywood.com, Saathee magazine, and NRI Today magazine; in addition, her work has been published on BollywoodHungama.com, PassionForCinema.com, NowRunning.com and in The Indian Express North American Edition, Khabar Magazine, The Magnificat, The Inkwell, The Willow and The Anthology of Poetry of Young Americans.  Amanda has been interviewed and quoted in The Times of India, The-NRI, Pravasi Today, The Miami Herald, CNN/KSRO radio, MTV Wassup, The Washington Post, and many leading Bollywood Web sites.  Amanda has completed internships at the Voice of America's Hindi Services, The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History's Office of Public Affairs, Fleishman-Hillard, The Townsend Group, The Ad Agency Inc., and zcomm, and previously worked as a Marketing Associate at Camilla David Textiles, Inc through which she has gained extensive knowledge and experience of the broadcast journalism, PR, marketing, advertising and special events industries. She is currently an Account Executive at AAAZA , an Asian American advertising agency.  Amanda was the Program Coordinator of the 2008 Indian Visions Film Festival in Washington, DC.  In Spring 2008, she conducted a large-scale Bollywood marketing techniques research study; Impressed with her work, international Bollywood music and movies distributor Saavn has approached Amanda to work with them on another large-scale Bollywood research study. 

Amanda Sodhi graduated Summa Cum Laude from Marymount University in May 2008.  She double majored in Communications and English, and she minored in Business. Amanda maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.95 on a scale of 4.0 and made it onto the Dean's List every semester.  Marymount University recognized Amanda's outstanding academic achievements and nominated her to the Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.  Amanda received the Evelyn Ludlow Award for the best English Senior Seminar Essay in addition to also receiving the Academic Excellence Award for Bachelor of Arts English and the Academic Excellence Award for Bachelor of Arts Communications (all three of these awards are awarded to only one student in the entire class).  Some of the communications classes she took include Public Speaking, Introduction to Acting, Video Production, Presentational Communication, Media Communications, Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communication, Writing for New Media, International Advertising, Introduction to PR, PR Techniques, Social Marketing, Oral Interpretation, Principles of Marketing, Bollywood Marketing Research and Bollywood Film Studies.  She is comfortable using both PC and Macintosh platforms and various software programs including Dalet, Adobe Audition, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Final Draft.  Having a strong interest in Indian music, she knows how to play the harmonium, has taken Kirtan sangeet lessons, and is currently learning Hindustani and Carnatic classical vocal sangeet.