Meet Sai Gundewar in Panorama City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sai Gundewar.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sai. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Although born in the city of Nagpur, in the state of Maharashtra in India, I have been raised and have spent most of my life in Mumbai or Bombay or Bollywood as it is known in the context of the film business. I did my schooling from St. Aloysius High School and Bachelors of Commerce from R.D. National College, Bandra.

From a very early age, I started working part-time. Most of my earlier jobs during my college/university days were in selling insurance, holidays, timeshare and investment schemes by means of direct/venue selling. That set me up for a long and successful career in Sales, Marketing & Advertising. In the year 2000, I moved to Australia along with two of my close friends in search of greener pastures and to pursue Masters in IT at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, and NSW.

While studying IT, I also incorporated a curriculum of International Business in my course. As fate would have it, after completing my diploma, I moved to Sydney and was back working in sales. I started off in Telesales prior to moving onto field sales and finally, before moving back to India for good, my last role was that of an Account Manager for Sensis, Australia’s #1 marketing services company.

However, the dream to be a full time working actor was too huge to suppress, and in my spare time and after business hours, I would take acting lessons at various acting institutes and go for auditions. In the year 2006 and before relocating back to India, on behest of an Actress friend from Sydney, I decided to do a 16 weeks Intensive acting course at the TVI Actors Studio in LA.

That was my first time ever in LA as well as in the US. I ended up spending close to 5 months, just learning about the craft, taking it all in and meeting people, most of whom I am still in touch with and that’s when my love affair with this city began. Due to visa limitations and other factors, with a heavy heart, the day arrived when my trip ended, and it was time to go back to Sydney. My body was down under, but my heart was in LA LA Land. I was yearning to go back but didn’t know how.

One thing was sure that I wanted to act for the rest of my life and I decided to leave my beloved Sydney and move to Bombay to try my luck. I had a successful corporate career, but that elusive dream to become a working Actor brought me back to India in the year 2007. A place where I have a home, a family and no Visa restrictions. I decided to give it a year and go back if things didn’t work out and one thing leads to another and all of a sudden, 1 year turned into a decade, full of good and bad days, easier and harder times.

Days of sunshine and overcast. It was a learning decade of my life. In that time, I acted in various TVCs, reality shows, TV shows, and films. I got known and recognized for my stints in shows like MTV Splitsvilla and Survivor India. I was fortunate to have acted in movies such as pk, David, I Me Aur Main etc… and in 2016 I ended up playing a lead in a Marathi (One of many regional and popular languages of India) movie called ‘A Dot Com Mom’, first movie in that language to have been shot in the US.

Apart from acting, I have always been drawn to the culinary and hospitality world, which led to me starting Foodizm in 2011 with a few friends. It is a healthy meal delivery service that takes the guesswork out of healthy eating by offering balanced, wholesome and nutritious meals handcrafted from a state of the art kitchen facility delivered across the city of Mumbai.

I met my now wife in Mumbai in the year 2013 and after a couple of years of dating, we got married and have been together since. She’s born and raised in Virginia, but moved to India in her early 20s to pursue her career in fashion designing and now runs a very successful label. Destiny has its way of working, and I believe in that. Both she and I were discussing about living out a few years in the US for a change and that led to me packing my bags and come here in Feb 2018.

I was 39 then and I wanted to be 40 in LA and 40 I did turn and have been here since I came here to test waters and explore opportunities in Hollywood after discussing with my agents. I always felt a connection with LA and have partially moved here and my wife is set to join me in the next few months. It definitely helps, when your partner wants the best for you and supports you in your vision, whilst you do the same for them.

I am fortunate to have her. In my 7 months of being here, I have worked several high profile events in hospitality in the area of catering and as a Host at a fine dining restaurant in Burbank. Film premieres, festivals, weddings, Grand Prix, Emmys, etc…

That apart, I got a chance to work on several big TV shows, albeit just as background and featured but that got me enough vouchers to be SAG eligible. Everywhere I go, people embrace me with open arms and keep telling me that, I am at the right place at the right time and I have a place here on the industry on the big screen.

My goal is to keep working in Hollywood as well as Bollywood and leave a legacy and use my art to give back to the society. There’s nothing more I want than to be a great brand ambassador for all the countries that I now represent on my passport… haha, and bridge the gap between the sub-continent and the West. I have a long, long way to go as leaving a city where I am more established, in the hope to achieve and do more in a foreign land can be daunting and exciting at the same time, but I feel the CITY OF STARS is shining and will keep shining for me!!! 🙂

Has it been a smooth road?
Although the US and more so LA always felt like home, finding the right house to renting a car, to getting a local license and various part-time jobs, to help support me, while I pursue acting, to working towards becoming SAG eligible, etc… Everything was a challenge at first. But, by the grace of God, everything fell in place.

Thanks to some sound advice I received from some family friends and the people I kept meeting along the way. Have made some really good friends here that I turn to time and again for advice. Being here and pursuing this career is a whole another ball game and every day is a learning curve. Still, have many things to figure out, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it. 🙂

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I call myself an ACTORpreneur, due to both the professions I am into. Proud of my brand in India, that my partner is in charge of. I came up with the name Foodizm, and people love the logo and the name, and many have heard of it, due to its existence since 2011. Check out www.foodizm.in.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The industry is already changing with a lot of crossover productions happening between India and the US and lot of the actors from there are working here and vice versa.

Streaming channels like Netflix and Amazon has a huge presence in India and now the production houses there are also making content for them. I’d like to see more ethnic actors working in films and television and I see it as one family coming together to entertain the world about diverse cultures and stories of people from all over.

It’s not a competition, it’s just pushing the envelope and embracing everyone and working towards one goal. To empower and entertain each other.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saigundewar.com
• Instagram: @saizworld
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/saizworld
• Twitter: @saizworld
• Yelp: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saigundewar/
• Other: www.imdb.me/saigundewar

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.