Isher Sahota is a filmmaker of Punjabi descent. Isher has directed Doctors and Father Brown for BBC Studios, Hollyoaks for Lime Pictures/Channel 4, McDonald & Dodds for Mammoth Screen/ITV and Grace for Tall Story/ITV.
This year he has launched a new venture, Bonaparte Films, with producer and actor Jon Tarcy. The Effects of Lying is a comedy drama that seeks to portray the reality of British Asian families as never seen before on UK and international screens. It is their first production and has been acquired by ITVX and is set to be released in July 2023.
Isher has numerous original television shows at different stages of development. His writing for screen and television is concerned with representing important counter narratives about multiculturalism in compelling genre shapes.
Following his participation on a BAFTA jury, Isher was invited to become a full voting member in 2021.
1) Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in?
In my life recently I’ve been traveling a lot, I’ve loved spending time in the ruins of Rome and the Summer in Montreal. But London is home, for sure, in the sense it’s a city that I feel I know intimately. And I love it, for all its complexities and infiniteness.
2) What are your proudest achievements?
My family and friends around me. I have cultivated my life carefully in that sense, and those people feed me creatively, inspire and support me. That spurs me on to be able to achieve professionally, but without that support network I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.
3) What inspires you?
I’ve always had a deep-rooted desire to create. It can be a feeling, other people’s creative work, a political issue or idea I feel passionate about or a truth in the world that I feel I have a unique perspective in expressing.
4) What has been biggest obstacle in your career?
I’ve been incredibly lucky and have built my career largely in an era of opportunity. Ultimately, I think one’s own ego, comparing yourself to other people, grandiose ideas of yourself, these things have been obstacles that I’ve tried to remove.
5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
I learn constantly from the people I work with; they challenge and extend me. From producers I’ve been working with over the years, costume designers, production designers, cinematographers and editors. They push me to be better and do more interesting work.
6) What is the best aspect about your current role?
Independence. It’s very empowering to be freelance for creative reasons, to be master of my own schedule, and do the projects that I’m genuinely drawn to.
7) And the worst?
Independence. It can be precarious, financially and also creatively. As your master of your own destiny, you have to have a clear direction of where you want to go. That’s why it’s important to stay focused and happy. Those decisions become easier, I think.
8) What are your long-term goals?
To keep telling stories that impact me and that I am uniquely placed to tell. And to help champion other voices that do the same.
9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
Return investment into public services and the arts sector. The way public services have been squeezed over the past decade I think is awful, and I’d like to see them restored, as those are values the UK has had in the past that I’ve been really proud of.
10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
Einstein. I’d like to explore his mind in conversation, get him to really explain relativity and the nature of time and space and the universe to me. And I think he'd’ be clever enough to figure out a way off the island!
