Sheena Chohan, who was recently approached by the United Nations High Commissioner to help promote 75 years of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, speaks to The Pioneer about her love for acting and her cause to spread awareness of basic rights and equality.
Tejal Sinha
Well, there have been several occasions when the entertainment industry has not only worked hard but also made its mark at the global level. Look at RRR, for example. It was a huge moment, wasn’t it? Talking of most recent, we see several actors and influencers representing the nation at the Cannes Film Festival. One word? Proud! In fact, that’s the least that we can say.
And then we have the Fame Game actress, Sheena Chohan, who, as South Asia Ambassador for the United Nations for Human Rights, has helped spread awareness of basic rights and equality to over a 160 million people. Recently, she was personally approached by the United Nations Human Rights Office to help promote 75 years of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Sheena has worked with renowned personalities like Preity Zinta, Sonakshi Sinha, Oscar winner Guneet Monga, Sonu Sood, and entrepreneur Rohini Iyer to give millions of Indians basic information about and motivation to know and use their human rights.
“India has one of the world’s most admired constitutions, but the number of people knowing about their rights is low — that’s a shame. All laws are based on the constitution and our founding fathers fought so hard for it. Spreading awareness of and education in basic rights and equality inspires me because human rights bring respect, decency, and equality; they bring unity and peace. Rights like Don’t Discriminate, The Right to Education, No Torture (domestic violence), No Slavery (child labour rights), etc.
contain all of the answers that our country needs. If we all just knew our rights and responsibilities, made sure others knew them, and insisted they were followed, we would have the nation that, deep down, we all know India deserves to be. One of the main things that our organisation, United for Human Rights (www.humanrights.com), does is give free human rights education kits to any university or school in the world—we’ve given out many hundreds in India and have an open invitation to any school or university that wants one of these kits to put human rights in their curriculum,” shared the The Good Wife actress.
Sheena started off in theatre and believes that acting is like an art form; you have to know your craft.
Over a period of time, one has always seen her playing strong roles that have received acclaim. The arts, she says, are vital to society. It has got more effect on society than anything else because they affect how we think, and how we think determines what we do, and what we do is what makes the world. “I pick roles that will help in some way, even if it’s just to entertain, but the roles I cherish have a story in them that brings hope, inspires change, or lifts hearts. I’m fascinated by characters; I always go the extra mile to research and fit into a character. The main thing I learned in theatre was about researching characters, discipline, and that my job is to be a blank page for my director, so I especially look for a role where the director has a strong vision that I can help him or her create.”
Coming back to becoming the only Indian actress to be awarded the hero award at the UN, she said, “If you think of all the people who have spoken at the UN, I was walking in the footsteps of giants! I was given the award because I have spread awareness of basic rights to over 160 million people in South Asia, and I used the award to call for mandatory human rights education in India. Children in our country are given minimal human rights education. It needs to be delivered in a thorough way because how can one be a citizen of a country, let alone a global citizen, if one doesn’t know their rights and responsibilities to their nation, world, and fellow citizens?”
We wondered if she had faced anything in her personal life that led her to work on women’s empowerment and freedom of choice. Sheena, who was unshakable throughout, shared, “My mother wasn’t allowed to follow her passion of acting, and then later she wasn’t allowed to do any kind of job, only because of her gender. This upset her, and I saw that, but it also inspired her to make sure that I grew up educated about the fact that I have equal rights and freedom to follow my dreams.”
Sheena strongly believes that having been a renowned name in the industry and always being vocal about human rights in the interviews had made the United Nations Human Rights officials choose her personally to reach out to help celebrate the 75th anniversary, and she urged everyone to go to www.humanrights.com/course and learn their basic rights and ask others to do the same.
