This Sita Once Played Squash
Indian Express : 14/2/2004

A squash player-turned-television-anchor-turned-full-time-mom…..now turns to theatre. That’s Misha Grewal Soni, who made her acting de-but just recently in Aamir Raza Husain’s The Legend of Ram Prince of India, that’s being staged currently in Delhi. Misha is playing the role of Sita.

“I had never acted in my life before. It hadn’t even crossed my mind,” she says. “When the assistant director called me, I thought it was a joke.” She isn’t sure what prompted Husain to consider her. “I think they had seen my TV anchoring,” she says.

The former national squash champion and Arjuna Award winner also happens to be the wife of fashion designer Ashish Soni. And much of her time,she tells us, is taken up by her two-and half-year-old son Neel.

Misha was a familiar face on television for five years when she got married to Ashish in 2002. The two met through a friend. “I had heard of him and he had heard of me,” she says.

In the past three years, she has also been educated in fashion. “I was a complete jhalla earlier. I lived in track suits and jeans,” she says, “It’s great having a designer at home. Earlier it was so expensive.” Now90-95 percent of her western outfits, and 100 percent of her eveningwear, are his creations. Misha has, however, ensured that Ashish dosen’t turn into as loyal a patron of her work. She “banned” him from attending the opening night of The Legend of Ram. She laughs: “I told him to come after five-six days, I don’t want to know when.”

We know her as a former sports person, and TV anchor and designer Ashish Soni's wife. Now Misha Grewal Soni is trying her hand at acting.

Grewal, with hubby Ashish Soni; and playing Sita in The Legend of Ram -Prince of India (left)

 

Misha Grewal
 

MISHA WINS ARJUNA AWARD SEPT '98

MISHA GREWAL WAS HONOURED WITH THE ARJUNA AWARD, THE COUNTRY’S HIGHEST SPORTING HONOUR IN SEPTEMBER.  MISHA WON THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S CROWN FROM 1993 TO 1996. SHE THEN GAVE UP THE GAME TO TAKE UP A CAREER AS TV PRESENTER ON STAR NEWS.

BUT THE AWARD APPEARS TO HAVE FIRED HER UP TO COME BACK TO THE SPORT.  SHE MAY BE BACK FOR THE NEXT NATIONALS.
 

Misha’s Final Victory

Times of India 14th October 2001.

Squash made her hot-blooded. Television made her persuasive. Marriage clamed her. And motherhood made her soulful. Right now her life is in transition. She’s just become mom. As she look at her three month old baby, Neel (which means blue or Lord Krishna) with wonder she says, “He’s my miracle. My final victory. And he’s finally here with Ashish and me, after those long months of waiting.” Fashion designer hubby, Ashish Soni looks on affectionately, as she goes on to say: “The day he was born, I just felt the circle of my life was complete.” No regrets. In her first interview after ‘becoming mom’, former squash champ, Misha Grewal admits, she’s feeling on top of the world. And the feeling is different. For the cuddles of her baby make her more ecstatic than the aftermath of a match well-won.

Unique. That’s how this year has been for her. Her career as a sports anchor for NDTV and ESPN is taking a backseat for the moment. “I want to enjoy this moment. And every other moment where I can see my son smile, laugh and gurgle,” says the 31 year old Misha Grewal. For the past four months Misha has been busy helping her husband launch his own flagship store. For her, this is a period of celebration. There have been the usual ups and downs, like in her matches. “I hate losing. No matter what they say about sportsman spirit, I still hate losing.” No arguments there.

But then success came to Misha at a young age. But much before that came ‘the sweat and the hard work’. She was, at one time the National Squash Champion for five consecutive years from 1992-97. Later she made it to number 27in the world rankings. As she got elected to the Board of International Squash Players’ Association, 1994-98, there was only applause for her. She was the only Indian who had made it that far. In 1996, she became the only Indian to serve the apex committee of the International Squash Association. “It wasn’t easy, I had a tough time getting sponsorships. Nobody wanted to put money in squash, they were only interested in cricket.”

Hard sell. That’s what she had to do. Being a master at your game wasn’t good enough. It took much more than just that. It took courage. Her family, especially her father, had taught her the rules well. “My father Ajit Grewal, was a tennis player. He was also the head of Citibank, India operations. But seven years back he quit the corporate world and took to organic farming. From a diehard corporate man to a farmer. She continues, “I have learnt a lot from him. He’s into bio-dynamic farming now. While my mother, Royna is a half Bengali and half Christian, she’s a writer. Scared Virgin on the Narmada river was one of her popular books.”

“But I was the sportswoman of the house. I was into cross-country and other athletics. In 1987, when I was just 17, I played the Nationals. Squash wasn’t so popular at that time. But I knew my body responded to the game.” That’s when she ached to hit the real world. She got admission in Franklin and Marsh, Pennsylvania. I learnt tact.” Is squash all about glamour in mini-skirt, “Hardly. It’s a misconception. There’s absolutely no glamour in the field. The game is about labour and hard work.” Does physical labour change your attitude towards life. “Sure, it does. Till now, I know there’s nothing I can’t achieve. You tell yourself: In life everything is possible.”

Traveling across the world for matches wasn’t glamorous at all. “I felt lonely and homesick. I lived out of a suitcase. Sponsorships were a problem too.” In 1997, she quit. That’s when NDTV asked her to read the sports news for them. “I was giving an interview for Good Morning India show, when the host asked me my next career move: “I remember telling him I don’t know, after the show he asked me to give a screen test.”

Since then, there has been no looking back. “I hated being a sports reporter. I had to learn everything about cricket.” During this period she also met Ashish. She remembers: “I met him through a common friend. We hit it off really well. The next few months we got to know each other better. Our views on most things in life are similar. We connect.” They became best friends, first. ‘We had both gone through bad relations and knew being there for each other was more important than anything else. I’m volatile and full of energy, almost the opposite of Ashish. He’s rather calm,” she speaks in glowing terms of hubby dearest.

As Misha weaves a web of love around her little family, she also learns the ‘tricks’ to play good mother. Till then, ESPN’s half hour news slot, misses more than just a pretty face. To which Misha replies: “I’m in no hurry to get back.”

 

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