Insurance agent who loves performing arts

> Narendra Sadhwani > Age: 64 > Indian > Insurance agent/artist

By day, long-time Dubai expat Narendra Sadhwani works for an insurance company. But his real passion lies elsewhere — with the performing arts.

“I carried the art of writing along with stage performances with me since I first landed in Dubai on December 20, 1978,” he told

“Since I was back in school, I had been writing poems, and slowly I developed a love for drama.

“I began writing for different ladies’ groups, then I started my own group,” he added, noting that his first show was held within a month of arriving at the Indian Association Dubai, which was then across from the Dubai Museum.

At the time, Sadhwani remembers, there “wasn’t much” as far as performing arts was concerned in Dubai. “They used to call over people from India, from Bollywood, and I wondered why local groups didn’t do that,” he said. “I then got my break.”

One of his proudest moments, he noted, was when he woke up “one fine morning” and saw that had run a story about a Hindi “suspense-comedy” he was planning to put on in Bur Dubai.

“I literally shouted at my highest pitch, calling to my wife to inform her that the drama which the Astoria hotel was going to present was mine,” he remembers.

Now, he says, he has a theatre group of nearly 80 people, and he puts on shows in both Hindi and Sindhi, with the support of local community leaders such as Ram Buxani. He also says that he is the only person in the UAE to have written, produced and directed four full-length stage shows in the span of a year.

Looking back over his years in Dubai and the success he’s enjoyed with his theatrical performances, Sadhwani credits his success to one thing: His family.

“My family has been the backbone of my life,” he said, choking back tears of joy. “There was a time when I collected all my artists and dropped them home, and came back at midnight, and my wife Geeta would be sitting on the balcony, waiting. She was always very cooperative, and without her I wouldn’t have been able to do what I do.”

Additionally, Sadhwani thanked his supportive sons, one of whom created a website that has allowed him to share his art with people from around the world. “He says I’m famous all over now, in the Philippines, in Austria, and everywhere in the world people can see.”