Sheeba is a film actress with a career in Bollywood spanning over three decades. She was a popular heroine in the 1990s, acting with top stars including Salman Khan (‘Suryavanshi’), Akshay Kumar (‘Mr Bond’), Rajinikant (Tamil film ‘Athisaya Piravi’) and Sunil Dutt (‘Yeh Aag Kabh Bujhegi’). She later made a smooth shift to television with shows like ‘Kutumb’, ‘Karishma – The Miracles of Destiny’, and ‘Haasil’.
Being in the glamor world, the beautiful actress was heavily into fitness. Her intense yoga practice in the last few years has made her fitness journey complete. Now a yoga instructor herself, she has focused on mental health as well.
Sheeba (born Agarwal) married Akashdeep Sabir in 1996 after she acted in two movies directed by him. He is also an actor, and they collaborate as producers on TV shows.
The couple are proud parents to two sons, Hriday and Bhavishya.
Sheeba and Akashdeep have built a beautiful life together, balancing their personal and professional journeys with love, respect, and mutual support. They were in New York recently for a wedding in the family.
In an exclusive interview with Parveen Chopra, founder and editor of A Lotus In The Mud, she dwelled on wellness – physical, mental and spiritual – as well as modern parenting and longevity of her marriage to another film professional. Excerpts:
A Lotus in the Mud: You not only practice yoga but have also qualified as an instructor. How did that come about?
Sheeba: I started practicing yoga seriously a little before the COVID pandemic and then I started my journey of becoming a teacher. I’m a qualified yoga instructor with over 500 hours of practice. I got my certification from Rishikesh. I happened to practice with many good international teachers of yoga to deepen my practice. Many of them continue to come to Mumbai for workshops, etc.
My yoga practice is very intense. As a result, I got more body aware, which made me spiritually more aware of the space around me. I am part of a group of fellow yoga teachers. We practice together when we’re not teaching others.
My journey with yoga has guided me and made my fitness journey actually more complete. I am flexible not only in body but in mind also. I am centered again not only in my body but in my mind also. Thus, yoga covers all aspects of mind, body, and soul.
Yoga also synced in with the kind of person that I am. I’ve always been deeply religious. I grew up in a household where dharma and rituals were a very big part – whether it was fasting, observing religious pujas, etc.
“When you board a flight, the safety protocol says, ‘Wear the oxygen mask yourself before you give oxygen to others.’ Help yourself first is true in life too. As women, we tend to give and give until we lose ourselves. I believe deeply that we must give ourselves that one hour every day to be healthy and fit—without guilt—so that we can become better, happier individuals for the people around us.”
~ Sheeba Sabir
Any meditation technique you practice or spiritual system you follow?
Sheeba: We do have meditation and kriya as part of all our workshops, as it is and integral part of the holistic training of yoga. So, yes, I’ve practised meditation, done chakra training been through sound healing, and much else.
‘Sheeba’ sounds glamorous, that you would adopt as a screen name…
Sheeba: No, it’s my name. My parents gave me that name at birth.
How do you keep your balance in the high-stakes, high-stress glamor world?
Sheeba: It comes from my background of being from a non-film family. When I was at home, it was just me. Not Sheeba the actress. It was just ‘hamari beti’ (our daughter). So there was no reason for me to become someone else.
Mental health has become a focal point in recent years, how should we keep our sanity?
Sheeba: Let me add that besides my yoga and bodywork, I also took workshops on cognitive therapy. I have learnt how the mind and body are influenced not only by how you train and what you eat, it’s your relationships and your friends and everything that contributes to cognitive wellness. I usually bring all of that into the teachings that I uphold and follow and impart.
Let me share another wellness principle. When you board a flight, the safety protocol says, ‘Wear the oxygen mask yourself before you give oxygen to others.’ Help yourself first is true in life too. If you are well yourself, you will be able to take care of the people around you. If you are not in a good place spiritually, mentally, physically, you will not be in the space to take care of your family, your friends, or people around you. I believe deeply that we should all give ourselves that one hour every day to just live for ourselves and be healthy and fit so that we can become better, happier, healthier individuals to take care of people around us.
Especially as women, we tend to give a lot of ourselves. Women just keep giving, giving, giving, but they don’t realize they’re losing so much of themselves in the process.
So, when I speak about mental wellness, I say, first learn to give yourself time without guilt. Take that time for yourself to heal spiritually, mentally, physically, and then you will see how much better your relationships also become.
Self-care is absolutely important, particularly for we women.
What is your parenting style with your two sons?
Sheeba: The balance I made with my kids, now grown up, is of being friends with them, doing activities with them, and yet never letting them cross the line of understanding that I am the parent. So, I think they have grown up to be wonderful, kind, empathetic individuals who care about the world, the environment, animals. It all came from their upbringing, and not only just by me teaching them, but they would also observe what was going on at home. We live with our older parents and grandparents.
We have pets in the house. I work with animal rescue. So that’s made Hriday and Bhavishya solid in terms of the relationships, the respect, the empathy. They are well-rounded boys. Like when they don’t find it embarrassing to enter a room and see a senior person and do a pranam, and touch their feet for blessings, because that’s the way they’ve learned. Whether they come to America, or whether they go to England, they don’t get embarrassed by these things. That’s the way they grew up and they understand how important it is for that connection with our heritage — and blessing of our elders.
Bhavishya Sabir is a director in our family-run aviation business that is into the supply side of airlines. Hriday Sabir is a software engineer working in New York.
How come you happen to have so many pets?
Sheeba: As I was growing up, it was my parents who encouraged me when I would bring home birds with broken wings and butterflies who couldn’t fly. Since my childhood, I’ve had every kind of pet in the house and worked with rescue and rehabilitation of pets. My parents being 100% on board made me empathetic to pets.
I have continued to work on rescue and rehabilitation of animals.
Yes, I have nine dogs at home – seven in Mumbai and two in Delhi.
You also have a house in Delhi?
Sheeba: We live in Lokhandwala, Mumbai. And yes, we have a home and office in Delhi as well. Our aviation business is all over India.
Film world marriages and relationships are said to be fickle. You have been married to Akashdeep Sabir, fellow Bollywood personality, for 30 years. What is the secret to longevity of your marriage?
Sheeba: Live and let live. Not trying to change your partner. Only then can you expect to be happy. Both partners in the entertainment industry is a positive, because then it is easy to understand pressures of work and timelines of your spouse.
Incidentally, in the last two years Akash has been getting a lot of acting assignments. And I am fine with it.
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