Bhavna Vaswani has always known what she wanted to do but one thing she wasn’t very certain of was getting married to the then-aspiring filmmaker, M. Night Shyamalan. The duo met as students in NYU where Vaswani was pursuing her lifelong goal of becoming a psychologist and Shyamalan was following his passion to be a major American filmmaker, perhaps, the next Steven Spielberg. Before we talk about all this, let’s get to learn about Bhavna’s behind the scene.
Who Is Bhavna Vaswani?
Vaswani is an Indian-American psychologist turned social worker, and the wife of famed American filmmaker, M. Night Shyamalan.
She is the second child in an Indian family of six. She was born in India so that she could have a connection with her motherland but was taken back to Uganda where she spent her first year. Bhavna has three siblings; two sisters and a brother. The Vaswani family lived in the British Colony of Uganda until the expulsion of Asians under the regime of Idi Amin when they migrated to Hong Kong.
Her father set up an import/export business in Hong Kong where the kids attended a local school. Bhavna Vaswani further attended a private high school where she conceived the aspiration to be a therapist, stemming from a desire to help others; she was 14 at the time. After her older sister told her there is actually a profession that sees to that, she made up her mind to pursue a career therein. Nevertheless, three years later, they would be on their way to the U.S. The family was forced to move again when their father’s business went bankrupt. This time, they migrated to the United States of America where he had gotten a job.
They moved to America in 1986. When the time came for Bhavna to enter college, she enrolled in the New York University where she majored in Psychology, to study how the human mind and behavior work. It was while studying at NYU that she met M. Night Shyamalan, who would eventually become her husband. Shyamalan was studying to be a filmmaker.
Following her studies at NYU, she proceeded to Bryn Mawr College where she earned her MSc and Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Dr. Bhavna Vaswani worked at a clinic in Philadelphia as a therapist, counseling young victims of sexual abuse. She is now a social worker and philanthropist. Together with her husband, she set up the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation in 2001 through which she supports community leaders in Africa, Asia, and North America in their efforts to improve their communities.
Bhavna Vaswani’s Marriage, Family, Daughters
Talk about intuition, it worked perfectly with Shyamalan. After he met Bhavna in 1990, he knew instinctively that she is the one. He reportedly told his roommate that he had met the woman he would spend the rest of his life with after they got acquainted, even though she was in another relationship at the time. Being a gentleman, he was willing to wait and take it gradually.
They started off as friends and would eventually form a connection in the ensuing year. The duo started dating and would start talking about marriage afterward. However, they were a few obstacles to surmount along the way. Bhavna’s parents were not comfortable with her choice of a partner and thus did not approve of M. Night Shyamalan.
Their reason was partly due to the course he was studying and their perception of it. Then, as traditionalists, they did not expect her to find her partner and wanted her to have an arranged marriage. In the long run, seeing their resolution, they made peace with her decision and eventually approved her choice.
Bhavna Vaswani and Shyamalan tied the connubial knots on 7th March 1993 and are now parents. They have three daughters together; Shivani, Ishani, and Saleka. The family of five live in Shyamalan’s hometown in Pennsylvania. The filmmaker has a deep connection to the place and is known for filming and setting his films in and outside of Philadelphia, Penn.
Vaswani’s father reportedly passed away in August 2007. Her siblings still live in the United States while her mother has since relocated to India.
Other Facts About M. Night Shyamalan’s Wife
1. She knew she wanted to help people solve their problems since she was a teenager.
2. Bhavna works as a Zumba instructor in her spare time.
3. Though the date of her birth is vague at the moment, it is known that she was born under the zodiac Virgo.
4. A very beautiful woman, Bhavna Vaswani sports black hair that gloriously accentuates her dark brown eyes.
5. She had an epic marriage proposal from her then-boyfriend. Shyamalan slipped a note with the inscription marry me into her fortune cookie.
