From lecturer to medical clown: How Sheetal Agarwal is spreading joy across India (VIDEO)

An introvert, Sheetal Agarwal, who smiled through social gatherings and preferred intimate settings, had never thought she would end up taking up the role of a medical clown and bringing smiles to so many people! A chance encounter with a medical clown left her intrigued, and since then, she hasn’t looked back.

“My first experience with clowning came in 2016 at a hospital in Delhi, alongside a group of fellow volunteers whom I had invited. Like many government hospitals, it was crowded and chaotic. But the moment we formed a human train and began singing, something shifted. Faces lit up, children joined in, people stopped arguing, and for the next few hours, smiles filled the corridors. Even after we stepped outside, the joy lingered — for the patients, for the kids, and for every one of us who had been part of that moment,” explains the Malad resident.

After that joyful experience, Agarwal started the Clownselors Foundation, an NGO that harnesses the power of humour to accelerate healing in hospitals and conducts sessions in old age homes, mental health facilities, orphanages, special schools, shelter homes, refugee camps, educational institutions, and workplaces. Their initiatives also include the simple yet powerful gesture of offering free hugs. 

She soon discovered that medical clowning wasn’t just for children. Parents and caregivers responded just as strongly — sometimes even more. “As a medical clown, my role extends beyond eliciting smiles and laughter; it is also about holding space for those who rarely have the chance to let their guard down. Once, a mother broke down in tears on my shoulder. At first, it was startling — the expectation was to make people smile, not cry. But it became clear that for many caregivers, there was no one to truly listen, no one to offer a moment of emotional release. In that space, we provide not just humour, but much-needed human connection,” explains the founder-director.

Agarwal, who studied social anthropology and used to work as a lecturer, quit her job in 2018 and put on the red nose in a full-time capacity. In the past nine years, the NGO’s work has impacted over eight lakh lives — not only patients, but people from all walks of life. Their work has reached patients, caregivers, and hospital staff, as well as residents of old age homes and orphanages in Mumbai, Delhi, and Kashmir.

Nakuul Mehta, actor and storyteller, shares, “Sheetal is doing God’s work at Clownselors Foundation! To be able to provide joy, relief and magic all at once to the ones battling is no less than medicine. I have seen Sheetal personally perform for the kids fighting cancer and the incredible joy she brought to their mundane day just by giving all of her. Sometimes it’s not just the doctors but the world which helps one heal and Sheetal does that through her craft and life beautifully.”