(November 1, 2023) “India is a theatre of culture,” remarked Pallavi Sharda, who defied the odds to become the first Australian actress with Indian roots to successfully make her mark in Bollywood. The actress, who calls herself a ‘Roving Gypsy’ travels between Mumbai, Australia, the United States and the UK carving an impressive portfolio of Bollywood and Hollywood projects. The Indo-Australian actress is considered the first leading Indian-origin actress to make her mark on both the large and small screens in Australia.
An alumna of the University of Melbourne, the actress had won the title of Miss India Australia as soon she was out of school. In 2015, she was named the ‘Queen of Moomba’ alongside late Australian cricketer Shane Warne during Melbourne’s largest community festival, Moomba being organised in the city since 1954.
Pallavi Sharda
In 2019, Pallavi was named on the list of the forty most influential Asian Australians at the inaugural Asian-Australian Leadership Summit. Two years later in 2021, she received the prestigious Global Arts Award from Advance – the leading global network of Australians living overseas. “For me it has always felt a bit like I’m negotiating this ongoing tension between my Indian heart and my Australian brain. My struggle will always be finding the sweet spot, or that place where the two are in harmony,” she had remarked.
In the actor’s shoes
“Studying in Melbourne at a school with a strong performing arts focus. I always knew I wanted to be an actress and a dancer. So I harboured this secret dream for most of my childhood and young adult life,” she said in an interview.
With dedication, the actress went on to become one of the first South Asian women to establish a career across four continents and was lucky enough to make a film appearances in the Oscar-nominated Lion in 2016.
Her introduction to the world of Australian television came with her role in the ABC drama series ‘Pulse’, for which she received the prestigious Rising Star Award from the Casting Guild of Australia. Subsequently, she was signed for prominent roles in various projects, including the British period drama ‘Beecham House’, directed by Gurinder Chadha, the ABC Australia series ‘Les Norton’ alongside David Wenham and Rebel Wilson, the Warner Bros film ‘Tom and Jerry’, and the Netflix drama series ‘The One’, The 2022 American romantic comedy film ‘Wedding Season’ directed by Tom Dey has been one of her recent projects.
Pallavi’s parents discovered her love for dancing when she was very young and enrolled her into Indian classical dance classes when she was barely three. Today she is adept in Bharatanatyam and contemporary Indian dance apart from other dance forms.
“My dad used to love Bollywood movies and music, and our home life was filled with the sounds of Bollywood and classical Indian folk music. A lot of people don’t realise that there’s so much Indian music and dance that’s not Bollywood. I had this pan-Indian performing arts induction in the house. It was magnetic for me,” she said.
Growing up in an environment where her grandmother was a Hindi professor, her Hindi became good despite being born and brought up in Australia. The passion for various dance forms and ability to communicate in Hind led her to pursue acting opportunities in India. Although it took some time, she eventually secured substantial roles.
Pallavi’s parents are IIT alumni with PhDs in science and engineering. They had migrated to Australia in the 1980s before Pallavi was born. The actresses’ early years were spent in Melbourne’s suburbs. She did her schooling from Lowther Hall in Essendon, and started pursuing her LLB and BA (Media & Communications) along with a Diploma in Modern Languages (French) at the University of Melbourne when she was just 16 years old, and graduated with an honours.
Breaking into Bollywood
She commenced her acting career in Bollywood with a cameo appearance in Karan Johar’s ‘My Name Is Khan’. Her subsequent role was in the comedy-drama film, ‘Dus Tola’, alongside the acclaimed actor Manoj Vajpayee.
One of her major Bollywood films has been Besharam in which she starred opposite Ranbir Kapoor. Talking about the film she mentioned “This film had the biggest release in the country with over 4,000 screens, the cast flew around the world, and I performed in Times Square in New York to promote it.” Pallavi has also acted in ‘Hawaizaada’ and ‘Begum Jaan’.
Pallavi Sharda with Ranbir Kapoor in the Hindi film, Besharam
Giving back
Pallavi passionately champions the cause of India-Australia relations and the reinforcement of intercultural ties between the two nations. The Global Indian is a frequent speaker on a range of topics including Asia’s literacy, fostering multicultural understanding, women’s rights, and promoting genuine representation in the arts.
She has emerged as a versatile leader in the discussions surrounding Australian Arts and Culture and has curated events like Melbourne’s White Night In 2019. Pallavi has been serving on the advisory board of E-Kutir, a socially oriented enterprise based in Odisha. The actress is a dedicated advocate for sustainable development, and lays emphasis on advocating for the elimination of fast fashion.
She has also taken on the role of an ambassador for ‘OZ FEST,’ Australia’s largest cultural festival in India.
Pallavi Sharda
Bringing change through Bodhini Studios
The performing artist established Bodhini Studios as a response to her personal journey of realizing her childhood dream of acting on screen while facing the unique challenges of being an Indian-origin Australian.
It’s like a coalition of individuals from around the world who share common goals, uniting to reveal the often-overlooked and underrepresented narratives and viewpoints woven into everyday tales of people. The initiative works as a dynamic and thought-provoking platform for storytelling, dismantling barriers and amplifying the voices and presence of the intricacies found in diverse identities.
“The studio tries to rejuvenate stories that were once pushed to the fringes or reduced to stereotypes. It’s like a sanctuary for artists, providing a space to bring stories, identities, and emotions that have often been considered ‘othered’ into the mainstream,” the studio’s website mentions. “The primary aim is to foster intercultural understanding and empathy while celebrating our shared humanity.”
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