'Bollywood is a marathon, not a race’

With a few Indian films and an international film to her credit, Indo-Australian actor Pallavi Sharda is all set to walk the red carpet for her upcoming release Save Your Legs at the ongoing Mumbai Film Festival. Excerpts from an interview:

Tell us a bit about the character you play...
Anjali is a driven, cosmopolitan, Indian-Australian woman who has an Australian upbringing but Indian values. She has traveled the world but not really found where she belongs and hence moved back to her roots by shifting to India. She is focused and mature and plays a large part in the ‘coming of age’ of Stephen Curry’s (actor) character Ted.

You’re playing an Australian woman of Indian origin in the film. Was it easy or did you have to work a bit more for keeping your own traits aside for the character?
It was a character I really related to, given that I have grown up in Australia and moved to India to work in real life, but the challenging part was choosing an accent. In real life, my accent is either Indian or Australian depending on the person with whom I am speaking  but in the film, Anjali had to be relatable to both Indian and Australian audiences, so her accent had to be a mix of both.

Considering cricket is a central theme of the film, how much of a cricket fan are you?
I personally am a huge cricket fan. Growing up, I never missed a single match of India’s being played at the MCG. I remember meeting Ravi Shastri and Sachin when India toured Australia in 1991-92. My elder brother was a very good cricketer and I would go to watch his matches every Saturday morning. He still has a bat signed by all the Indian players. So like cinema, cricket has been a big part of my connection with my Indian roots and I can’t think of a more fitting theme for the first Australian film with Indian content. And now it’s great to see so many Aussie players in India for the IPL.

How did your journey in Bollywood start and how has it been?
I grew up being inspired by Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit. I eventually left Melbourne after completing degrees in law, media and French... The toughest thing about moving here was my education. It made a lot of filmmakers think I was confused about what I wanted to do. But I think merit does pay off and all the hard work I have put in here is reaping rewards.

But as somebody who came from a different culture altogether, how difficult is it to find a footing in Bollywood?
I feel honoured to be the first Indian-Australian lead actress in an Aussie film and now am about to lead in Abhinav Kashyap’s next. Bollywood is tough. My parents are professors, and I have no contacts. But it is a marathon not a race and I think that even without godfathers and contacts a person with true sincerity for their art and someone with talent can succeed. I hope I have these qualities, they are the basis on which I uprooted my life and moved to Mumbai.

How did Abhinav’s film happen? Too early to talk about your character?
I got this film, like all my work, based on an audition. And yes a little too early for details (smiles).

Your film is about to premier at the Mumbai film fest, your thoughts?
It is very symbolic that the film set around people from my hometown is being screened in my adopted city. Mumbai is the centre of India’s film industry and I think it’s fitting that Mumbaikars get to experience the first Indian-Australian movie to come out of Australia.