Meet Mithila Palkar, your girl next door

In the last two and a half years, Mumbai-based Mithila Palkar has done three web series (Little Things, Girl in the City, Official Chukyagiri), a Marathi film titled Muramba, a supporting role in the Bollywood movie Katti Batti, a short film Majha Honeymoon, few viral videos on Facebook/YouTube, and a TEDx talk. This year, she will be seen in Karwan, a Bollywood film that stars Irrfan Khan and Dulquer Salman.

"Everything is so fast-paced that I haven't got time to sit down and let it sink in, but I love the rush," confesses Palkar who turned 25. She calls herself fortunate for having met the right people and doing the right projects.

"I had been told that if I wanted to act , I'd have to participate in Thespo. So, I joined it as a volunteer in the second year of my college in 2013. The next year, I worked as a festival manager, a role which gave me the chance to network with everyone, from casting directors to actors and would-be actors." It was at the festival that she met Dhruv Sehgal, who suggested her name to FilterCopy that was looking for someone to anchor News Darshan, a satire show based on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which aired on YouTube in 2015. Meanwhile, she bagged a supporting role in Katti Batti, starring Kangana Ranaut and Imran Khan, and few advertisements. It wasn't until 2016 when her videos Confusing Things Girlfriends Say and Annoying Things Boyfriends Do went viral on Facebook, together garnering 23 lakh views, which gave her instant popularity on the Internet. Then, came her rendition of the Marathi song, Hi Chaal Turu Turu using cups like Anna Kendrick in Cups, which has over 28 lakh views. Palkar's innocent face, curly hair, almost no-make-up look and relatable dialogues make her likable. "Many approached me after the song went viral, thinking I am a singer, which I am not. I learned a bit of singing in my childhood and went back only recently when I sang for my film Muramba," says Palkar, who is trained in Kathak.

While the web made her a popular face as the confused but happy Kavya of Little Things, and the decisive and passionate Meera Sehgal of Girl in the City, the actress initially didn't think of working in the web domain, and was actively auditioning only for ads and films. "At that time, comedy sketches and video songs dominated the Internet. None of us thought that the web would become such a huge industry," she explains. And, why not TV? "I was pretty certain that I didn't want to do television because of the content it generates," says Palkar, who has been acting in school plays since age 12.

Palkar, however, has been largely essaying the role of a happy and bubbly girl-next-door, except for Muramba, where she played an unapologetically ambitious Indu. So does she fear of being stereotyped? "I have already been stereotyped in a sense that whatever roles are offered to me are very similar. So far I don't mind it, but I hope to break out of that image and experiment with new projects that will come my way now." Her role in Karwan will be slightly different. "I am playing a 19-year-old girl, Taniya. She is naive, but confident and knows what she wants. She's not hyper and knows that things take time."