Shriya Pilgaonkar: Broke down after third episode’s monologue

Serendipity I suspect plays the starring role in most lives But itrsquos something we kept going back to over an hourlong conversation with actor Shriya Pilgaonkar 33 whorsquos legitimately an OTT star in her own right and has been a film buff forever Enough to bleed her eyes bingeing on five backtoback films on the big screen at Mumbairsquos MAMI festivalOne of which was The Artist 2011 mdash ie before the French tour de force became the toast at the Oscars and indeed before Shriya was an actor herselfThere is a strange connect she felt with the filmrsquos lead actor Jean Dujardin on the screen which went beyond the fact that she obviously found him attractive She told her mother about it later and lsquojournaledrsquo it at night mdash about being inexplicably drawn towards this manldquoCut tordquo Shriya says mdash as all readers of screenplays are prone to narrate their anecdotes mdash she had cracked an audition for a part that turned out to be for a French production set in India starring DujardinLikewise before she took up acting as a profession like many film aspirants Shriya was assisting a director Megha Ramaswamy on a short film being shot at the Yash Raj Filmsrsquo YRF studio where Shah Rukh Khan was shooting as well Ramaswamy also Chak De India director Shimit Aminrsquos wife knew SRK and introduced Shriya to the superstarThe nationrsquos charmer number one and the actor to have cornered all desi female hearts looked at Shriya whispered ldquoMashallah so beautifulrdquo At that moment Shriya recalls she diedCut to 2015 There was a moment in Shriyarsquos life when during the day she was shooting with Dujardin and at night with SRK mdash for Maneesh Sharmarsquos YRF production Fan 2016 her Bollywood debutHow did the latter happen With auditions over three months where she was testing for multiple parts and even sitting in for cues for other actors hoping to be cast at YRF It was one such tape mdash that wasnrsquot hers and so she was totally relaxed on the screen mdash that ldquoManeesh director and Adi Sir Chopra producer sawrdquo and selected herAlso ReadShriya Pilgaonkar My parents taught me to deal with uncertainty of being a professional actorldquoI like how all these stories happen late at night mdash I got a call from Shanoo Sharma YRFrsquos casting director I just went over to my parentsrsquo room told them Irsquove been cast as Shah Rukhrsquos loveinterest And I just shut their door without waiting for their reaction Didnrsquot know what to sayrdquoThe parents being Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar Both of whom are prominent professional actors She belongs to the third generation in the film industry Shriyarsquos paternal grandfather Sharad Pilgaonkar who she never got to see was a producer That explains how Sachin himself started early as an actor in his fatherrsquos film mdash that paved his path as a career childactor Master Sachin from thereonSachin 65 has been an actor for 60 years Supriya debuted with the Marathi film Navri Mile Navriyala 1984 directed by Sachin Shriya herself appeared as an infant in one of Sachinrsquos movies She doesnrsquot remember which one ldquoHersquos directed 21 filmsrdquoReversing movie history if you may mdash since men played female parts on screen once mdash Shriya first spoke for the screen as a little boy basically ldquokid with boy cutrdquo to say ldquoAunty mummy ne achaar mangaya hairdquoThat was her cameo in the hit TV show Tu Tu Main Main Those of a certain vintage might instantly remember the singsong way Tu Tu Main Main was said in the title sequence after which director Sachin would yell ldquoActionrdquo before the episode startedA still from Guilty Minds PicsAshish RajeShriya followed director Sachinrsquos instruction in her debut film in Marathi Ekulti Ek 2013 too mdash which fetched her Maharashtra governmentrsquos film awardGiven the selfsufficient family unit of filmies one would assume Shriya as an actor is an obvious career move And yet when shersquod taken up a part in a short play as a stage debut of sorts her mother simply looked at the adult child for where she was headed and sighed ldquoHow predictablerdquoUntil 14 Shriya was set to be a professional swimmer her days centred on training for the sport that she was participating at the statelevel ldquoThe sportspersonrsquos is a tough life Even in swimming a difference in microseconds sets apart the winner from others It consumes yourdquo She was training at Bandrarsquos Ottersrsquo Club and gave up on the sport shortly after her coach passed awayAnd itrsquos not like she had a Plan B or any particular plan at all As someone scoring high in class she did what most overachiever type kids do in school and later in college mdash everything I learnt later that she was also the studentboss of Malhar St Xavierrsquos College annual festival mdash itrsquos the kind of designation collegians I notice flaunt even on LinkedInAlso Read Shriya Pilgaonkars style diary A riot of colours and glamA big move she did make Shriya admits was actually the one that she did not mdash that is to pursue her masterrsquos at Columbia University where she had secured admission Columbia was her trying to postponeevade the question about what she really wants to do next Instead she enrolled in a film appreciation course at FTII began acting in plays directing short films documentary eventually auditioning for acting parts for moviesShriya Pilgaonkar in The Broken NewsThat she is multitalented could have a lot to do with her father Sachin Best way to describe Sachin is as Rajshri Productionsrsquo OG Prem He was the lead in the superhit Nadiya Ke Paar 1982 that got remade into Hum Aapke Hain Koun 1994 with Salman KhanAnother way to describe Sachin is as a singer writer producer directorhellip Between her parents Shriya rightly insists her father is the star mdash all about showmanship mdash while her mother is the lsquoactorrsquo who can detach herself from her work as wellWhatrsquos common between them is they can break a leg For proof the Pilgaonkar couple had famously won the maiden season of dancereality show Nach Baliye 2005 surprising many with their killer movesWhich is also in common with the daughter we learn Shriya extensively trained in kathak growing up mdash that in fact pretty much all Bollywood female actors do at some point As we speak shersquos finally put that talent to test in a ldquofull dhamaalrdquo songanddance routine ldquofor an unannounced film produced by Emmay EntertainmentrdquoFrom her mother Shriya says shersquos acquired lsquobodylanguagersquo as an important acting lesson At some point in the conversation she effectively shows us how her three wellknown characters mdash lawyer Kashaf Quaze from Guilty Minds 2022 journalist Radha Bhargava from The Broken News 2022 sexworker Madhubala from Taaza Khabar 2023 mdash would sit if they were in the same roomAnd thatrsquos selfawareness at the level of where the legs are placed how the head moves whether she is leaningin Kashaf straight and attentive Radha or totally carefree MadhubalaWhen she was offered the part of Sweety Gupta on the other hand mdash a girl from the hardcore Hindi heartland namely Mirzapur meaning Uttar Pradesh UP mdash an advicewarning she got was not to come across as the Maharashtrian girl that she isThis is where her dad wouldrsquove been the inspiration ldquoUnki zubaan bahut saaf hai he has clear diction One thing he told me is to always master the dialect before you play any partrdquoSweety is as UP as they get Shriya jokes people have come up to Sachin to suggest he couldnrsquot be Sweety Gupta ke papa Itrsquos this role of Guddu Bhaiyarsquos girlfriend in Mirzapur she admits that gave her ldquothe taste of panIndia fame Till today therersquos the Sweetylove everywhere I go and I love thatrdquo although her character died in the first season of Mirzapur 2018Guilty Minds though she reckons is what brought her ldquocritical appreciationrdquo as an actor she came into her own There is some serendipity here too In the sense that dad Sachin all her life she tells me had wished to play a lawyer Itrsquos never happened Hersquos drawn to law as a hobby as well mdash reads books goes through minutiae of contracts etcItrsquos Shriya who got to dive deep into the world in ways that Indian screen hasnrsquot before In terms of movies Chaitanya Tamhanersquos Court 2014 was a masterpiece on Indiarsquos legal system Shriya agrees That apart for longform content the realism and authenticity of Guilty Minds is refreshingly firstrateMuch of it comes from the series creator Shefali Bhushan daughter of prominent jurist ex law minister of India Shanti Bhushan sister of top lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan Canrsquot get more insider than thatThe writing was such Shriya recalls that there is a scene in the show where her character Kashaf and her team along with the opposing lawyers are in a village fighting against a power plant coming up that will wreck lives of localsSomehow while performing that third episodersquos monologue detailing the human cost of development Shriya broke down on the shoulders of Sugandha Garg coactor after the director called cut ldquoI felt something Maybe the line between the actor and character brokerdquoAs an actor she says she actively practices an attachmentdetachment relationship with her work given that the outcome in terms of success is out of everyonersquos hands But itrsquos hard to pretend you donrsquot care after all the effort thatrsquos gone inGoing back to her journal that night after Guilty Minds shoot she wrote about what she had experienced doing the emotional scene And that it doesnrsquot matter how the show is received in terms of numbers of reviewersrsquo nods mdash this is something special that will stay regardlessThe Broken News likewise enters the world of television journalism with Shriyarsquos character at the centre of the newsroom navigating nuances if not serious dilemmas of this profession The apprehension Shriya confesses about being typecast as this everydayimportant professional did cross her mindldquoEven my friends say which profession is left to play But thatrsquos not the point Even among lawyers or journalists there are different typesrdquo To prep for her part of a reporter she in fact spoke to mainly former journalists on how theyrsquod respond to lifersquos choices rather than intricacies of the newsroom itselfNot be an lsquoageistrsquo about it mdash Irsquom an old man myself mdash but there is a rejuvenating aspect to hosting long chats with younger guests as they delve into their early experiences The memories are firstly fresh rather than jaded from having gone through these same interviewsquestions over years Shriya is one of the youngest to feature on the Sit with Hitlist series of conversations before a live audienceAlso you can probe mdash without hopefully coming across as a nosey uncle mdash on random fun stuff like her favourite drunken story Involved lots of wine during the IndiaPakistan match at Melbourne Cricket Grounds mdash she had to keep drinking because once India scored yoursquore supposed to stay put in the same position and repeat exactly what you were doing beforeOr how about check on important issues like whorsquos she dating Well this chat took place on Feb 13 She said she didnrsquot have a date for Feb 14 So Irsquom guessing shersquos single Although shersquoll be happy she mentioned if she somebody made a plan If you search for this chat on YouTube wersquove left her number there of course Irsquom kiddingMost elementally though the fact of a young star is yoursquore catching them on the curve Therersquos so much to look ahead I had looked up Shriyarsquos TEDx talk from 2019 and already her professional life has transformed enough to render that talk premature As would be this interviewConsidered the past year alone for Shriya mdash The Broken News on ZEE5 Guilty Minds on Amazon Prime Video Taaza Khabar 2023 on Disney Hotstar mdash you canrsquot escape on her on OTTSo much so that therersquos stuff of hers on other platforms that I havenrsquot had the chance to catch new season of The Gone Game on Voot a show called Murder in Agonda on Amazon Mini Shersquos the only actor to be nominated twice for Best Lead Female at the Hitlist OTT AwardsThe first time most Indians including me saw Shriya on screen was of course in Fan I kept wondering where Irsquod met her before It was at a party in Pune when she wasnrsquot an actor and she was pissed with movie critics in general I reasoned that film reviewing was indeed a low form of writing because it often lacked empathyldquoAt that time obviously I didnrsquot know I was going to be an actor and that Irsquod have to change my opinion on criticsrdquo Shriya laughs pointing out that what had irked her after Fan were actuallyreviews that didnrsquot mention her at allWhich is fair Indifference is the opposite of love not hate While the film was a YRF production starring SRK it wasnrsquot exactly the proverbial launch vehicle associated with starkids In this case Sachinrsquos daughterShriya says ldquoThere are star children who get papped groomed branded for two years before they come as movie stars on screen I didnrsquot want to be on a magazine cover even before I was an actorrdquo Thatrsquos also Instagram all rightBut the actual scene among screen talents has changed too dramatically to count on tested measures And is it even about Bollywood anymore as one supposesLook at the galazy of stars getting created in the OTT space starting with Shriya for instance Itrsquos a medium that isnrsquot lsquotelevisionrsquo enough for actors to surrender their identity to their character that carries on playing itself over hundreds of episodesAlthough exhibiting similar aesthetics it isnrsquot exactly film that is centred on the male lead hustling over boxoffice returns Let alone conversations on nepotism for debutantsldquoEvery role Irsquove got is through passing an auditionrdquo Shriya reveals on the real serendipity surrounding her mdash right talent at the right time Itrsquos like being an actor with a great voice just when silent films have given way to talkiesMore about Guilty MindsThe legal drama is helmed by Shefali Bhushan and Jayant SomalkarCast your vote for the Hitlist OTT AwardsShriya Pilgaonkar has been nominated in the Best Actor Female Series category for Guilty Minds and The Broken News The other nominees aregtgt Amruta Subhash Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt Ltdgtgt Fatima Sana Shaikh Modern Love Mumbaigtgt Huma Qureshi Maharani S02gtgt Masaba Gupta Masaba Masaba S02gtgt Sakshi Tanwar Mai A Motherrsquos Ragegtgt Shefali Shah Delhi Crime S02There are 16 categories that the public can vote in Log on to wwwradiocityinhitlistott to cast your voteVoting lines close on February 22