When we get in touch with Shriya Pilgaonkar for a chat, she tells us she is in the middle of a night shoot. But as we get on a video call with  her the next day, she is fresh, with that twinkle in her eye intact. It’s clear—she’s busy as one can be, but she is taking out the time to enjoy her journey. “It’s taken time for me to get here—with all these releases—but I have tried to enjoy the process, and never get too involved with the outcome,” she tells us.

Yes, she may have made her Bollywood debut in 2016 in Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan, but it was not until 2018 that we truly noticed the actor as the sweet Sweety in the action-crime hit, Mirzapur. The fact that she is the daughter of much-loved theatre and TV faces, Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar (best known for their show Tu Tu Main Main, with Supriya as lead and Sachin as director), may have given her an insight into the world of acting, but never really made it much easier than any Bollywood newbie. “I  think living with parents such as mine—both artistes—has prepared me for the wait… the ups and downs of acting. I was emotionally and mentally prepared. So I never rushed it. I decided to not take just any roles: Some I wanted but didn’t work out, some were never meant to work out, but I knew I wanted to do different things. I think my career started truly changing after Mirzapur,” says the 33-year-old.