'Language is no barrier'

Exciting Journey

Yet, the dormant desire in her got the better of her and at the first available opportunity, she rushed to Mumbai to realise her celluloid dreams.

When she managed to bag her first offer, Dus Tola, she knew she had got the best ticket to Bollywood. “I played the role of Geeta, a village dance teacher, who teaches Indian classical dance to her students. I gave my own interpretations to the movements and the tala in the film,” she says.

She confesses that her journey so far has been exciting but tough given the challenge of relocating to Mumbai. “I had to really fend for myself. I had no godfather or a background in the film industry. All I knew was that I wanted to be an actress and it was sheer faith and conviction that saw me through all my initial projects,’ she says.

Pallavi shot for ‘Walkaway’ in New York, an independent crossover film in which she played the lead character of Sia. She returned to India as a recurring cast member of Anuvab Pal’s theatre comedy, ‘1888 Dial India’, in which she portrayed the hilarious character of Reshmi — a call centre trainee.

Pallavi, a trained dancer, also knows the stage all too well as she has been in theatre. “You have to emote in a play in such a way that your voice reaches out to the person sitting in the last row. But acting in cinema is a different ball game altogether, it is more subtle,” she avers.

She had lots of compliments pouring her way when she first came to Mumbai, “People told me that I have the looks of women from the 80s. I like the women of the 80s and was also offered those kinds of roles. Directors always think twice before offering me a glamourous role,” says Pallavi.

She sees the Western cinema as being more organised when it comes to the craft of film-making. “Bollywood is yet to grow into a full-fledged industry. Women in Indian cinema, for instance, were explored in a more deeper way in the 80s. The characters were more intense and substantial in content. But now it’s kind of superficial,” she observes.

 Pallavi says her extensive travel as a child helped her grasp Indian languages very well. “I can speak fluent Bengali and Hindi and would be just as comfortable in a Tamil household as I am in a North Indian home. Language is no barrier for me,” she adds. Pallavi’s latest project Love, Breakups, Zindagi has just released.