Breaking Stereotypes: Shriya Pilgaonkar Breaking stereotypes and establishing herself as a versatile artiste is top priority for actor, theatre artist and trained kathak dancer Shriya Pilgaonkar.
By Kabir Singh Bhandari •
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Breaking stereotypes and establishing herself as a versatile artiste is top priority for actor, theatre artist and trained kathak dancer Shriya Pilgaonkar. And with every performance of hers, the daughter of actors Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar seems to be walking the talk, her most recent outing being in the web series Taaza Khabar on Hotstar where she plays Madhu, a sex worker.
The 33-year-old made a dream debut in the Hindi film industry starring opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the thriller Fan (2016), and values the conversations shared with King Khan on set, whether it was discussing books, philosophy or just observing the kind of person he is. Two years later came a major turning point in her career when she played Sweety Gupta in the gritty Amazon Prime series Mirzapur (2018) post which people started to recognize and call her by the character's name.
The actor who loves to surprise people with the different things that she can do, has had a game changing past year, from playing lead roles in The Broken News (Zee5) opposite Jaideep Ahlawat and Sonali Bendre to the critically and commercially acclaimed legal drama Guilty Minds (Amazon Prime), where she plays the lawyer Kashaf Quaze. For Quaze's role, she interacted with a lot of her lawyer friends and also visited the High Court to observe proceedings there. The director Shefali Bhushan, who comes from a family of eminent lawyers was also there to guide her. "It's one of the most beautiful, nuanced and layered characters and I feel privileged to play someone like her," she told us.
But establishing herself as a global artist is what she ultimately wants to do, and Pilgaonkar already seems to be on her way there- her second film was a French movie by an Oscar wining director and she was also part of the period drama Beecham House. One thing is for sure, the audience looks forward to her surprising them, like the fact that sometime in the future we shall also be seeing her donning the director's hat and telling stories of her own.
The author can be reached at bkabir@entrepreneurindia.com and Instagram.com/kabirsinghbhandari
