Mumbai girl Pallavi Subhash – a well-known figure on the small screen has done her first international project - Bimba Devi alias Yashodhara -a Sri Lankan Sinhalese historical film will be opening film at the South Asian Festival of Arts and Literature (SAFAL) Sydney. President of the Australian South Asian Forum and festival founder Ashish Gholkar who confirmed this said: “We are inviting the Pallavi Subhash to the inaugural to do the honours when the film will open the festival.”
Admitting to being “truly overwhelmed” to learn about her film Yashodhara is the opening film at SAFAL Pallavi told DNA: “It is a huge honour to represent India with this woman-centric film.” But why haven't many in India heard of the film? “I don't think that's for me to answer,” she said and added, “When the film released in Sri Lanka the international media interviewed director Sunil Ariyaratne and me. But when I came back to Mumbai nobody seemed interested. In the beginning, I felt I feel saddened over how neither my Indian co-star Arpit Chaudhary (who plays Prince Siddhartha) seem to have even registered given how omnipresent the Indian mainstream is. But I feel there is no point in getting embittered. The best way to deal with this was to immerse in my work on tv shows and ads.”
The Maharashtrian model-turned-actress was born and brought up in Mumbai. And became first a model and then an actor, purely by accident. “I always wanted to be an advocate like my grandfather but look where destiny brought me. I'm deeply grateful,” says the Mumbachi mulgi who has done Marathi plays and films and TV shows in both Hindi and Marathi. She has also acted in ads and films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada and is still remembered for her role in Cadbury's Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye ad. “The Cadbury ads just changed everything. Suddenly I was being offered work of a kind and scale I had not imagined.”
According to her the most challenging bit was picking up the syntax and nuance of Sinhala. “It was a challenge considering how little time I had to prepare so I was nervous but I am glad it all fell into place,” she admits while praising her unit for their support while shooting in Sri Lanka. “Everyone on the set seemed to make a special effort at keeping the vibe positive throughout. I grew to love the locals, their food and culture. They are an extremely knowledgeable, hardworking lot and yet so outgoing and supportive. I still remember the warmth and have become close and good friends with my Sri Lankan co-stars Dineth De Silva, Sangeetha Thedani, Ajith Weerasinghe, Udari Perera, and Kamal Deshapriya and many others in the crew.”
She speaks of how her reprisal of a young Emperor Ashoka's mother Rani Dharma in a show Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat helped her bag Yashodhara. “My director Professor Sunil Aryaratna watched it and immediately made up his mind that he would only cast me as Yashodhara,” she recounts, “In the beginning when I got a direct call from the production team I thought it was a prank and kept trying to ascertain it was not. Later though I got to know it was real and accepted the project it felt surreal that I'd been chosen for the title role in an international project. I have always taken my work seriously but the knowledge that it was being watched by filmmakers all over the world has taught me to look at some of earlier work down the 16 years in a new light.”
Like her work in tv got her Yashodhara, this international project has generated interest among casting directors both internationally and in India. “I am in talks with several filmmakers and negotiations on the role contours and dates are in the final stages. it is very exciting and I can only thank God for giving me this opportunity. But I've been advised not to talk about the projects till an official announcement is made.”
We can hardly wait.
WHO IS PALLAVI?
- The model-turned actor started out trying to be an advocate.
- She has acted in commercials and films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
- She is best remembered for her work in Cadbury’s Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye ad.
