During her lunch break at a Melbourne law firm, Pallavi Sharda perused the websites of Indian production companies. On a whim, she e-mailed a few and days later, received one response. She flew to India for a meeting and realised that to stay in the corporate world would be to cheat herself of her dream. “So I went back, but only to wrap things up.” Born and raised in Australia, Pallavi had given her first Bharatanatyam performance when she was only two. “My whole life has been dedicated to my passion for dance but I didn’t want filmmakers to think I can only dance and not act. I know dance will never leave me, so when the time is right, I’ll surprise the audiences with my jhatkas.

For this Miss India Australia 2010, drama and music are like an exhilarating escape from the mundane and she wishes to take her audiences there, with her. Her roles in films like Love, Breakups and Zindagi, Dus Tola, Walkaway and My Name is Khan were well appreciated but it was Taj Express, a musical that pushed her to achieve her full potential as an actress.

“I dream of dancing in a Bollywood film all the time! It’s the dream that keeps me going. In fact, for many NRIs like myself, Bollywood is the lens through which we identify with Indian culture.”

In her free time, Pallavi loves to read and eat. “There is not much to do in Mumbai compared to back home in Melbourne. There, I spend hours roaming the by lanes of the city and take time to visit art galleries and museums and watch theatre of course!

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