Pallavi Purohit: Each character I have enacted has helped me grow in my career

Pallavi Purohit, who has been a part of shows like, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, Karam Apnaa Apnaa, Basera, Sapna Se Bhare Naina among others, has been a part of Hindi television, Malayalam films paired with Mammootty and Mohanlal, and Kannada cinema with Atul Kulkarni. Her journey is less a career path and more a series of deliberate leaps into the unknown. And she talks about all of it with the same unhurried honesty.

She said, "It would be wrong on my part to pinpoint one specific role and thereby undermine all others. Because I truly believe that each character I have enacted has helped me grow in my career and skills."

But she does pause at certain memories: her early Balaji Telefilms shows, then Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon; her Malayalam & Kannada films; and her current show with Sudhanshu Pandey. She said, "In between these there have been many other projects I have done with amazing costars and teams, and everywhere it has helped me build something that was missing in me."

The road to Mumbai, however, didn't begin on a film set but in a hotel lobby. She said, "I always excelled in creative pursuits during my school time, be it acting, singing, or dancing and studies were secondary. Hailing from an academically inclined family, my parents wanted me to have a stable foundation before dabbling with a high-stake luck-based pathway like acting."

She studied hospitality and worked at JW Marriott Goa. She said, "There was the International Film Festival when all celebrities had come, and I was attending to the likes of Mani Ratnam, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Shahid Kapoor, and Shivrajkumar. In that moment I got my calling: I needed to be on the other side of the table. Even after moving to Oberoi Bengaluru, the feeling wouldn't leave. Somewhere deep down I was feeling incomplete. One day I saw a small casting ad in a newspaper, and overnight I left everything and came to Mumbai."

The challenges that followed were real and unglamorous. Being a South Indian trying to break into Hindi mainstream television meant starting from scratch with the language itself. She said, "I took the challenge head-on and hired a tutor and used to read Hindi newspapers loudly and grasped the language very quickly and, in a short time, got into the Hindi TV industry.”

“Then came a drowning scene in a real lake for her Malayalam film Silence with Mammootty, despite not knowing how to swim. But the most demanding test came from a Kannada film. The most challenging project was Manasmita, where I had to play the role of a classical dancer and had to do justice to some beautiful songs sung by Shankar Mahadevan Sir. I took that as a challenge and started with Bharatanatyam classes under Guru Smt. Manasi Nair,” she added.

What began as preparation for a role became something far more lasting. "Not only did I learn enough for the movie, but I continued with that challenge to date with the support of my guru and have completed 7 years of diploma and still continue to learn,” Pallavi ended.