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Pallavi Sharda
Australian actress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pallavi Sharda (born 5 March 1992) is an Australian actress and Bharathanatyam dancer of Indian descent. She is best known for her role in the Academy Award-nominated film Lion (2016). She has also starred in Hindi-language films Besharam (2013), Hawaizaada (2015), and Begum Jaan (2017). She starred in the 2012 Australian film Save Your Legs! and the 2019 TV series Les Norton. Sharda starred in Tom & Jerry, The Twelve, and the rom-com Wedding Season.
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Early life and education
Pallavi Sharda was born on 5 October 1988 in Perth, Western Australia.[1][2] Her mother, Hema Sharda, has a PhD in microelectronics, and her father, Nalin Sharda has a PhD in information technology, and both are professors.[2][3][4] They migrated to Australia in the early 1980s, soon after the birth of Pallavi's elder brother.[2][5]
Sharda moved to Melbourne as a toddler, where she grew up in the outer north-western suburbs.[2]
She went to school at Lowther Hall in Essendon, where she obtained an academic scholarship[2] and at the age of 16 commenced her LLB and BA (Media & Communications) and Diploma in Modern Languages (French) at the University of Melbourne, graduating with honours at 21.[6][2] the title of her dissertation was "Representation of cross-cultural communities in Australian media", in which she looked at the work of the British Indian film director Gurinder Chadha, "one of the pioneering women of colour in the 1990s in Britain".[7]
She trained for many years in Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form,[8] and also learnt some Odissi dance.[9]
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Career
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Screen
Sharda moved from Melbourne to Mumbai around 2008-2010 to follow a career in film.[2][8][1][10] She started her career by playing a cameo in Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan, released in 2010.[11][8]
She next starred in the comedy drama film, Dus Tola (2010) opposite acclaimed actor Manoj Bajpayee, in which she played the role of Geeta, a village dance teacher. Sharda's performance was considered the best element of the film by The Times of India.[12] In 2011 and 2012 Sharda was the lead actress of the theatrical musical, Taj Express directed by Shruti Merchant and choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant.[13]
Sharda made her Australian film debut with comedy film Save Your Legs, which released on 28 February 2013.[14] She then appeared in Abhinav Kashyap's Bollywood film Besharam,[15] a breakthrough performance opposite Ranbir Kapoor,[10] in which she portrayed a woman whose car is stolen by a petty thief.
Sharda's next Bollywood venture, Hawaizaada, was released worldwide on 30 January 2015. Directed by Vibhu Puri and co-starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Mithun Chakraborty, the film is inspired by the true events of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, who is believed to have flown an unmanned aircraft in 1895 Bombay. Sharda received critical acclaim for her portrayal of a courtesan dancer during the British Raj era in Mumbai.[16]
Sharda joined Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman in the Hollywood film Lion in 2016.[17] Her next Bollywood film, Begum Jaan, released in April 2017.[18] Sharda received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Gulabo, a sex worker in rural Punjab, at the time of Pakistan's partition from India.[19]
Sharda played a leading role in ABC Television's medical drama Pulse (2017), which earned her the Casting Guild of Australia's "Rising Star" award.[20] She played Georgie in the ABC-TV series Les Norton in 2019. In 2020, she starred in Beecham House, ITV's historical drama series directed by Gurinder Chadha,[21][22] the British Indian director whose work she wrote about in her dissertation at university.[7] In July of the same year, she starred in ABC TV's Retrograde, a six-part dramedy about life for a group of young people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[23][24]
In 2022 she starred in the Australian award-winning drama The Twelve opposite Sam Neil,[25] this garnered her a Logie nomination for Most outstanding supporting actress for her portrayal of 24 year old Corrie D'Souza – a head juror marred by her own story of PTSD in 2023.[26]
Audio
Sharda starred in the Audible original podcast The Missed, written by Sami Shah and released in August 2022.[27]
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Other activities
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Sharda joined Sony ESPN's team as their new face for the IPL 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL).[28]
As of 2016 Sharda was on the board of advisers for the social enterprise eKutir, located in the state of Odissa in eastern India,[29] founded by KC Mishra.[30] She was the ambassador of a sanitation project called Svadha, and encouraged Australians to donate to the cause.[29] She worked with eKutir for several years.[30]
In 2017 she was writing a memoir called Which Way to Bombay?,[10] due to be published in 2018.[31]
In 2023, she was appointed to the Screen Australia board.[32][33] She also partnered with World Vision Australia alongside other notable Australian women activists to raise her voices to empower 1,000 girls.[34]
In 2024 Sharda became an ambassador of the Witchery White Shirt campaign, to help raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer Research.[35]
In 2024 she became an ambassador of the Witchery White Shirt campaign, to help raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer Research.[36]
In 2025, Sharda began working with Dharma Life, a social enterprise based in India, talking with women social entrepreneurs in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand in northern India.[30]
She has been a regular keynote speaker on Asia Literacy in Australia, cross-cultural relations between India and Australia, and women's empowerment in India.[37]
Recognition and honours
Sharda was crowned Miss India Australia in Sydney in 2010.[8][38][39]
In 2015 she was appointed the "Queen of Moomba", Melbourne's largest community festival, alongside retired Australian cricketer Shane Warne.[40][10]
In 2020, Sharda was named on the list of 40 forty most influential Asian Australians at the inaugural Asian-Australian Leadership Summit.[41]
Awards and nominations
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Filmography
Film
Television
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See also
References
External links
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