MUMBAI: Actor Shriya Pilgaonkar says she is craving for an opportunity to carry a film on her shoulders and be trusted with her capabilities.
Daughter of veteran actors Supriya and Sachin Pilgaonkar, Shriya Pilgaonkar began her acting journey with the 2013 Marathi film “Ekulti Ek”.
She then featured in the 2015 French comedy “Un plus une” and was widely noticed for her performance in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Fan” a year later.
The actor has since made a mark in the digital space with her performances in the massive hit Amazon Prime Video series “Mirzapur” and the 2019 Netflix film “House Arrest”, but Shreya Pilgaonkar hopes to earn similar opportunities in films.
“I want to be trusted with a film on my shoulders and I know I’m capable of it. I feel I have the potential to headline a film but haven’t got that opportunity. There’s something coming up on OTT which has my most challenging part yet.
“Within the film space, I feel I really can. There have been so many times I’ve come close to getting those projects but they haven’t materialsed. My hope is to be trusted with something that I can pull off,” she told PTI in an interview.
The actor believes the scale of one’s future project often depends on their last success or failure.
She said though “House Arrest”, featuring her and “Mirzapur” co-star Ali Fazal, got people to notice her performance, it didn’t do “very well” and that had an effect.
“If you’re a small part of something that does really well vis-a-vis you being a big part of a film which hasn’t done well, that perception makes a lot of difference. That has an effect on casting too. People want to get people in momentum and that’s the challenge.
“Because I know I have no control on how a film is turned out, there’s no point in being bothered about it beyond a point. But with my line-up, I am confident these steps would mount to me getting better opportunities.”
Shriya Pilgaonkar was recently seen on the Voot miniseries “The Gone Game”, shot entirely from home amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
She also has actor Rana Daggubati-led multilingual “Haathi Mere Saathi” up for release and a spy-thriller series directed by Apoorva Lakhia.
While the release of “Haathi Mere Saathi” was pushed due to the pandemic, Shriya Pilgaonkar said shooting on Lakhia’s series was complete before the lockdown was announced in March.
The actor said she has never been “strategic” about work and realised early in her career that in order to navigate the industry’s unpredictable nature, one has to operate with a sense of “acceptance and surrender”.
“Having a lesser screen time doesn’t make me insecure as an actor. There were moments initially when I thought I wasn’t able to gain enough momentum. Right after ‘Fan’ I had two projects but they didn’t take off.
“It’s always going to be a combination of talent, luck and opportunity. It was the success of ‘Mirzapur’ in 2018 that changed the momentum of my career,” said Shriya Pilgaonkar, who garnered acclaim as the fierce Sweety Gupta on the Amazon series.
Post “Mirzapur” success when the compliments started to pour in from all quarters, the actor said she realised it was futile to chase “public perception”.
“Many people today are more focused on public perception than their craft. I didn’t want to go that route where I put my energies on that. Even though I don’t have an out-and-out big film right now it doesn’t disappoint me because I see talent being appreciated today.
“I don’t look my career as short term. I’m here to stay so my decisions aren’t made out of fear. We have more opportunities, better female characters and that gives me hope that there’s no need to fear. You just have to ride the wave,” she added. (AGENCIES)
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