PALLAVI SHARDA
ACT.
Pallavi Sharda knows a thing or two about bold moves. At 18, she told her Aussie-Indian parents she was off to study in Delhi and instead ended up gatecrashing Bollywood… armed with two suitcases, zero contacts, and a dream that didn’t come with a how-to manual. Since then, she’s carved out a truly global acting career that defies typecasting and throws the rulebook (and the aunties’ advice) out the window.
From dramatic turns in critically acclaimed films like Lion (with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman), to playing a Lavani dancer at the height of the British Raj in Hawaizaada, to comedic charm in Netflix’s Wedding Season, Pallavi has done it all. She’s the first Indian-Australian to lead a Bollywood film and the first of Indian origin to headline across Aussie screens—yes, she was Corrie D’Souza in The Twelve, and yes, that Logie nomination was very real.
Her acting credits stretch from Bollywood (Begum Jaan, Hawaizaada) to British drama (Beecham House, The One), Aussie TV (Retrograde, Les Norton, Spit) to Hollywood (Wedding Season, Tom and Jerry, Blacksite). Next up, you'll catch her starring in Australian Spit and One More Shot set to release in 2025.
For Pallavi, performance has always been about breaking ground—brown, brilliant, and unapologetic. She’s not here to be anyone’s “diversity tick”—she’s here to change the script.
BODHINI STUDIOS
In 2023, Pallavi founded Bodhini Studios as a creative and cultural offering. A space born out of love, rage, and a deep yearning to see South Asian-Australian stories reflected on global screens.
At its core, Bodhini is a storytelling studio that centres underrepresented voices, disrupts colonial narratives, and celebrates the multiplicity of South Asian identity through film, television, and digital content. It is where bold humour meets ancestral wisdom, and where stories are unapologetically brown, feminine, and spiritually grounded.
As its founder, Pallavi leads with both artistic vision and lived experience, creating work that is at once global and deeply local, mainstream and mystical. Bodhini exists not only to tell stories…but to shift the centre.
DANCE.
DANCE.
Before the lights, cameras, and red carpets, there was the stage. Barefoot. Bells tied at the ankles. Eyes full of story. Pallavi started learning Bharata Natyam at the age of three under the guidance of Srimary Renuka Arumughasamy in Melbourne, and later, under Kalakshetra-trained mentors in Chennai. It wasn’t just dance class—it was language, heritage, and community, especially through the Tamil-Sri Lankan diaspora of early-2000s Naarm which became an unlikely second home for the daughter of two Delhi-ite professors.
Her foundation in classical Indian dance is the secret sauce behind her on-screen charisma. Whether choreographing for screen in Wedding Season, gliding through period courtesan moves in Hawaizaada, or serving as a curating and performing at marquee cultural Australian events like White Night Melbourne —her movement is both art and activism.
Pallavi’s style now blends classical form with contemporary flow—a kind of dance diplomacy that honours tradition while letting it breathe. Whether she’s in rehearsal, on set, or lost in her living room choreo, movement remains her first language.
SPEAK.
*
SPEAK. *
Pallavi has a knack for saying what needs to be said. Whether on stage, on set, or at high-level summits, she speaks with the clarity of a lawyer (yes, she’s got the degree) and the fire of someone who’s lived the story she’s telling.
In 2023, she became the youngest person—and the first of Indian origin—appointed to the Board of Screen Australia, advocating for a screen industry that actually reflects the people it purports to serve. She’s delivered keynote speeches across the globe on topics such as the power of cultural in geopolitics (with a specific focus on the burgeoning relationship between India and Australia) to gender equity in rural India. She has delivered keynotes at the Australia-India Leadership Dialogue, AsiaLink, Google, and the for the Australian Ballet.
Pallavi doesn’t separate the personal from the political. Whether reflecting on her double migration journey, celebrating Ayurveda and yoga as healing practices, or mentoring young creatives, her voice cuts through the noise with warmth, wit, and conviction.
She has been recognised for her work—Advanced Global Australian Award for Arts, Most Influential Asian Australian honouree, and a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Melbourne. But her real reward? Helping the next brown girl realise she belongs, not just in the room—but at the head of the table.