Shlokka Pandit made her Bollywood debut with Hello Charlie opposite Aadar Jain this year. The film was released on OTT due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, as the actress has turned a year older today, we at PeepingMoon.com caught up with her for a candid chat as she spoke about her birthday plans, taking up OTT shows, future projects and more in an exclusive interview.
Excerpts from the interview:
You turned a year older today so how are you celebrating your special day?
I am bringing my birthday at my best friends’ wedding and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to ring in my birthday, considering what has been going on in the country and in the world for the past one year. And unfortunately, we had a death in the family, our driver for the past 20 years passed away two days ago so it’s really hard to wrap my head around the loss so it’s a bitter-sweet birthday this time around.
Your debut film Hello Charlie could not get a big launch due to pandemic, your thoughts on it?
I am just grateful that I got the opportunity to get launched regardless of the circumstances so that’s a great win-win for me and I see it as an opportunity for me as the film is on Amazon Prime Video, so the reach is much larger than what could have been a theatrical release. So I look at the positives and putting the pros and cons and stuff and putting people’s health at risk, releasing the film in theatres at that point was not a good option.
Before making your Bollywood debut you did an Iranian film The Persian, so any plans of venturing into Hollywood and any projects you’re currently pursuing?
That is a misconception actually. My teacher Jeff Goldberg from the Lee Strasburg Institute of Acting from New York made this short film as a graduation present for us students so it was not exactly a film, it was just a project as a goodbye thing for all of us. Having said that, I would love to take up an International project if something interesting comes up depending upon what it is and in what light you are portrayed, for me acting is my passion so it does not matter to me as where, what, as long as the script is great, I’m on board.
You are related to Pandit Jasraj and come from a musically endowed family, so any plans for taking up Bollywood playback singing in the future or cutting an album?
Definitely, honing my singing and vocal skills is very important for me but you never know, I mean one has to be multi-faceted to survive some way or the other and I believe in going with the flow, I don’t have any plans yet because when you compare singing in my family, I mean they are way advanced in their craft and I’m nowhere near them and I know that I can’t be as good as them. So I know my strengths and weaknesses but hopefully one day, I have my fingers crossed that it can be a possibility in the near future.
Would you be interested in taking up OTT series?
I believe OTT is the future; the reach is immense, you know, it goes to everybody and if something interesting comes up then I will be more than willing to take it up. Something that challenges me as an actor, something that gives me more visibility as an actor, I would be really interested to do that.
What kind of genre would you like to explore on OTT?
Action, drama, or crime related or something that helps me push my boundaries. Something where I can showcase my dancing skills or you know to do something totally different from my comfort zone is what I would love to do on digital.
What are your future projects?
I am in talks for a few projects but I do not want to take a rash decision as my film has just come out. As soon as something concrete comes up I will announce it.
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