When it comes to South Asian representation on Australian screens, actor Pallavi Sharda leads the way. After charting the territories of Bollywood and Hollywood, she has now returned to her roots – Australia.
And her next film is as Australian as one can imagine. After twenty three years of the cult classic Australian film Gettin’ Square, the film’s iconic character Johnny Spit (played by David Wenham) makes a comeback and Pallavi plays the role of Spit’s lawyer Aria Sahni.
Ironically, Pallavi studied Law in Melbourne, but this was not the reason she instantly accepted the role.
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“It was a rare opportunity to be part of something iconically Australian,” she tells Indian Link. “At school, girls would reference cult Aussie films like The Castle and Muriel’s Wedding, but I had never actually seen them myself. I came to them later in life as a ‘catch up’, but whether I watched them as a kid or later, they were a part of my childhood by osmosis. When Spit came to me, the opportunity to be part of Australia in this way felt so special.”
As the film also touches on the plight of immigration detention centres, Pallavi resonates with the film at a different level. Pallavi Sharda in Spit
“My parents were skilled migrants who came to Melbourne in the ‘90s which was a different experience than many who crossed the seas in treacherous ways,” she reflects. “I’m very aware of my privilege. However, when you have eastern culture in you, vis-e-vis western culture there is so much relatability, and what it means to fight as an Australian for the idea of ‘from here’.”
She goes on, “Australia in its best form is a great equaliser, and it bonds people who come from different sub-cultures, because there is a lot of overlap in our experience. Films can be a beautiful way to communicate and ‘Spit’ beautifully represents certain migrant experiences.”
In Australia, she has been a strong advocate in representing cultural diversity on and off screen, including being a board member of Screen Australia, influencing greater diversity of storytelling in Australia.
Whether it was her Bollywood projects, the Netflix romcom Wedding Season, UK series The One, Warner Bros film Tom & Jerry, Gurinder Chadha’s Beecham House or her roles in Australia TV series The Twelve, The Office, Retrograde, or Les Norton, she has now paved the way for many aspiring young Indian Australian actors.
“I feel proud that our diaspora has that confidence to represent itself,” Pallavi notes. “I hope that we reach a point where it is no longer a fight and is part of a natural progression of a community. Where it’s just onwards and upwards. Where we don’t have to refer to ourselves as diverse.” Pallavi Sharda in Spit
Pallavi was 18 and still at university when she moved to India in 2012 to find performance opportunities. “There was not actualised scope to be a South Asian-Australian actor here at the time, but today there is. It’s a great feeling that young Aussie kids today are fearless about whether they belong or deserve to be here, and to see my own friends doing so well.”
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Do South Asian actors still face challenges, though?
“Of course there are, but I would like to think that representation of our people and stories are in progress. Jeremy Fernandez reads the news on ABC, Nazeem Hussain is one of Australia’s greatest comedians, my friend Sunanda Sachatrakul is making strides as a writer and performer from the global diaspora – and so much is happening in theatre, film and TV.”
Her own story is evidence enough that if you have the drive to be in the arts, one of the great boons of living in Australia is this passion can be a legitimate career. “There are still of course psycho-social and practical barriers which need a lot of work to be overcome, but my hope is that at least at home, migrant communities might come to believe that the arts can be a safe place for legitimate careers and collaboration. It’s how we will grow, become viable and be able to express without the pressure to first be assimilated.”
So no regrets being the brown woman in Australia, and not India? Pallavi Sharda in Spit
“I am a brown woman wherever I go! It’s been a great experiment to travel the world and morph into different characters underneath that layer. To change my accent, language, garb, and mannerisms each time. A South Asian woman is infinite – and I get to play within infinity. I think coming back to the country of my birth for this project was so fulfilling, I’m very conscious of the fact that if I didn’t have the duality of culture and so many cultural influences, Aria Sahni wouldn’t have been possible. I’m an actor and a shape shifter, it’s just what I do.”
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