‘Many have loved and appreciated my work’

Says Sharvari, of her role in Bunty Aur Babli 2. Granddaughter of former Maharashtra CM Manohar Joshi, she tells us her grandfather was proud of her choice to act in films

“THERE’S ONE MORE FILM THAT I’VE SHOT WITH YASH RAJ,

WHICH IS DUE FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT SOMETIME THIS YEAR. IT’S A GENRE THAT I’VE NOT DONE BEFORE AND I’M VERY EXCITED TO BRING THAT TO THE TABLE AND SHOWCASE THAT SIDE OF ME TO PEOPLE”

Not many may be aware that this young bubbly actress called Sharvari, who made her big screen debut in the recently released film Bunty Aur Babli 2, is the maternal granddaughter of former Maharashtra Chief Minister and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. But this daughter of a builder father and an architect mother chose to enter films.

“We’ve never spoken about politics to my nana (maternal grand-dad) because when he was in his prime, we were really young so we never understood what politics really was and for us he was just our nanaji who would crack lots of jokes for us and, you know, we’d have a good time with him. By the time we got to an age of understanding politics, he’d almost started retiring from that. So we really had no political conversations in our life,” says Sharvari.

But when the veteran politician

realised that his little granddaughter was entering films, he was proud of her. “When he found out I wanted to be an actor and I was choosing a path unlike everyone else at home, he came up to me and told me that it was very courageous of me to do this and that he was very proud that I’d chosen a completely different path,” says Sharvari. “He told me I just needed to work hard and be determined to do what I want to do. It meant a lot coming from him because he really has seen that life — he came into politics not having a background in it and still he made a name with a fair measure of success. So it meant a big deal to me that he gave me those tips.”

LIFE AFTER ENTERING FILMS

So how has the response been? “The response has been overwhelming because many people have loved and appreciated my work, and I think it feels really good because we put our heart and soul into something for so many years. So when you receive that kind of appreciation from people, it feels like a cherry on the cake,” says Sharvari.

Incidentally, she tells us, she has actually become a meme among her friends from school and college. “I think my friends were just really excited and they made lots of memes of me in our school WhatsApp group. They used all the different looks from my film and the prosthetics used and made different kinds of memes. When we are sitting at a coffee shop they’d announce it to everyone sitting there that I am this actress. But then I’ve not really gone out so much due to the pandemic and hence life is still easier as of now,” chuckles Sharvari who has recently wrapped another film shoot.

And she seems rather excited about it. “There’s one that I’ve shot with Yash

Raj, which is due for an announcement sometime this year; that’s a film I consider a very important story. It’s a genre that I’ve not done before and I’m very excited to bring that to the table and showcase that side of me to people,” she adds.

The actress has one grouse, though. “Not many know when my birthday is,” she says. “My birth year is wrong everywhere. So because it is on Google every year when other people wish me they wish me with a different age group. My birth year is 1997 but for some reason, it’s 1996 on Google and people wished me happy 26th on my 25th birthday! And then they say actresses always lie about their age!” she laughs.

“HE (NANAJI) TOLD ME I JUST NEEDED TO WORK HARD AND BE DETERMINED TO DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. IT MEANT A LOT COMING FROM HIM BECAUSE HE REALLY HAS SEEN THAT LIFE — HE CAME INTO POLITICS NOT HAVING A BACKGROUND IN IT AND STILL HE MADE A NAME WITH A FAIR MEASURE OF SUCCESS — SHARVARI*