An actor’s first film sets the tone for his subsequent career and thus, every youngster, with a dream to make it big in the movies, wishes to get launched by a big banner. Very few get to realise this wish and one such actor who got this opportunity was Shreyas Porus Pardiwalla. The young actor, who has undergone extensive training in theatre, was in college when he was offered ‘Yaariyan’, a film produced by T-Series. The film was directed by Divya Khosla Kumar, T-Series’ head honcho Bhushan Kumar’s wife.
‘Yaariyan’ released in 2014 and went on to become a commercial success. Though the director opted for a different cast for her next film ‘Sanam Re’ (2016), she went on to repeat one actor from her first film. Shreyas, who had received a lot of accolades for his portrayal of the high-school student Pardi in ‘Yaariyan’, played the role of Pulkit Samrat’s friend in ‘Sanam Re’. Out of the three films (the third one being ‘Sweetiee Weds NRI’) the actor has done, two have been produced by T-Series.
When asked why he was absent from the big screen for a long time, he answers, “I did a lot of theatre. We did eleven back-to-back shows for a play titled ‘The Importance Of Being Earnest’ at the Royal Opera House. I will be directing a musical play soon. I also did a couple of short films, one of which was with Sujoy Mukherjee.”
After getting backed by a big production company for his big screen outing, the actor has now made his digital debut with one of the biggest players around. ‘Akoori’, a new show which premiered on Zee5 (Zee Network’s digital streaming platform) sees him essaying the role of a mysterious man whose identity and motives will be unravelled during the course of the show.
About the show, he says, “The show is about a Parsi family. My character is also that of a Parsi. I am a Parsi in real life and look like a bawa, so it was easy for me to get the look, language and accent right. I do not want to reveal much about my character. I want people to discover it when they watch the show. Working on the show with such wonderful actors was a great experience. I celebrated my 26th birthday on the sets of the show in Panchghani with the team.”
The rapidly growing digital streaming platforms have generated a lot of interest in actors and filmmakers because of the kind of freedom and creative liberty they provide them with. As someone who has amassed a lot of acting experience by working in films and theatre, it would be interesting to see what Shreyas brings to the table on this new platform.