Born on April 25, 1989, Shriya Pilgaonkar is the daughter of veteran Marathi and Hindi actors Sachin Pilgaonkar and Supriya Pilgaonkar. As a child, she was trained to become a professional swimmer; she was an under-7 and under-9 gold medallist and state-level swimmer. Shriya was quite a bright student in school! (All photos/mid-day archives, AFP, Shriya Pilgaonkar's official Instagram account)
Pictured: Sachin Pilgaonkar (L) poses with mother (front), daughter Shriya (C) and wife actress Supriya (R) at the music launch of Marathi film Sharyat on November 30, 2011.
Shriya made her acting debut with her father's Marathi production Ekulti Ek, which released in 2013. She began her career by making short films like 'Painted Signal' (2012) and 'Dresswala' (2013) which did the rounds of various film festivals.
But did you know, Shriya was five when she first appeared on screen with the popular TV sitcom Tu Tu Main Main, directed by her father Sachin, featuring her mother Supriya and veteran actress Reema Lagoo.
Shriya Pilgaonkar studied sociology from St Xavier's College and languages always fascinated her. She learnt Japanese to become a translator or linguist.
However, things changed completely for her when she studied filmmaking at Harvard Summer School. Shriya studied screenplay adaptation and also bagged the World Nomad's Travel Film Scholarship through which she got an opportunity to go to Brazil to make travel-related films.
She later studied film appreciation class from FTII (Pune) and soon began assisting directors on home productions.
Being a star kid already, Shriya Pilgaonkar believes, "People often talk about star kids and nepotism, but only when they are not convinced by the talent before them." This couldn't have been explained better!
When asked what it's been like to be the daughter of well-known actors, Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar, she revealed in an interview with mid-day, "We're a fun household. If I wasn't my parents' daughter, I would have loved to live with them as a roommate. We share our love for food, travel and cinema, and it makes our conversations enriching. They understand an actor's struggle."
As her parents are in the acting field, growing up within the creative environment was beautiful and normal for Shriya. "I mean, I don't know any other way of being. But it was very normal; it wasn't filmy. The beauty of it is, because this environment was always there, my frame of mind of wanting to become an actor wasn't very surprising. But it's something I never took for granted," said Shriya.
"It wasn't like one fine day my father came and said, 'Come, I will launch you.' So, despite being a celebrity child, the route that I took wasn't conventional. It's great to have parents who are actors and filmmakers, for they understand my journey. I aspire to have some sort of legacy like they have," Shriya added.
Unlike her parents, Shriya Pilgaonkar did not stick or depend entirely on the traditional medium of entertainment, that is, television and films to satisfy her acting needs. She also delved into the medium of the digital world and theatre too. Although she gained mileage in the Hindi film industry after her role in Shah Rukh Khan's film Fan, it's Mirzapur, the web show that gave her more prominence.
Pictured: Shriya Pilgaonkar and Shah Rukh Khan in Fan, which released in 2016.
After Fan, Shriya Pilgaonkar starred in the web film House Arrest, opposite Ali Fazal that released in 2019. She was also seen in Sunny Kaushal, Radhika Madan-starrer Bhangra Paa Le, that hit theatres in 2020. On the international front, she starred in the TV show Beecham House, helmed by Gurinder Chaddha.
Pictured: Shriya with the star cast of Mirzapur - Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, Vikrant Massey and Sheeba Chaddha
"The big screen has its own magic but the fact is that in the present time there is no line for an actor to work in a specific medium which earlier used to happen. Earlier, only youngsters were trying their hands on digital platforms, TV was a different thing for actors and film actors were looked up as superior. Now, nothing of that sort exists anymore... So, I will be doing everything," she said.
Pictured: Shriya with Beecham House star Tom Bateman
Now, Shriya Pilgaonkar is set to make her debut in Tamil and Telugu cinema with director Prabhu Solomon's upcoming trilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi, starring Rana Daggubati.
But before that, her latest offering is the web series Crackdown, which started streaming from September 23 on Voot Select. Shriya Pilgaonkar will be seen as Divya Shirodkar, a Maharashtrian girl, who is compelled to step into a dangerous mission owing to her uncanny resemblance to a deadly extremist.
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