Shriya Pilgaonkar & The Mandala Murders

Shriya Pilgaonkar is winning praise for her gritty and layered portrayal in Netflix’s, The Mandala Murders. Known for seamlessly balancing strength with vulnerability, Shriya continues to prove why she’s one of the most exciting and versatile voices in the new wave of Indian storytelling.

In Mandala Murders, you step into a morally complex universe. How do you tap into the darker, messier emotions without letting them spill into your personal life?

A big part of acting is to be able to seamlessly attach and detach, ebb and flow into the different characters that you play. Personally, there are so many things I do to ground myself in my everyday life that more often than not I don’t allow the emotions on set to take over my personal life.

You continue to enjoy a dream run on OTT with The Broken News 2 and Taaza Khabar 2. Do you feel the industry now views you as one of its most bankable performers?

I’ve actually been very grateful for the quality of work that’s come my way. It’s been a decade of acting now and I feel very fortunate that filmmakers have trusted me with parts that have been challenging, complex, layered, that has allowed me to express myself and show different aspects to me as an actor.

Many actors chase visibility, but you seem to chase layered characters. Has that been a conscious choice?

I think it’s important to chase good work and visibility is a by-product of that work. Like I answered before, I think it’s very important to understand that this is showbiz. So, you need to have work that is diverse, that appeals to everybody, that is commercial and also niche perhaps. So from that point of view, I have tried to make choices whether it’s Mirzapur or Mandala Murders or then The Broken News and doing a film like Fan as my debut film.

Is there a role or genre you’re still eager to explore?

I was just thinking about this the other day that in the past few years, I have had the good fortune of being a lawyer, a news reporter, a sex worker, a cop and a cult leader. And that’s amazing because I think when you play these different parts, there is so much about the human condition that you really learn.

Tell us about your upcoming projects.

In the past few years I’ve done quite a few series because those stories really resonated with me. Now, it’s time for me to focus on films. I have two films coming up and I’m excited because both of them are commercial.