Pallavi Sharda started this conversation with, “Tumi kemon achho?” and ended it with telling me to go and have some “yummy phuchka and rosogolla” on her behalf. In between, the 30-year-old Indian-origin Australian actress — who has starred in films like Besharam and Begum Jaan and also hosted Season 10 of the IPL, besides starring in a few other international projects — chatted with The Telegraph over a Zoom call about her big, big Hollywood break.

Pallavi stars, alongside the likes of Chloe Grace Moretz, Michael Pena and Ken Jeong, in the live-action/computer-animated Tom & Jerry film, that brings alive our favourite childhood cat and mouse characters in a Warner Bros production, that releases in movie theatres today.

Watching Tom & Jerry the film really took me back to my childhood. I am sure it must have been the same for you when you were working on it...

It was 100 per cent nostalgia for me. I love India and India is a big part of who I am. My father was very excited when the film was offered to me and he said, ‘We used to watch it at IIT Delhi, they would screen Tom and Jerry outdoors’. And I was like, ‘Really?!’ (Laughs)

Actually when I would visit India as a child, for some reason we were always watching Tom and Jerry! It was always like, ‘Bacchon ko bithao and make them watch it’.

I think it was my Indian self that was attracted to the project, in a way. That’s where the nostalgia came from. And also the knowledge that the new generation of kids really deserve to see Tom and Jerry in all their glory.

How did the film happen?

I was in London for the Beecham House (directed by Gurinder Chadha) premiere and going to Cannes. That’s when my London-based agent called and said there is this role. The offer came to me when I was back in Australia shooting an Australian film. We were shooting at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) and we wrapped and I went straight to the airport. I flew to London with a stopover at Japan and I remember it so vividly because I was literally going through so many countries within the space of weeks and then landing up at the Warner Bros studios. I just knew that I couldn’t miss working on a film like this. It all fell into place really organically.

Talking to Tim Story (the film’s director) was really the clincher for me. We had a Skype (call) when I was in Sydney and he’s such a phenomenal director and such a kind soul. I knew I really wanted to work with him as well.

In the film, your character Preeta is prepping for her big, fat celebrity wedding around which the whole narrative of Tom & Jerry is set. What was your understanding of her?

I have a background of being a law student, so I have been kind of an academic nerd (laughs). I was the good Indian girl who grew up in the diaspora. In a sense, that’s also Preeta’s story. She comes from a very wealthy socialite family, but I am the daughter of teachers, so that’s different. But I do have a lot of friends like Preeta. And obviously having worked in Bollywood, that whole socialite life is something that I have seen and also been a part of. I put in all these different elements into who Preeta ends up being.

But at the core of it, she’s someone who is very rooted in her sense of self. That she wasn’t affected by growing up in wealth or the fact that she could have what she wanted. At the end of the day, she’s a strong, independent woman making a choice about the man she wants to marry. She’s also a very compassionate woman because she puts up with a lot! (Laughs)

The film combines live-action and animation. What were the challenges of a set-up like that?

It was a pretty taxing shoot, but in a good way. We shot for about three months. I was in a very heavy Sabyasachi lehnga for most of the time! (Laughs) Having worked in India, I luckily felt comfortable in all of that. Having to deal with all the cultural elements and then perform a lot of mime work and working with puppets and soft toys and using my imagination.... In the film, I am not actually sitting on an elephant or talking to a cat or mouse, and I had to use a lot of my imagination.

What really helped me was my training as a Bharatanatyam dancer. The kind of abhinay or bhaav that you use as a dancer is something I employed while interacting with these inanimate objects as if they are real.

Films in the West tend to depict India and Indian-ness as generic and stereotypical and sometimes even caricaturish. What was your experience on this film?

We were careful about making sure that we didn’t fall into those traps. I have knowledge of my culture and a fanbase in India and I was liable to make sure that I wasn’t doing the wrong thing. It’s a heavy burden to carry. I grew up as a woman who didn’t find herself being represented on screen. And now, I have the privilege of representing Indian culture on screen. I am always very careful about how that happens with the work I do, and it’s a big part of my pre-production work... that we get all those things right.

There was a lot of workshopping on Tom & Jerry around the Indian wedding and how Preeta comes into it. But then I was also very fortunate to have Tim Story and Chris (DeFaria), the producer. I think that’s increasingly happening... people have realised that they need to go in with cultural knowledge and need to listen to those with authority in that space. It’s an interesting conversation that’s constantly happening, and my work on screen includes having a sense of responsibility of whatever facet of Indian-ism I am representing on screen.

Pallavi Sharda in Tom & Jerry Sourced by the correspondent

You’ve been making films all over the world, but Tom & Jerry is inarguably your big Hollywood break. How are you planning to leverage this going forward?

I am very bad at leveraging things! (Laughs) Honestly, I am very simplistic in my outlook towards my work. It’s a job that you go and do, and then you do the next job. I am on two film shoots right now until June and I think that’s just it... if the work is coming, then that means I am already leveraging it. That’s how I see it.

Having experienced Bollywood very closely, I have realised that the person I am not is the one who is seen for the sake of being seen. It’s about finding that role that is the most attractive to me and that’s where my focus lies.

What’s keeping you from doing work in India?

I have been offered some really good Indian shows, but they were clashing with some of the projects overseas. Begum Jaan was sort of make it-break it for me in many ways because playing Gulabo was so therapeutic. Being in Santiniketan spoke to a part of me that I really needed to explore as an actor. And then it was important for me to say, ‘I am Indian, but I am also Australian and I can be on screen anywhere in the world’. That was the priority, but now, it’s just the schedules didn’t permit at first and then the pandemic got in the way. I would love to, though. I really miss India, the work, the people and all my colleagues. Hopefully, I should be there at some time.