Next Stage
Femina|April 20 2017

Creator of a viral YouTube video, Mithila Palkar says she tried her best to stay away from the spotlight, but it found her anyway. Nikita Sawant chats with the young actor

Next Stage

There’s a childlike energy and enthusiasm to her that’s infectious. When she laughs, you can’t help but join in too. Twenty-three-year-old Mithila Palkar made her mark in the popular web series Girl In The City, but what really established her as a viral sensation was her rendition of a classic Marathi song, Hi Chaal Turu Turu, in the style of Anna Kendrick’s Cups on YouTube. With a couple other web series—Little Things and Official Chukyagiri—to her credit, Palkar is on a roll. Edited excerpts:

When did you first decide you wanted to act?

I think I was always interested in acting. At 12, I was part of my school’s theatre group and that’s when I got my first taste of the stage. The epiphany that I wanted to be an actor came to me that long ago.

You come from a traditional Maharashtrian family. Was it difficult to chase your acting dreams?

To tell you the truth, I tried to run away from acting. It wasn’t the ideal career to pursue from my family’s perspective, so I tried to avoid the whole thing for a while, but I couldn’t run too far or for too long. So I started volunteering with this theatre company called QTP, which runs an annual national youth theatre festival called Thespo. I joined the company in 2012, and in 2013 I ran their festival as one of the directors. That’s when another epiphany hit me: I wasn’t made for backstage work. I craved to be on stage, acting.

How did you land the role of Meera Sehgal in Girl In The City?

This story is from the April 20 2017 edition of Femina.

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This story is from the April 20 2017 edition of Femina.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.