'We made peace': Arjun Reddy actress Shalini on father objecting to her career choice

After playing the leading lady lead in Arjun Reddy, Shalini Pandey is the talk of the town. But it took her years of hard work to get here. “Acting never happened to me. I made it happen!” says the engineering graduate, who has loved acting since “time immemorial”! In fact, pursuing sciences instead of arts was a decision she made only because of her strict father. 

“He wasn’t convinced about my career choice. He thought I should take up an IT job. But my heart was set on acting. He had accompanied me to my first discussion with Sandeep (director) for Arjun Reddy. It took me over a week to convince him to allow me to meet the director and eventually, I somehow got him to allow me to sign the film as well. It wasn’t easy,” she shares.

It wasn’t a pleasant ride after that though. With the film taking nearly five months to start, Shalini’s father became restless and started pressuring her to take up a job instead of wasting time. “It was then that I told him to let me go to Mumbai and try my luck for a week. It was a struggle to allow him to let me go. He did so only after he bought my return ticket! However, once I landed there, he kept calling me often, asking me to return. I was already frustrated with the film not having begun, and other things not seeming to work out. I snapped,” she recalls.

While she never told her father where exactly in Mumbai she was located, she did send him an email saying that she wasn’t coming back soon. “I knew he was capable of coming to take me back to pursue a career he thought was safer and right for me. He replied to my mail saying he’d go to the police in a bid to find me. I told him that I’d do the same and tell them he’s torturing me! I was a grown-up,” she shares, adding that her relationship with him was strained for very long after that. In fact, they made up after she finished Arjun Reddy. She adds, “He apologised too. I knew then that he understood what I went through. We made peace. And now, though he never told me, he is extremely excited about my success.”

In a recent interview, when Shalini shared this story, she didn’t imagine the consequences that would follow. “It’s so disturbing that people are reporting that I threatened my father about going to the police! Only those around me at that point knew what I went through! I obviously don’t want to put my father down. I can’t believe people are so judgmental,” she says, adding, “I don’t disrespect anyone, and surely not my father, even though we aren’t on the same page about my choices! For 22 years, I did everything he told me to. For once, I wanted to listen to my heart. I just felt I owe myself first more than anyone else.”

She now understands that she has to be careful, especially since her words are subject to various interpretations. “I also spoke about how I had two male roommates in Mumbai and how they were like family to me. The next thing I know is people are derogatorily writing about how I lived with two boys! It’s quite unnerving,” she concludes.