Pallavi ( entertainer)

Pallavi (born June 8,1965 as Priti Rani) is a multilingual Indian actress and producerhas acted leading roles in motion pictures and television since 1984. She has acted in 165 motion pictures and 50 television series enroute to earning 21 best actress awards. Popular since debuting in a leading role, Pallavi speaks nine languages and has made films in six of them. Eighteen of her feature films ran for at least 50 weeks at the box office achieving what Indian film distributors call a golden jubilee. Her most popular TV show aired over 500 episodes. This popular actress and producer began her own production company, now known as [Legacy 688 Films] http://www/Legacy688.com, in 1990. She has produced TV serials, movies, television commericals, short films and is working on collecting 200 of her most popular music videos, some of which have been viewed on You Tube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3PNSetwLc] over 100,000 times. The star has four films set for release in 2009, with two televsiion series in pilot phase. She is in preproduction on the first of series of five films she is producing and acting in for her own production company. ----

Early career

The noted Tamil language film magazine and now website, [http://www.kumudam.com "Kumudam"] , devoted an entire issue to her extraordinary career, saying,

“ Pallavi began her acting career with a level of worship typically reserved for seasoned veterans. From her early work in "Illau Priyalu" (Telugu - 1984) and "Aruvadainaal" (Tamil - 1985), it quickly became apparent to the sharpest of critics – and even the most casual of moviegoers – that the chameleon-like Punjabi, Pallavi was an unparalleled master of glamour, character, accents and genres.”

Known in her first film as "Priti", Pallavi was re-named by famed Kannada film director T. Aldebaran for her second film, " [Netra Pallavi"] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246116/",(Kannada,1985) literally, (Eyes of Pallavi). She played a blind girl, critics raved, and the audience voted her her first "best actress" award for her efforts. Pallavi's eyes have captivated directors and phtographers for the ensuing 25 years. Her exotic looks and large, expressive eyes caught the attention of many film directors who have variously filmed her with her eyes as brown, blue, green,hazel, amber and grey.

To date,she has starred in five films with India's biggest box office hero,Rajinikanth whom she credits with launching her from glam-girl, beauty-queen to serious dramatic actress in their hit film, "Valli"(Tamil,1986). Famed action star Kamal Haasan who always does his own stunts convinced Pallavi to jump off the top of a 17 story building with him in the film "Soora Samharan" (tamil, 1987). Clips of that heart-stopping jump are still shown on the internet today on Pallavi's many You tube videos. [http://www.youtube/Pallavi] and on her own website,Legacy 688.com. [http://www.legacy688.com]

Career Highlights

Pallavi's storied film career began with her enormous popularity in her first film and enabled her to become one of the "glam-girls" whose new looks in each film created popular trends in clothing, hairstyles and cosmetics for many years. She developed a reputation within the industry as a reliable, hard-working actress unafraid to break cinematic barriers. Her work ethic is a local legend with her on camera days sometimes stretching to 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Pallavi is known throughout the film industry for doing her own difficult and dangerous stunts. In addition to her famous 17-story free-fall, Pallavi has been seriously injured on several shoots where stunt equipment failed to activate properly. She has been accidentally hanged , seriously cut and wounded, thrown from horses and hospitalized. Pallavi has not taken any breaks since her cinema career began in 1984.She has appeared in at least four films every year since she finished her studies. Her first film as both star and producer was ,"Uruvam" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320703/",(Tamil,1990) broke new boundaries. It was bloody and horrifying, stunning audiences and critics alike. It received major critical acclaim as "the best horror film ever made in South India"1 It was considered very unusual at the time because it did not include the traditional Indian film musical interludes. The rapidly growing television market in South India in the l990's began to attract major talent from the film industry. Pallavi tried the new format both producing her own shows and starring in numerous others. Her popularity in Tamil and Telugu language shows spread to other langauge states of South India and eventually she was shooting serials in all four major south Indian Languages. Pallavi had leading roles in more than 50 TV shows during the period from 1999-2008, but continued her film career, by selectively choosing her roles which fit her dominant television schedule. During the same period of time, Pallavi produced and starred in a number of documentaries and short films for her own production company. One of which, "Captain Evolution"(English,2004), won an industry award at the International Tourism Film festival in Germany. Her production company also edits and rewrites scripts for a number of TV shows and films in addition to producing original work for commercials, industry, and television.

Biography

Pallavi was born on June 8, in Mumbai, India to a Punjabi family, the youngest child of three. Her father was a hotelier; her mother, a home-maker. She was an introverted and studious child with a serious interest in research science that followed her through her college years at Parle College in Mumbai. Attending the film ["Star Wars,"] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/ (English, 1977) indirectly led to her own movie career. After attending the film, her oldest brother stopped by an advertising agency that was shooting a big screen advertisement to run in theaters in Kerala and in Dubai. They were having difficulties with the actress for the shoot when the producer noticed Pallavi among the bystanders. The advertisement, for an arabian perfume, became Pallavi's, first appearance on the silver screen in 1979. The advertisement is still shown in some theaters today, making that ad her longest running appearance on the silver screen. That ad led to a variety of modelling shoots, including the layout for the annual Air India calendar in 1980. Modelling became Pallavi's after school, part-time job. She pursued her studies and developed many personal interests in Kthak Dance, vegetarianism, animal activism, reading and languages, while photographers and advertisers were pursuing her. Despite her academic pursuits, a film producer discovered her in her first year of college and signed her to the lead role in her first film before her 18th birthday. Struggling with her family for approval to do some acting, they allowed her to film only during her university breaks. Pallavi's uncle,who died prior to Pallavi's media career, was the famed Indian government documentary film maker (PADMASHRI) [S. SUKHDEV] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0837729/.

Photo Gallery

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