An Open Letter to Mithila Palkar,
As I write this, my mind takes me back to years down memory lane. Those were the days when Chennai Super Kings had the same number of titles as Mumbai Indians had, Donald Trump was to become the 45th President of the United States and the Buckingham Palace was pompously celebrating the royal engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, unaware of the storm ahead.
The time goes back to my 12th standard when the 4G revolution took place in India. Yes, the time frame that I am talking about is at the start of 2017.
On some hot afternoon, a video suddenly pops up on my family WhatsApp group. Having thought it just another forwarded video of WhatsApp University, my brain told me to skip it. But my heart decided to download it. Little did I realize back then that downloading that video would start a process of adding a person to the list of people I deeply adore.
Just as the downloading got over, All of a sudden, there's this adorable girl with amazing lovely curls, melody in her voice, cups in her hands singing "Hi Chal Turu Turu", beautifully singing with the motion of cups subtly being played to perfection adding weight to the background score and Gee! I was stumped at the end of that song. I still cannot recollect the number of times I have watched that video.
That was the moment when I realized, that a star is born and a rising star is emerging. Is shared that video with my friends and enquired about the girl and someone told, "She is Mithila Palkar, actress of Little Things. I didn't have Netflix then so wasn't aware of what "Little Things" was. But one thing that has stayed in my heart since that time is your smile and I think it shall be placed somewhere in some corner of my mind forever in the times to come.
Then I started to follow you on Facebook and started to learn more about you via your social media updates. Your Marathi film debut took place in the same year with Muramba. I was amazed at your exceptional performance as Indu. I think that the real success for any actor lies to keep his audience engaged in the story and want the viewer to be engaged in the story not feeling the urge to fast forward the movie.
Your acting was so realistic that never did I feel the need to do so. The movie was never boring and as a debutant, your performance was excellent. Not to forget, you have managed to do this every time you have acted be it in any web series or movie.2018 and your Bollywood debut happened soon via Karwaan.
I have always been a fan of Irfaan Khan because I have always felt he was a real gem in acting, very underrated, and started getting lead roles after a long time. Tanya was as beautiful, loving, and adorable as Indu but Indu's character was that of a mature girl while Tanya was a free-flowing, free-spirited character, a light-hearted one. It showed your versatility as an actress to carry out different roles.
Then I started watching Little Things and I feel to date, that has to be your best work-at least my personal favourite as Kavya Kulkarni. Wow, you aced your acting in 3 different languages- English, Marathi, and Hindi and you were equally awesome in all the 3 languages. This clearly is an indicator that you can pull off any script in any language.
This January, I saw Tribhanga and loved Masha.One of the best Bollywood movies I have watched in a long time. Experienced the true satisfaction that one gets after watching a good movie after a long time in Bollywood.
I watched this movie because of your acting being your big fan but I was blown away by the theme, plot & sensitivity of mother-daughter relationships that can be observed in real life as well. What was refreshing to see was the fact that this was an all-female role movie with a female hero, female antagonist & female side leads.
It was wonderful to see that change. No typical extra Bollywood masala. Absolute class. Just 90 minutes & never experienced a dull moment or never felt the need to fast forward any part. The movie was also not stretched unnecessarily to increase the minutes. As they say, Content is truly the king and this movie truly showed that.
You are a graceful and awesome dancer. I cannot count the number of times I have contributed to your views getting increased on YouTube with the Ban Than Dance.
I definitely feel you should dance more often and keep posting more such dance videos which are an absolute treat for the eyes. The energy level is electrifying, the hand-eye coordination and flexibility in steps show the work of a genius. Whenever the song gets played, the first thought that comes to my mind is that of your graceful dance.
And Gee! How can anyone on Earth fail to not mention your singing??? Such a melodious and sweet voice with an ever-smiling cute face and the aura is so so amazing that I am short of words while writing this. Every weekend, I eagerly wait for your #SingSongSaturday and you never fail to disappoint with your amazing voice. Afraid that you missed out yesterday. Waiting for the song soon.
You act in 3 languages, you win hearts with your voice, you dance for fun, you exercise and inspire many to start workouts, you do headstands. I am an ardent cricket fan and I know you too are having been to the Women's World Cup Final Last year at the MCG to cheer up our girls.
If I have to explain this in a cricket analogy, Harsha Bhogle once quoted on Rahul Dravid," Ask him to walk on water and he will ask, how many kilometers?". because there was a cricketer who could do anything for the team, keep, open the innings, field at slip, bat at no 3, bat in the middle order, finish the innings, take catches for breakfast, etc. Similarly, Tell Mithila to do anything and she will do it to perfection. You are a perfect all-rounder.
The way you carry yourself is truly amazing. And you look fantastic in curls. Just a little request: Please do not straighten them up often unless demanded by the role that you play.
I hope and wish that may you achieve all that you want to achieve in life, may all your dreams come true, keep on shining and rising more & more as you have always been, may you achieve all the success in life, may you continue to inspire more and more people around you with your acting & talks, may your fame reach where the sky would be the limit and may you continue to do the good work that you have been doing since you began your acting.
God bless.
By Adwait Abhyankar