Bollywood: Elli AvrRam talks up latest roles in Indian cinema

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Elli AvrRam has always been very drawn towards India. She was around five when she was first introduced to Bollywood, surprisingly on Swedish television, where they played a Bollywood song.

And at that moment, Elli says in a Zoom conversation with City Times, “I literally fell in love for the first time ever in my life.”

“It was just so fascinating that I was completely like ‘wow.’ And in that moment I felt that this is what I want to do in my life. Ever since then, whenever something about India, be it a documentary or anything Bollywood came on Swedish television, I would always run to the TV and stand there dreaming of living that moment, being like those girls. I just always had this calling.”

Fast forward to Elli’s teenage years when she hit another milestone in her love for Bollywood; she watched her first Bollywood movie Devdas on Swedish television. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, and Aishwarya Rai in lead roles, the film runs over three hours. And all that time, you’d find little Elli glued to the tiny TV she had in her room.

“I was like, this is what I want to do in life. I want to be an actress in Bollywood cinema; it became my goal and my biggest dream.”

After graduation, a “stubborn” Elli visited India to “try her luck” in the Bollywood industry. “Stubborn in a way like I cannot do anything else if my heart is not for it,” she says, adding how there was “pure excitement” on her maiden visit to the country.

And Elli, originally Swedish, wouldn’t find Indian customs “strange” as people thought she would. For instance, people eating with their hands (not spoons and forks) didn’t come as a surprise to Elli.

“I’ve definitely been Indian my past life,” she says.

And that belief, in a way, paved way for Elli in the Indian film industry. So far, she’s appeared in films, web series, reality TV shows, and music videos. Her first role in the industry came in 2013’s Mickey Virus in which she played Kamayani George. The same year, she appeared in the popular Salman Khan-hosted reality show Bigg Boss (Season 7). Her first prominent role came in 2015’s Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon which starred Indian comedian Kapil Sharma in the lead role. You may even remember her as Jesse in Malang, the 2020 revenge tale starring Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani and Anil Kapoor.

Now she is dabbling in films in different languages.