Ahilya Bamroo always knew she wanted to be an actor. What she didn’t know was that an Instagram account would become her ticket to the movies. Growing up in the multicultural township of Auroville near Puducherry, she was far removed from the traditional film circles, but her humorous videos on accents, multilingual observations and language-learning series went viral and eventually led to acting in Shoojit Sircar’s I Want To Talk and Sing Geetham, directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, which released last month.

In a candid conversation with Hyderabad Times she shared about her unconventional journey, how her upbringing shaped both her life, her role as Gauri in the film, and the lessons she learnt from working with the legendary filmmaker Singeetham Srinivasa Rao.

Growing up in Auroville gave Ahilya a childhood unlike most. Surrounded by people from different countries and cultures, those formative years instilled empathy, patience and a broader perspective that continue to shape her both as an artiste and as a person.

“At one point in school, I was one of only four Indian students in a class of about 25. Everyone else came from places like Korea, Germany and Italy, so it was an incredibly diverse environment. Because we were such a small community made up of people from so many different backgrounds, you naturally learned empathy,” she says, adding, “You had to be patient with one another because everyone came from a different place. I’m incredibly grateful to my parents for raising me there.”

Those values also helped Ahilya connect deeply with Gauri, the character she played in Sing Geetham, an eco-fantasy musical directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and set in the fictional mining village of Kuberapuram.

“The theme of the movie is very relevant to what’s happening in the world today. Many of the things Gauri goes through are things I’ve also felt at different points in my life, and that’s been shaped a lot by where I grew up. I grew up in a forested environment, in a place that really values nature, peace and serenity over material wealth, and in some ways, that perspective feeds into the film as well,” she says.

Despite sharing an emotional connection with the character, Ahliya believes Gauri is far more courageous than she is. “At the same time, Gauri is much braver than I am. I really admire her. I’ve actually learned a lot from her. So even though I don’t come from the same background as the character — I’m not a Telugu girl and I didn’t grow up in those exact circumstances — there were still parts of her personality that I could connect with and draw from,” she says.

Beyond the character, the biggest takeaway for her was watching the 94-year-old legendary filmmaker at work.

“What’s inspiring is that the strong, progressive ideas around women and lead characters are coming from someone who is 94 years old. It’s incredible. I remember once, someone suggested doing a scene in a way that’s commonly done in mainstream Telugu commercial cinema, but he simply said, ‘We’re not making a film like everybody else, are we?’ He encouraged us to move away from familiar commercial conventions and experiment scenes in a more organic way instead of relying on a formula. Even now, he continues to experiment, push boundaries and always wants to change the game. Watching that firsthand has been incredibly inspiring,” she says.

During the pandemic, Ahilya’s comedic skits, vlogs and spot-on impressions, including a fan-favourite French accent, found a wide audience on Instagram. What began as a creative outlet soon became a launchpad for her acting career, with the platform helping her land opportunities in both Bollywood and Telugu cinema. 

“I think one of the best things about Instagram is that it has made opportunities much more accessible. You can be sitting in a small town in India, and someone in Mumbai, Delhi or Hyderabad can come across your work and cast you in a project. In that sense, I owe a lot to Instagram because it allowed me to stay in my little world in Pondicherry while still being discovered by people in the industry,” she says, adding, “In fact, this is the second film I’ve landed through an Instagram direct message. The first was I Want To Talk, with Shoojit Sircar and Abhishek Bachchan, which still feels surreal to me. I’m incredibly grateful to Instagram, but I’m equally grateful to filmmakers who are willing to look beyond the usual circles when casting.”

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“Singeetham sir is so ahead of the curve. He always has been, as an artiste and as a visionary. Very often, he’ll suggest changes to the script or propose approaching a character differently, and it always feels so fresh and modern. The way he looks at stories is constantly ahead of its time.”

“Of course I want recognition, but I don’t measure success by how many followers I have or whether a film I’m part of becomes a box office hit. For me, it’s about growing as an artiste.”