Mithila Palkar seems to have cracked the code to high-speed internet stardom. Just this year, the 23-year-old actor has crossed the million views barrier four times: first, with digital agency Filter Copy’s ‘Confusing Things Girlfriends Say’ and ‘Annoying Things Boyfriends Do’ sketches, followed by Bindass’ Girl In The City, which premiered on Facebook this April, before its TV launch. The 13-episode journey of a blithe Dehradun native adapting to the pace and peculiarities of Mumbai is growing in shares, but Palkar’s best travelled video is her rendition of Marathi song ‘Hi Chal Turu Turu’, set to a cappella beats from Anna Kendrick’s ‘Cups’. “There were messages from Italy, Singapore, LA saying we don’t know what we’re singing, but we’re constantly humming this song!” she says.
The Mumbai native’s chipper online personality now commands a sizeable fanbase, making life on the internet slightly nerve-wracking. “There are a lot of weird people out there and sometimes they’re just plain nasty. I do feel a little nervous, actually,” says Palkar, who also played Imran Khan’s younger sister in Nikhil Advani’s Katti Batti (2015), and hopes to find new training ground in Marathi cinema next. But this month, she’s promising more viral gold with fresh sketches on modern dating and Chukiyagiri, an office-comedy web series on infotainment website Arré.
IRL, Palkar doesn’t buy into the numbers-driven hype. “My ideal day would be spent sitting on the swing in my house and listening to Hindustani classical music. My goal for the year is to learn how to play the sitar.”
Photograph: Manasi Sawant; Styling: Veronna Parikh; Make-up and Hair: Saher Ahmed
