When Arjun Reddy Actress Shalini Pandey Ran Away From Home To Pursue Acting

Some of the biggest names in the film industry had to make tough decisions to embark on their acting journey. These names include personalities like Yash and Kangana Ranaut, who had to run away from home to realise their dreams. Another popular name joined this list, whose debut proved to be a superhit release. We are talking about Shalini Pandey, who reportedly left her home to pursue a career in acting. As per more reports, Shalini had to go against the wishes of her family to become an actress. According to Shalini, her father wished to see her become an engineer.

In an earlier media interaction, Shalini detailed her struggling days’ journey. She said, “My papa wanted me to do engineering. I even tried it, but I wasn’t able to do it. And my papa just wouldn’t agree to let me try acting.” She revealed that she tried to convince her father for four years and eventually made the decision to run away. Speaking further, she added, “Now it seems like a joke but at that time it was very difficult. So I ran away.”

When she finally arrived in Mumbai, she had nowhere to go. Even though two of her friends lived in the city, she could not stay at their place for some reason. Due to that she had to share a place with boys. Later in an interview, she revealed that those boys eventually became her family. Even after becoming an actress, she considers their friendship to be very special.

Shalini Pandey got her big break with the release of Arjun Reddy, a Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial. She got to share the screen space with Vijay Deverakonda, along with Rahul Ramakrishna, Jia Sharma and Sanjay Swaroop. Released in 2017, the film proved to be a blockbuster hit at the box-office. After the film’s success, her parents finally came around and accepted her decision to become an actress.

In the following years, Shalini appeared in films like Mahanati, Gorilla and Iddari Lokam Okate. She made her Bollywood debut with the film Jayeshbhai Jordaar, released in 2022. Currently, she is featuring in the Junaid Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat starrer, Maharaj.