Beyond the social media edits and red carpet appearances, who is Sharvari choosing to become? In the August digital cover story, Vogue India finds out
I’m suspicious of people who are instantly nice. Warmth that arrives fully formed and unguarded. Call it cynicism or experience with interviews where sincerity feels mandated by PR agents. We all have edges beneath the softness and journalists are driven to locate them. With Sharvari, though, this wariness hits a snag. She doesn’t just feel affable or sweet. She feels… safe. Like someone who’d cry at an airport goodbye or send you songs at 2am that perfectly match your mood — and genuinely mean both.
“I’m very expressive. I cry a lot. I laugh a lot. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I feel things deeply, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” the 28-year-old actor states plainly. I study her closely (perhaps too closely), searching for practised neutrality as she talks about her grandmother’s chaat parties, late-night drives with friends and home-cooked meals. Is it just a “packaged for relatability” spin? Not when you’re sitting across from her. Sharvari, it seems, wants to be known. “It’s a conscious decision, but not a calculated one. I believe if I allow myself to truly be who I am, something in that will connect with people.”
It helps to have the kind of girl-next-door beauty that heroes in romcoms sing about. Eyes big enough to reflect both grief and ambition, winning over audiences through earnestness. Ask her what drew her to a career in the movies and the answer doesn’t veer towards the esoteric in an attempt to seem aloof and mysterious. While watching Aishwarya Rai in Dhoom 2 (2006), she says, something clicked. “She was so cool, so powerful. She made me want to dress up and act.” It wasn’t a plan as much as a pull. Years later, Sharvari was on the sets of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015) — not as an actor, but as an assistant director. “I realised I loved being on set, but I knew I wanted to try acting. Something in me said, ‘This is what I want to do.'”
She made her acting debut in Kabir Khan’s series The Forgotten Army (2020) opposite Sunny Kaushal. Her first big-screen role in Bunty Aur Babli 2 (2021) didn’t exactly set the industry on fire. But 2024 changed that: She shimmied her way into the zeitgeist with a viral dance number in Munjya, then switched registers with Maharaj and followed it up with Vedaa. This year, she’s slated to enter a bigger cinematic universe with Alpha alongside Alia Bhatt, and after that, will appear alongside Diljit Dosanjh and Vedang Raina in Imtiaz Ali’s period romance.
