Shilpa Shivanand or Shilpa Anand

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24 April 2008

    Shilpa Shivanand commonly known as Shilpa Anand born on December 10, 1982 in South Africa was a software designer and Indian model turned actress. Shilpa moved to United States Of America and lived there for 2 years. She then moved to Mumbai again and is currently staying there for more than 8 years. She is the younger sister of the famous Tollywood and Kollywood actress Sakshi Shivanand, who is often mistaken for her.

    She started her career from modeling and appeared in several South Indian movies. She did many advertisements on Indian television including the famous Shanti Badaam Amla advertisement.She has also appeared in a Lux advertisement along with Aishwariya Rai Bachchan. She has also appeared in many Coca-Cola advertisements with Aamir Khan and she has also done a Pudin Hara advertisement along with Amitabh Bachchan.

    She rose to fame throughout India after starring as the lead role of 'Dr.Riddhima Gupta' in Dill Mill Gayye ( Dil Mil Gaye or DMG ) on Star One which is a sequel to the television show Sanjeevani-A medical boon. Dill Mill Gayye is based on American television program Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs. In this show Shilpa plays the lead role.

    Riddhima is a 21 year old, warm hearted, kind and good-natured girl. This single most important thing in her life along with being a good human being is her dream to make her father, Shashank Gupta proud off her achievements in the medical arena. She is intelligent and modern in her outlook to life, and yet respects and represents all the core Indian values. Quick to forgive and forget, at the same time she will not take blatant injustice lying down. Riddhima's weak spot is Anjali, as she allows Anjali to always get the better from her, but that again is not a sign of her weakness. She does so simply because her nature is amenable to everything. Yet, there is one person, an intern like her in Sanjeevani, who manages to awaken the deepest passions of the generally very easy going Riddhima. He irritates her to an extreame point where riddhima looses her tempre.How much ever Riddhima tries to ignore Armaan, she cannot. She eventually falls in love with Armaan but her ego drives them apart. Played by Shilpa Anand.

    She also stepped in Bollywood and has acted in a movie named Iqraar..By Chance. She played the lead role-'Rashmi' in the film, However the film was a huge flop. She has also acted in a film named Sirf which is already released on 4th April 2008.

Shilpa Anand: Me, wearing a saree?
Shilpa Anand enjoys her stint in the television world but is happy that she is not playing run-of-the-mill characters. 

She was happily running around trees and singing songs in South Indian movies, but then the world of TV beckoned. Shilpa Anand, one of the young cast of Star One’s new serial Dill Mill Gayye , is enjoying her stint in the telly world, and has very definite opinions on the current fare on TV.

“Television is a medium where one can experiment with various topics and issues. Ironically, saas-bahu sagas are the only thing that one gets to see,” she says.

So would she act in one of the K serials? “This is an individual choice, and depends on the actor,” she says diplomatically. “But then, wearing a saree 24/7 and shedding tears would be a painful experience for me. Thankfully, I am not playing a run-of-the-mill character in Dil Mil Gaye . I play a doctor.”

But aren’t saas-bahu sagas the most popular choice of the masses? “Says who?” Shilpa counters. “The audience is bored with those serials, but they hardly have any options. People are interested in watching something different, and serials for the youth are definitely welcome,” she avers. “After working in this serial, I have realised that television offers you a wider scope to show your acting talent. I always dreamt of playing a doctor in my life, and I am excited for having been given that chance.”

Shilpa has done modelling assignments, and she says her stint with South Indian movies was a very pleasant one. “It is a very disciplined industry, where one gets to learn various aspects of acting,” she says.

So if she liked the industry and her work there, what made her shift to television? “I have not quit south Indian films completely, but I somehow started to find it monotonous. The language was something I couldn’t understand and so I wasn’t enjoying it much,” she explains candidly.