Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Merry Christmas’, starring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, has a cute kid in the cast. Child artist Pari Sharma, who plays little Annie in the film, was actually chosen by her screen mom Katrina Kaif and she did full justice to being the chosen one.
Pari who is 7 years old has been working in the ad world for quite some time now. Her inspiration in the world of showbiz is her elder brother Neil Sharma who is also an actor. Sharing details about her casting process little Pari tells us, “When I was shortlisted by a casting agency, I was not aware that Katrina Kaif would be playing my mother in the film. I got to know later on the day of the shoot that she would be my screen mom. I was very happy when later on I got to know that it was Katrina Kaif who selected me out of the last 3 final contenders for the role.”
Pari who has no dialogue in the film has worked very hard to make all the scenes convincing. She adds, “People who have seen the film must have noticed that ‘Merry Christmas’ has mostly night scenes and our director Sriram Sir has always ensured that the unit shoots according to my comfort level. Whenever Katrina Ma’am has scenes I have my scenes too, so both of us used to have the same schedule. Every day she made sure to make me feel comfortable on set. My favourite pastime on the set was to play with her and every day Katrina Ma’am gave one thought. Meeting her every day and spending so much time with her on set got me very close to her. The unit people used to think of us like real mom-daughter. Later Katrina Ma’am also recommended me for one advertisement which she was also part of and I did that ad eventually.”
Pari also shares how confident director Sriram Raghavan Sir was on set. She says, “As my scenes have no dialogues, my director Sriram Raghavan Sir put me into a workshop before the shooting started. So, it was quite easy for me to grasp the tune of the script on set. Everyone had the patience with me and I was never under any kind of pressure.”
Little Pari is currently in standard one at St Teresa Convent High School in Mumbai. Sharing about her school and teachers she says, “My school is very encouraging and my friends are very happy about my achievement. I want to become a heroine in the future and my parents will support me unconditionally. At the same time, they have also told me that I should be continuing my study in parallel. My brother Neil is also an actor so for my parents it is a great comforting factor.”
