Page 14 - Masala Lite Issue 167 November 2024

14 COVERED

STEALER to be an actor, but it
I’ve always wanted

was a pipe dream; the
kind where only one

SHIVAM PAWA, percent of people get
an up-and-coming actor, gives us the buzz this opportunity.
ahead of his cinematic debut.

BY AIDEN JEWELLE GONZALES

You’ve gained recognition through your TikTok
content, but how did your journey into acting,

especially in the Thai film industry, begin?
The movie director or producer was looking for someone
really don’t know how it happened!” Shivam Pawa tells me in joyful disbelief when I met of Indian ethnicity, and so they called me for a casting call,

him to get the inside scoop on his acting debut in the upcoming Thai horror film Malee (2024), having seen my TikToks. They said it would be very quick,
in which he plays ‘Him,’ a character haunted by both his past and a mysterious entity. “The but it turned out to be a whole day of casting! I thought
passion for acting was always inside me; I’m sure since I was in my mum’s stomach – I was a dramatic I’d just be auditioning for the role of an extra, but I had no
baby!” he continues with a laugh. “But I never thought that I would get to act in a movie, let alone a Thai idea what was waiting for me behind the door. I only found
movie, where people who look like me still barely get any recognition. Being able to act in the country out three weeks before they started filming, when they

where I was born is not something I would ever have dreamed of.”
called me and said, “You got the part – and it’s the lead.”
Having known him since his TikTok days making humorous content about the Thai-Indian experience, I’ve always wanted to be an actor, but it was a pipe dream;

during which Masala featured him and other Thai-Indian influencers making their mark on the online the kind where one percent of people get this opportunity.
space, it was a pleasure to see how far he’d come since then. We spoke further about how he got into I’m so overwhelmed and excited, especially about the fact
the industry, how he feels like an ambassador of sorts as an Indian in Thai cinema, and his gratitude that I’m Thai-Indian and starring in a Thai film – I didn’t

for his dual Thai and Indian identity, which he hopes will be the impetus for more Thai films embracing think that could be possible!
diversity in their cast.