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In a country where acts come out of drama schools or industry contacts, Sanvikaa's tale is a long way from typical. Pooja Singh was born in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh and raised with other middle-class Indian girls, finishing her school education in her hometown and then going for higher education in Electronics and Communication Engineering. It was a route that offered stability and one her family hoped she would take in a traditional career. But somewhere along the way, Sanvikaa felt like that wasn't the life she wanted.
She chose not to join the crowd of engineering graduates going to Bangalore to pursue a career in IT but opted out and left for Mumbai having taken up with a friend who was already working in the entertainment industry. It did not start out like a glamorous job. Though this was not an acting job, it was her first experience in the city and an experience where she worked as an assistant director to oversee outfits on set, it did give her a first hand look into how the business worked. She took this job and at the same time she secretly auditioned in the background for acting roles, not sure where they would take her, but she was willing to go through it. That decision proved to be the right one and within 10 days of her first audition, she had gotten a commercial ad job.
The turning point, however, took place in the second season of Panchayat, when Sanvikaa got to be Rinki, the daughter of the Pradhan. The character wasn't flashy, nor was the performance - and it is exactly that which makes it work. The simplicity was a good way to connect with the audience and her chemistry with the lead actor Jitendra Kumar's character was one of her most talked about aspects. Blessed by the social community, she was proclaimed “The National Crush” in a matter of days and the moniker remained with her long after the season's conclusion.
After doing so, Sanvikaa also had the opportunity to take on the role once again for Panchayat Season 3 and Season 4, where she further endeared herself to viewers who had fallen for Rinki's character. Her performance in the third season didn't go unnoticed in the industry either, she won the Indian Streaming Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and received various award nominations thereafter. In addition to Panchayat, she has also worked on various other projects such as Hajamat and Plan A Plan B, making her career go beyond her most famous part.
Sanvikaa's narrative is not only about the fame that came after Panchayat but also the journey she embarked on to reach that success, where she learned to navigate the arduous terrain of politics and public life. Starting off as a mechanical engineering graduate, and now one of the most popular faces in Indian streaming content, her story is a classic case of a quiet persistence that rarely gets the headlines until the fruits of her labor are realized. As her popularity rises and she is getting more and more opportunities, Sanvikaa's story is just beginning.
