'Wedding Season' Star Pallavi Sharda Explains How She Choreographed This Incredible Dance Scene

Pallavi Sharda has done double duty for Netflix's latest rom-com "Wedding Season." In addition to starring in the film alongside Suraj Sharma of 'How I Met Your Father', the 32-year-old actor and dancer also choreographed an epic Bollywood dance number for the film's final scene.

The Netflix original centers on fake couple Asha (Sharda) and Ravi (Sharma) who pretend to be dating to survive a summer of weddings, which they were forced to attend by their parents. However, Asha and Ravi eventually develop feelings for each other and start dating for real. As Asha continues to explore her relationship with Ravi, she's also busy helping her sister Priya (Ari Afsar) plan her wedding to her fiancé Nick (Sean Kleier). The film actually ends with Priya and Nick's reception, which includes the dance scene choreographed by Sharda.

Speaking with POPSUGAR, Sharda reveals that director Tom Dey suggested she be the one to choreograph it, given her dance background. She recalled: "He said, 'I feel like there should be a dance at this wedding.' And I thought, 'There absolutely has to be a dance at this wedding!' They didn't have a choreographer, and he said, 'Well, you have a dance background, are you going to?' And I was like, 'Well, if that means we're going to have a dance at the wedding, absolutely, I'm going to.' So that was great."

Because filming took place during the COVID-19 shutdown, Sharda says the actors had to practice on Zoom. "It was just a perfect way to cheer everyone up and make sure we got together every day, despite the fact that we were all in quarantine," she explains. "And then eventually, when we were all released, we ended up going to a park and doing a social distancing rehearsal in person."

The dance was a meaningful experience not only for Sharda and Sharma, but also for the rest of the cast. Sharma adds, "There were people in the cast who really wanted to do a Bollywood dance because they were South Asian, but they never got to do it... And so, you had people, like [ actor] Manoj [Sood], for example. This man is so lovely and he just wanted to do this dance. And at first he was like, 'Oh, I can't do it. I'm so goofy.' But then when we finally got there, when we were actually shooting, it was on fire." Sharda says Sood emailed her the day after their rehearsal in the park saying he “wanted to go home and practice dancing and make it a part of his life.”

It felt like a giant celebration when the actors came back to decorate and shoot the scene, which took them three times to get perfect. "The spirit of the cast came together," Sharda recalled. "Because we had just done it in isolation, literally and figuratively, I think even the creators didn't know what was going on." Sharma adds, "In front of the camera, everyone is going wild. They're having the time of their lives, the music is loud, it's beautiful, and we're having a great time. And on the other side of the camera, it's a bunch of people in parkas."

“Wedding Season” is now available to stream on Netflix.

Image source: