Dreams do come true if you choose to believe.

[Music]

wow

okay just to let you all know i’m

extremely nervous

because this is the first time i’m doing

this in my life

uh i love to talk um it’s just that i

need to learn to

keep you know a red line and not go like

the ruder because

i have a tendency of becoming like a

tree i love trees maybe that’s why

so here’s the thing uh what i want to

share with all of you and i want to

share

with the world i want to share this with

youngsters you know young dreamers

uh out there in the world that dreams

do come true uh they actually do

so i remember i was five years old

and i’m standing in front of the swedish

television and there’s

this song playing and

i’m asking my parents what is this

because

for the first time i’m seeing something

so

colorful um it’s it’s

like it’s something else

and i fall in love with it and my

parents tell me

that this is called bollywood and it’s

uh in india

so from that moment i remember hearing

india

and bollywood ever since then

india became this exotic country which

is far away somewhere and

i just knew from then that one day i

have to visit that country

because i want to become uh one of those

girls

because i just fell in love with it so

then what happened was

every time uh something uh regarding

india or bollywood used to come on

swedish television

and my parents used to go like ellie

ellie like run fast come

you know like they’re they’re showing

bollywood again on swedish tv and

whatever i was doing i went like

and i was just running that’s how you

know madly in love uh

i was with bollywood then as a teenager

i

saw my first bollywood movie and that

was dave does

the one with the uh the one that sanji

la bansali sir

directed and i still remember that

morning

and uh i said to myself this is what i

want to do in life

okay i i want to become a bollywood

actress

so two years later i was googling up

like where can i learn bollywood

dance i found a dance school

in stockholm city where they had a

course that was

how to learn to dance bollywood so i

applied i went there

i was you know after school i used to go

and and learn bollywood dance there and

it was like the best thing ever

as i used to stand there i used to just

like visualize myself like being parvati

you know paru from devdas and uh

then later on you know i graduated okay

uh i became a part of this

bollywood dance group called baldesi

dance group

and uh we used to perform you know

during the weekends we used to perform

all over scandinavia and i used to love

it and each and every time

i was again visualizing myself being in

bollywood you know being this bollywood

actress

and uh so

i said to myself ellie what what do you

want to do in life

because you know that you really

want to actually become a bollywood

actress you want to work in bollywood

why don’t you just go for it so here’s

the thing

um most of us i mean most of us all of

us

i would say we always have that one

dream but then what happens is

fears we get scared we start to listen

to others

telling us yeah but what makes you

believe that you are gonna you know

achieve your dream

that you are gonna make it this and that

so that happened to me

i really wanted to go to india i really

wanted to try my luck in bollywood

i was told that you know i’m i’m too

sure to be an

actress um i’m half swedish half creed

like oh my gosh like i’m not even indian

like

seriously uh you know don’t know even

hindi

don’t have any contacts like there was

so many negative

things you know i was being told but

what did i do

i allowed it to enter from here

and exit from there you know i didn’t

take that on me i didn’t choose to

believe

in what everyone around me

were believing i chose to believe in

myself

and how um like from where did i get my

confidence okay so i made sure to learn

bollywood dance

um i was learning acting

i went to stockholm university and uh

i studied the vanagri because i was

thinking if i moved to india you know

maybe they just read and write in the

venables so

i need to learn this i need to learn the

language how will i otherwise

act um so i started that

and now my dear father

so uh i used to grow up like in a very

like greek

orthodox way uh which means that the

first time i went out clubbing i had to

have my dear mother with me otherwise i

was not allowed to go out clubbing

um so what happens was uh

i went to the sofa because dad used to

sit on the sofa and you know

watch tv and i used to be like dad i

really want to go to india like

i really want to try my luck in

bollywood

sure okay how will you go

um i don’t know i like

you know book a ticket i’ll find some

way

some place to stay at and uh

yeah you know so i was young right so it

was just stupid i actually didn’t really

have the answers to my father

you know i was expecting him to help me

and then uh he used to be like okay okay

i

i’ll help you don’t worry you know

you’re my daughter i want the best for

you

i said okay i was excited i was googling

up stuff

uh regarding bollywood how to make it as

an outsider

um you know are there any chances and

then i came again

to my dad and sat down on the sofa and i

was like dad i’m ready to leave now i

really want to go

how will you go well you said that

you’re going to help me

oh i will help you with what money will

you go

so i was like but dad you told me that

you’re gonna help me a cha

and then i used to go like okay dad it’s

not gonna help me

and then what i did was i picked up a

job

i was working in one of sweden’s uh

biggest jewelry stores and i did really

well

uh and i started to save my money and

then you know

generally you know always talk to dad

and share what’s going on in my life so

i said dad i’m saving money now you know

oh for what to go to india because i

really want to go for my dream

beta why are you saving money i’m here

now

i will give you the money you spend that

money go shopping

do all of that you know if i’m your

father if i don’t give you my money

then what am i doing here i said bingo

awesome i can go shopping i can do all

these fun things now because that is

gonna

help me with this money then i come

again and i go like

so dad okay i want to leave now with

what money

okay it took me three years to reach

mumbai because after some time i

realized

my my father does not want me to go

and it’s not that he did not want me to

go for my dream

it was just that he was scared of losing

his only daughter you know

like he didn’t even allow me to go out

clubbing he’s gonna allow me to move to

india which is like far far away from

sweden

so i realized this i said okay ellie you

know what you really want to do this

in your life now go for it

and you know go for it uh as in like

don’t

um uh depend on your parents or

anyone else so i saved my money secretly

you know i did all of that i did my

research um

my mother’s best friend uh she was

she knew this indian family over here in

mumbai

she helped me she said let me connect

you to them you know maybe they can help

you can stay at their place when you go

there before you find your own

uh place i was contacting them i did

everything secretly

and then one day i came to dad

sat next to him again on the sofa in the

living room and i’m like dad now i’m

going

the same question again i said well

here’s the plan

i have saved this much money uh i have

booked

uh these tickets you know um this is the

airline this is where i’m going to stay

these are these are the places i’m going

to visit

um these are the people i’m going to

contact like i literally had

a plan and there was nobody who could

really stop me because

we all know like if you have the money

you can do it right

and my father got shocked and very

scared and very tense

you know what do i do but i’ll never

forget

the day um when i went for my dance

rehearsal and it was just like a week

before

um taking off to india and i got this

phone call from my father saying you

know what

i want you to know that i’m so extremely

proud of you because

you’re my daughter and you’re young and

i know that you’re young there’s one

thing in having a dream

and sometimes you’re childish

but you have proved me now okay you

generally

really want to do this and i’m so proud

of you

that you have done it this way and now

you’re going now you have my full

support

so my father was basically testing me

how

badly i actually wanted this and this

helped me also when i came to india to

also know

that i have to work hard i have to do

everything myself

never depend on somebody else there can

be people coming into your life

who can push you who can give you some

help

but bakika matlab it’s it’s you it’s you

who will do it

um so that’s something i believe in and

that’s something

that’s a advice i will always give

everyone everyone who has a dream out

there everyone who wants to achieve

something in life

know that you only have yourself know

that you have to stay sincere know that

you have to be dedicated towards your

work know that you have to work hard and

when i say work hard

that does not mean that matlab persina

you know you have to cry and like may

not man up no

it means learn to enjoy the process so

when i came to

india first of all i was the happiest

girl

alive i remember my first two weeks my

mom came with me also

i had bought tickets for my mom as well

and i still remember what she said when

we landed in mumbai

that was the first time she saw the

happiness on my face

and she realized how badly i wanted this

i was so happy

i have come to my place i’ve come to my

country like that’s the connection from

childhood i’ve had to

india that’s how happy i was um

so what i was saying is i came here and

i started in a very

humble simple way i’m extremely grateful

i will always be really grateful to this

wonderful

gujarati family who took care of me who

allowed me to stay with them

in a very small one bhk before i found

uh another place so i i adopted the

culture you know matlab

um uh you know all these traditional

ways you know i was following it

with a lot of love and respect um i used

to travel by train

uh that was one hell of experience i

must say

uh and um

yeah i started modeling um

i took ice cold showers in the morning

because i did not know that there was

something that’s called the geezer

that you have to press first us

we don’t have that system in sweden so

uh yeah

later on i learned that uh there were a

lot of things i had to adjust to

um but

yeah and then like i think i’ve lived in

like six or seven places now so i have

been shifting

i’ve been living in a place where there

was no ac it was so hot i ended up

sleeping on the floor

um living with lizards cockroaches like

you name it

so opposite from my life in sweden uh

where i used to be like i couldn’t even

touch

dishes because i used to feed that was

so dirty you know and here i was like

hey what’s up cockroaches

yeah you know uh

so

um but i wanted this so badly

i was so passionate i still am uh you

know about my dreams so

i learned to enjoy this process to enjoy

my journey instead of being negative

about it instead of being like

oh this is so terrible you know this is

i don’t like this

like look at me and look at them and all

that was not the case i was enjoying

every day

because i knew that i have

decided to go for my dream in life and

that’s the best

feeling ever because i was very clear

that i didn’t want to grow up

become a daddy and be like what if

you know what if i went to india and

maybe i would have made it you know

i i never wanted to be able i never want

to be able

to say these words i want to be able to

look back and be like you know what

[ __ ] like i said

can i even say screw is it allowed to

say that word i don’t know

sensible [ __ ] cartega um but yeah you

know like

fears like screw you fierce i’m going to

go for it

you know because there are always two uh

choices in life

either you go for your dream and

you say bye bye fears you try it out

or you don’t go for your dream

but then you don’t remain bitter in life

you know then you accept it

and find something else yeah so

what i was saying is

uh gosh there’s so much yeah no so

um what i was saying is that uh

gosh i actually lost myself here

um yeah you know uh

remove those uh fears and just

go for your dream and know that when you

choose to believe in yourself

know that you choose to stay in that

happy zone

you will end up achieving something so

here’s the thing

let’s say i would have not achieved my

bollywood dream let’s say i would have

not uh got casted in my first bollywood

movie mickey virus

maybe i would have got you know a little

bit disappointed that i didn’t achieve

my dream

but i was always very clear in my mind

that i know india is going to teach me

something i know

from me doing this journey for me

stepping out from my comfort zone

from me going through all of this what

i’ve gone through i will grow so much as

a person and i will

learn something so powerful that will

maybe lead to something else which is my

destiny

you know um

so apart from all of this what i want to

say now what my message is to all of you

because i can go on and on and on

is um

when i came to mumbai also i was

extremely confident in myself and i

thought you know i have it

but then there were so many people

telling me things and this is what you

will always face in life you will always

face

people who have had their their

experiences

now their experiences does not mean that

you will have to have the same

experiences but they will only be able

to guide you

and tell you things based on their

experiences

so never allow yourself to get corrupted

by uh their experiences if you believe

so strongly in yourself if your heart if

your inner voice always listen to your

inner voice

is telling you something that this feels

right go

for that and it doesn’t matter how

senior the person is because

once again that person is talking out of

his or her

uh experience your experience is going

to be different

so this is very important to understand

when you go for your dreams in life

to stay authentic to stay real to stay

on the honest path because

i mean in my journey i was told

a lot of things but it was just

it was just not aligning with my belief

system and

with my upbringing and my mentality

and therefore i choose to not listen and

i

have been proved you know i’d like to

say by god

that i was right you know and i’m

extremely grateful

that until today i can also look at

myself in the mirror and say like i’m

proud of you

you know and that’s very important in

life i feel whatever you decide to do in

life whatever you decide to go for

always remember that you should be able

to stand in front of the mirror

and look at yourself and feel so proud

over what all you have done you know

and the path you have taken every time

yeah uh gosh

no i’ve gone over time here huh so

what else is it that i really wanted to

say

[Music]

um

so basically um i think i’ve kind of

like said it all

uh but what i want to come down to is

like i said earlier when you know

when you are being sincere when you’re

being dedicated what does all of that

mean it means

let’s say for example you want to become

an actor

i’m a swedish greek girl i wanted to

become an actress in bollywood what do i

need to know

i need to learn the language i

need to learn acting of course i need to

learn to dance i need to understand the

culture

there are so many things that i need to

learn so

when i make sure to learn these things

my confidence is going to go

up my integrity is going to be tight

and with all of that i know

that when i go for auditions where i go

for meetings when i meet people

i know how to handle the situations

without you know

getting disappointed um i know

that suppose if i uh

was pitched for a role and i was about

to get it but then it didn’t happen

i know that maybe it’s not because i

wasn’t good for it

there are so many times other reasons

behind it why i didn’t get to roll

because

you have to always keep that confidence

and that confidence will always stay in

you when you know that you’re being

sincere

and you have learned all these kind of

things if that made

any sense to all of you um

yeah so basically that’s um what i had

to say now

and uh dreams do come true i mean

seriously look at me like i said half

greek half swedish i’ve made

a name um out of myself

in india bollywood so if i could do that

then definitely whatever dreams you guys

have you can clearly

achieve it um just make sure to follow

your heart

and yeah work for your passion

and just don’t let anything distract you

or mislead you yeah

that’s it

i hope i could give some kind of

inspiration

to you all and that you all make sure to

go for your dreams

yeah and prove your parents wrong

yeah thank you