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