Elli AvrRam – Bollywood actress of Swedish Greek origin

Elli AvrRam is a Swedish Greek actress and model, who works in Bollywood. Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon and her debut flick, Mickey Virus are her major appearances. Her supporting role of a drug addict prostitute in 2020 movie, Malang is one of her noted works in the recent times. She reprises the memorable role of Lisa Haydon in the official south Indian remake of Bollywood flick, Queen. The movie simultaneously shot in Tamil and Kannada languages titled Paris Paris and Butterfly also marks her south Indian debut in 2020. Her name was previously credited as Elli Avram. She turned a celebrity after she participated in Bigg Boss 7.

She got drawn towards Indian music and dance forms with colourful costumes at early childhood

Her full name is Elisabet Avramidou Granlund. Born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1990 to Greek father, a musician and Swede mother, who has stint in movies, Elli was initially interested in figure skating, singing and dancing. Her mother and aunt run a theatre in Skåne County, Sweden which gave her exposure to acting. In fact she learnt acting from both.

Though she belongs to a family nowhere related to Indian culture, she got drawn towards Indian music and colourful dances right from the age of 5. She also could find connections between Greek music and Indian music. By adolescence, she turned a die-hard fan of Bollywood and determined to become a Bollywood actress. She started watching Bollywood movies on VCD which she purchased from a store and also YouTube.

At the age of 17 she started giving dance performances based on Bollywood songs

She joined Stockholm based ‘Pardesi Dance Group’ and turned a professional dancer. She primarily gave cinematic performances based on Bollywood. She later did some acting projects in Sweden including Swedish TV-show Gomorron Sverige and took a few modelling assignments before she moved to Mumbai in 2012. She signed up with a modelling agency, which helped her getting auditions.

She started appearing in TV ads. She was featured aside Akshay Kumar for an ad of Eveready battery – her first TV ad. It was followed by her first Bollywood film, Mickey Virus. She played lead role in the movie, and her character dies in the film interval. Yet she managed to get good reviews for her appearance. The movie also opened to positive reviews, but was a commercial failure.

Her stint with Bigg Boss 7 made her a celebrity

Soon after her impressive screen debut, she made her first small screen appearance through the controversial show, Bigg Boss in 2013, where she was one of the contestants. She gained immense fan support after her appearance in the show, and stayed in the house for 70 long days. After that she resumed her film career.

After that she mostly played supporting roles on screen, and received mixed response from public. She played one of the female leads in 2015 comedy hit film, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon.

She mostly did item songs after the success of Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon

“Chamma Chamma” remix from Fraud Saiyaan

Though her movie Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon was a commercial hit, she failed to get more acting roles from Bollywood. She appeared in a series of item songs after that. “Kudiyan Shehar Diyan” from Poster Boyz, “Billionaire” from Baazar, “Chamma Chamma” remix from Fraud Saiyaan and “Zila Hilela” from Jabariya Jodi are among those. She also played a cameo role in Naam Shabana.

In 2020 she made a major comeback through Malang co-staring Aditya Roy Kapur and Disha Patani. Her role as the friend of the lead pair was lauded. In fact her appearance in a few web series gave her a strong comeback. In 2019 she marked her web series debut with The Verdict – State vs Nanavati and later appeared in Typewriter and Inside Edge 2. Now she gears up for south Indian debut with a bilingual movie.

Elli AvrRam – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Her mother Maria Granlund is a small-time actress in Swedish – German films.

2. She is the first Swedish actress to work in Bollywood.

3. At the age of 14, she watched Devdas on television, and got charmed by the beauty of Bollywood films. By that time she desired to become a Bollywood actress and dance like typical Bollywood heroines.

4. She was shortlisted among 200 participants who auditioned for Mickey Virus. She was asked to deliver Hindi dialogues for audition. Though her Hindi audition was not perfect, she finally got selected. She later took formal training in dance and Hindi pronunciation.

5. She along with popular TV anchor Manish Paul marked their big screen debut with Mickey Virus.

6. When she was an inmate of Bigg Boss house, she was one of the favourites of the host Salman Khan, who often compares her looks with his former girlfriend Katrina Kaif.