OTTplay Awards 2025: Shalini Pandey wins Breakthrough Performance for Maharaj

Shalini Pandey has created a name for herself in the OTT space with her back-to-back power-packed performances in Maharaj and Dabba Cartel. She bagged the Breakthrough Performance (Female) award for period drama film Maharaj at the third edition of OTTplay Awards, which was held in Mumbai on March 22.

Shalini Pandey wins Breakthrough Performance for Maharaj

Shalini Pandey's charm and stellar craft in the couple of years proved her mettle in both the streaming platforms and silver screens. She bagged the honour for Breakthrough Performance as she impressed with her performance in Netflix's period drama film Maharaj. This marks Shalini’s first victory at the OTTplay Awards as she proudly took the honours.

The Arjun Reddy actress was recently seen as one of the leads in Netflix's Dabba Cartel, starring alongside Shabana Azmi. She is among the promising stars of the OTT space as she delivered stunning performances in both Maharaj and Dabba Cartel.

Shalini Pandey essayed the role of a naive and devoted follower of a corrupt religious leader. She plays Kishori, who is also the love interest of Junaid Khan (in his film debut). The star-studded ensemble cast also featured Jaideep Ahlawat and Sharvari in the crime and historical drama film. The plot revolves around a fight for justice against a powerful godman.

It is a pure delight to see Shalini growing in the OTT space with notable performances. After receiving the award from Aijaz Khan and Vardhan Puri at the show, Shalini expressed her gratitude and said, “Good evening, everyone. Thankyou OTTplay and HT. This film is a very special project for me. I would like to thank YRF for believing in me that I could be Kishori. Thankyou Sneha for writing Kishori so well. Thankyou to my co-stars.”

OTTplay Awards 2025, celebrating the theme of “One Nation, One Award”, was hosted by Aparshakti Khurana and Kubra Sait. Kajol, Imtiaz Ali, Jyotika and Manoj Bajpayee were honoured at the event that was graced by top-notch actors of the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada industry.

OTTplay Awards 2025 is co-presented by Real Juice and Kuhl and powered by Stock Gro. The marquee event, held in partnership with HT City, has Flipkart Spoyl as the exclusive style partner, D Pauls as the travel partner, Amante as the premium lingerie partner, Propshop as the real estate partner, Aussie Lamb and Krishinet Fiber as the special partners, UDigital as the ISP and iPTV partner and Hyperlink as the event partner.