#MyCLATStory- Titiksha from NLUO shares her Journey from Bhopal to Bollywood!
Titiksha Shri is a Mumbai-based lawyer, theatre & film actor and a celebrity manager. In this interview with CLATalogue, she shares her #CLATStory from being a CLAT aspirant from Bhopal to pursuing her passion of working in Bollywood!
Tell us a bit about yourself.
“If we believe we can achieve, no matter when, where & how-YOU ACHIEVE!
Hello! I am Titiksha Shri, a Mumbai based Media Lawyer & an Actor in the Bollywood Film Industry. I come from the beautiful City of Lakes – Bhopal, and I have been settled in Mumbai since 2018.
I cleared CLAT in the year 2012 and successfully graduated from National Law University Odisha in the year 2017. I am the first generation lawyer and actor from my family. I was born in a small village near Bhopal and was bought up by my parents in Bhopal so that I can get access to better schooling and opportunities and from here the journey of “WHEN, WHERE & HOW” began.
How did you start your CLAT journey?
My CLAT journey was a very interesting one. I had never thought of becoming a lawyer as a child. After I graduated from school, I had gone to my father requesting him to take me to Mumbai to apply for courses on Mass Communication & Journalism (just because a very dear school friend of mine was pursuing it).
My father very smartly said, “Yes, we will. However, first let us go and attend a seminar happening this week on CLAT, just to explore another option”. To that, I said yes and attended the seminar with my father. That seminar was taken by my CLAT mentor Mr. Deepu Krishna who greatly influenced my understanding about law and law schools in India and the kind of opportunities it provides and how it transforms you as a person in a span of 5 years.
The over-enthusiastic child in me just wanted to travel outside the borders of my city for my higher studies and I quickly filled up the form and started to prepare for the exam. Sadly, I couldn’t clear it in my first attempt. I took a drop for a year and prepared for the same. Fortunately, I cleared the exam in my next attempt and got into one of the prestigious law schools of the country, NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY ODISHA, BATCH OF BBA.LLB(HONS.), and call proudly call myself an alumna of NLUO today.
How were your initial years in law school?
I call those years the “5 GOLDEN YEARS OF MY LIFETIME”. I joined law school as a teenager from a small town with big dreams, a little talent and a lot of enthusiasm. I met and learned a lot from my batchmates and seniors as all of them came from different cities, states, backgrounds and cultures. It was quite intimidating for me initially to see such talented students all around me in all spheres of life.
I participated in almost every activity in my college- be it Moot Courts, Debates, Extra-curricular activities etc. I also took Odissi classes in Cuttack to learn the classical dance form and keep my passionate interests as an artist going. I was very average in studies during the initial years of my college but with time and hard-work, I started performing even better!
Later during my 3rd & 4th year, I became the Co-Convenor and then the Convenor of the Cultural Committee of the University. I organized cultural fests and events in the college and was known for my dancing more than my academics.
But, the overall development which was subconsciously taking place in me during law school was absolutely unbelievable and I was able to see that difference during my internships and jobs that I opted for after graduating.
What motivated you to pursue law as a career?
Honestly, getting to live outside my hometown and in a residential university where I would have gotten a chance to explore and learn was formed the basis of my decision to pursue law as a career.
But later I realized and learnt that law is not limited to courts and firms anymore. It has a vast and very diverse scope to cater to the needs and interests of every individual. In my words, knowledge of the law is POWER in any field that you are in. In fact, even if you switch careers later in life, like me, law still continues to play a important role.
Law and legality is required everywhere. Plus, I come from a family of professionals. My father being a Doctor, my mother being a Teacher, law as a profession for me was again a noble one to follow.
What were your top 3 sources of information for CLAT? Did you prepare for CLAT all by yourself?
Newspaper, Career Launcher promotions in 2012 and Internet. I took coaching for 6 months to understand the syllabus, courses etc. and the next 6 months before the CLAT exam was solely dedicated to self preparation.
What would you say sets apart your #CLATStory from others?
I became an Actor in the Bollywood Film Industry while pursuing a job as a Corporate Lawyer in one of the leading Banks in Mumbai. I believe we all have a different journey. Only a few of us know where we want to go, and many of us, like me, don’t have an idea and we just go with the flow.
We explore, we fight, we fall and work extremely hard to reach somewhere and then we land up where we really are supposed to be. I am very happy being an actor today, which law school did not teach me, but surely prepared me for .
My stint in law school and later as a corporate lawyer prepared me for any such possibility coming my way where with the experience and education I received, I could pursue both my profession & passion with equal amounts of strength and confidence.
Today, I work in Films, TV shows and Web Series as an actor and I also help my clients from the same industry as a Media Lawyer, which was never the plan to begin with!
After working in various jobs in Law Firms, Courts and working in different areas of law, I ended up doing something altogether different as an artist. So it is rightly said, “We can sail any boat to any shore only if we just learn how to row!”
Any advice you’d like to pass on to law school aspirants and law students?
For law students: Just keep learning and grabbing every opportunity that law school provides you with, with respect to curricular, extra-curricular activities. You never know where it will lead you to and what it can make you. “SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT”- it has greatly helped me.
For Law School Aspirants: Law as a career is a great opportunity and has dimensions beyond imagination. I prepared for CLAT with the least amount of pressure and more of fun and enthusiasm. Enjoy the process and that should suffice. The preparation for CLAT itself is a big learning and if you are meant, destined and have been working hard towards being a lawyer, law school definitely has a place for you!
This interview is a part of our series #MyCLATStory where we interview law students and legal professionals.
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Ruchika Mohapatra
Contributing author
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