[2] Pallana moved to the United States in 1946 and spent 20 years performing around the country before settling down in Texas at his wife's insistence, and started a yoga studio.

Anderson subsequently cast Pallana in his films Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited.

Pallana also appeared in the Bollywood movie Anjaana Anjaani (2010) and the acclaimed independent film Another Earth (2011).

A short documentary, KUMAR:MKE, about Pallana's connection to the Milwaukee film scene, was released in 2015.

His son Dipak, also an actor, appeared in films such as Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums.