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Movies are not a big, bad world: Malavika
It’s a Majid Majidi film, don’t get your hopes up because Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut have already done a look test’, was something I was told by the casting director of the film,” says Malavika Mohanan. The actor who is making her debut in Majidi’s, Beyond The Clouds has earlier faced the camera in Malayalam films. However, she is born and brought up in Mumbai. “I have done about four films in Malayalam. Going there and working was different for me because Mumbai has been home. However, there was a sense of belonging there as my parents are Malayali. Malayalam films are smaller compared to other south industries. But the quality of content is high even though they have smaller budgets. And Dulquer Salman was my first co-star,” she says.
Malavika is not completely alien to the movies. Her father is a cinematographer and has shot films such as Don (2006), Talaash (2012) and Raaes (2017). However, she never really thought of acting as a profession. “In fact, the first person ever who told me that I should become an actor was Aamir Khan. It was really strange because I was chilling on the sets of Talaash. I was flattered but it was left at that. At that time, I didn’t think that I’d end up in films. But I have grown up watching Hindi films,” says the actor.
When asked whether she had any preconceived notions about the Hindi film industry, she says, “A lot of people try to scare you by saying that it’s a big bad world. I don’t think that is true at all. I’ve met some amazing people and have been shown kindness by people who didn’t have to be nice to me. I’ve had amazing experiences. Every industry has a bad side to it. But movies are not a big, bad world. Of course, there is struggle, but it’s a notion that it’s a bad industry that you’re always fighting to survive.”
About her wish list, Malavika adds, “I really want to work with Shah Rukh Khan because we have all grown up watching his films. I’d love to work with Ranbir Kapoor as well, he is an amazing actor. I also want to work with Vishal Bhardwaj, Mani Ratnam, Imtiaz Ali and Karan Johar.”