Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
SHUT FOR MONTHS, THEATRES NEED TO BE REVIVED: MALAVIKA MOHANAN
APctor Malavika Mohanan is on a professional high. Her latest release, Master, alongside Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, is doing well, considering how it’s the first major release of 2021. Mohanan shares that she is finally at a stage in her career where she can say she is really happy. “Especially how things are moving right now. For instance, something such as Beyond The Clouds (2017) gives you critical acclaim, a certain kind of respect. That is from a very niche audience. A film like Master puts you in public spotlight. The combination of these two facts has been getting me so much of work. It’s lovely to be getting so many good offers I can choose from,” says the 27-year-old. Having started her career with a filmmaker like Majid Majidi in Beyond The Clouds, Mohanan has since worked with the best of makers and actors, such as Rajinikanth in Petta (2019). Tamil Nadu government allowing theatres to run at 100% capacity grabbed headlines some time back. But, this order was soon revoked by the Centre, considering the pandemic is still very much there. The actor reveals that she was glad with the initial decision of the state. “We are around people all the time, it’s not like theatres would put you in closer proximity than you would be in an aeroplane or restaurant. It just comes down to taking all the right precautions, like wearing a mask at all times. This is unfortunately what the new normal is,” says Mohanan. Stressing the fact that such steps are required to revive the theatre industry, she continues, “Theatres have been shut down for 10 months; we don’t want theatre culture to die. It’s a huge industry which contributes and feeds so many people. Obviously theatres need to take the right precautions, like sanitise frequently.”
The actor, whose first release of the year met with success, says she would like theatres to be opened with full capacity It’s not like theatres would put you in closer proximity than you would be in an aeroplane or restaurant.