Exclusive! Mahie Gill: I was offered Malayalam films but couldn’t do them and want to work in the industry now

After Your Honor season 2, Mahie Gill is back with a powerful role in Raktanchal season 2. The actress has been actively working on OTT and now, she is looking forward to working in the Malayalam film industry (also known as Mollywood). Excerpts from the interview…

Tell me about how the role happened.

I had seen the first season and loved it so when they approached me for season 2, I heard the role and thought to myself how powerful the character is. Thus, I went ahead with it. I do fewer but strong roles. I had never even played the role of a politician and I was excited to work with director Ritam. I had never gone to Benaras, so that was exciting too. Seeing it collectively, I thought I wanted to be a part of this world.

Bringing a woman's perspective in a man's world, especially one like your character, it would be challenging, no?

Yes, it is. In the 90s, when it was a male-dominant society and politics when women weren’t given opportunities, they created opportunities for themselves by becoming CM. It was difficult during that time. Things have changed now since women are entering politics and doing good work. That was challenging, especially since I had not played a politician before.

Tell me about the preparation for the role. Was it more about understanding the thought process than body language. What was the preparation like?

I had to mentally tune myself that I’m very powerful and the best. Other things like costumes and dialogues are taken care of. I come from Punjab and this requires pure Hindi language so I had to work on the language a lot, especially for the words. I would ask Ritam to change the words and he was adamant not to change anything. He would take a whole scene and we would argue over that but he gave me the confidence that I can do it. When talking about the body language, a woman had to behave like a man in the 90s. It was also about the tone. It was challenging for me but I enjoyed it a lot. Ritam told me the third part has a lot more but I told him to prepare me 20 days in advance.

This is probably the first time when you entered a series which had a rustic setting (guns and violence) and somewhat became sophisticated thanks to the political angle (using words over actually dirtying your hands). Was that something that got you excited as an actor?

It is the dialoguebaazi. She is the woman and the time period has changed. Saraswati Devi is quite rustic. She uses abusive language. I haven’t seen the series so I don’t know how to answer this correctly but once I watch it then I’ll be able to tell you. I was travelling continuously so I couldn’t watch it.

What kind of feedback did you receive for the show?

I was in the interiors of Punjab and didn’t know if people would have seen the series. I was amazed when people from small towns in Punjab told me they loved the first and second part too. Even before 11th, when I was travelling, they were waiting for the series.

You are quire popular on OTT. Back in 2018, when OTT itself wasn’t as popular, you did Apharan and have worked on the platform a lot. Do you believe that OTT is the future and now people are looking to OTT because of COVID, so can we see you work here more?

Back in 2018, when I worked on Apharan, I took it up to know the difference between movies and OTT. Back then only I had predicted that OTT is the future, even when I didn’t find much of a difference between the two. I love this medium. I love cinema too. I always said that OTT is the future and see what happened after COVID. There were many people who did not find work when it was on cinema. Thanks to OTT, wonderful actors who could not find work in cinema, are now employed. Whether you look at actors or directors or technicians, employment has increased with OTT. Thanks to the medium, people have started earning again so it is definitely the future.

Did you face the situation where you did not find work in cinema? Where people started becoming picky.

What happened with me is that I would only get sensual roles. They wanted me to wear a saree and hold a glass of wine. I don’t mind doing it but wanted a break. When I switched to OTT, I saw that there are so many beautiful subjects on the medium and you have a lot of choice. I could pick which project I do. The projects need to excite me and I should enjoy it. It happened with Raktanchal too. I liked my role and the series as a role. There are so many actors who have become stars on OTT. These are the same actors who were struggling in cinema for 25 years.

How did you break out of stereotype?

I started refusing work. I wouldn’t work for money. I’m very satisfied person in real life. I have small wishes so I started saying no to roles because I didn’t want to bore my audiences. Thanks to OTT, I got stronger roles which helped me break that stereotype completely. Not that I don’t want to do those roles again. I can do it now that it has been a while.

What is the situation like after you refuse offers? Do they stop offering roles?

Offers don’t stop. You get different kind of offers at all times. You get 10 scripts and can pick out of them. I am getting interesting roles.

So, you wouldn’t have to look for another source of income, right?

No, thank God I have invested very wisely.

We can say that if Ronjini Chakraborty's Seema was pivotal to season 1, yours is as important to season 2. Wouldn't you agree?

I still haven’t seen the series. I don’t know how is it after the edit. I have been introduced in the series in a very interesting way. Season 3 will begin soon and then I will know more in depth about my character.

When can we expect Your Honor new season to release?

They’re still writing the season. They’ll let me know once there is an update but last I heard, they are still writing the script.

You were introduced even there…

Yeah, they cast me in season 2 for introduction and make third season mind-blowing.

Your upcoming projects.

I haven’t signed anything as of now. I want to finish the projects I am doing before going ahead with something new. There are some interesting subjects that have come my way but because of COVID, the shooting is postponed. Some of them are happening in March, some in April. I have to even shoot in England. I haven’t signed anything but read it and put it on hold.

What do you watch on OTT? Do you only watch Hindi shows or other Indian/International shows too?

I watch everything. I see shows and movies from all languages and prefer reading subtitles over seeing the dubbed version.

Any language that has captured your attention to the extent that you want to work there too?

I just watched Pushpa. I was offered very interesting Malayalam films previously but I couldn’t do them because I had committed to certain projects in Hindi at the same time. While I couldn’t work in it back then, I want to work there because I think they make wonderful movies and pick good subjects. I would like to work in either Malayalam or Telugu film industry. The subject needs to be interesting.