Malavika Mohanan gears up to resume her career in Bollywood

Malavika Mohanan made her Hindi film debut with Beyond The Clouds in 2017. Four years later, she is back to Hindi cinema, this time with “an out and out Bollywood film”, Yudhra.

So what kept her away? “I’ve seen people who do films just to keep the momentum. There were so many films that came my way post Beyond The Clouds which any other newcomer would be excited to be a part of. As for me, unless I feel my intuition telling me to be a part of a project, I don’t feel driven enough to say a yes to something,” she says, adding that she has signed another Bollywood film and is looking forward to “releasing Hindi films, back-to-back”.

Mohanan has cemented her position as a bankable actor in the Tamil film industry with films like Petta (2019) and Master. But she admits to not feeling any pressure of achieving a similar stardom in Bollywood. She shares, “There’s an eagerness to get the ball rolling and live some amazing characters. I’m more excited than nervous.”

She adds, “I read somewhere that we always tend to think about the next step so much that we stop living in and enjoying the present. I’m having fun with all the success I’m experiencing in the Tamil film industry and the exciting things happening in Bollywood as well.”

Going forward, the actor wants to carve out a career trajectory like Alia Bhatt in the industry. “From Highway (2014) and Udta Punjab (2016) to Raazi (2018), she has played all kinds of roles. It is not fun as an actor to be stuck in the same rut. I’m aware of the things that I cannot do, but I see myself fitting into different kind of roles,” Mohanan ends.