A still from the film. (politeness: MrunalThakur)
Actress Mrunal Thakur has every reason to celebrate. Her upcoming movie Family star is already making all the right noises as it gears up for release on Friday (April 5). The film marks Mrunal Thakur’s first collaboration with Vijay Deverakonda. Family Star follows another big success for Mrunal Thakur – the Nani starrer Hello Nanna. If Family star proves to be a box office hit, it will emerge as Mrunal’s third big hit in the Telugu film industry – the first being the blockbuster, Sita Ramam. So it came as a surprise to fans when the actress appeared in an interview with Galatta Plus shared what she was thinking Sita Ramam would be her first and last Telugu film.
Mrunal Thakur revealed that working in a language she did not know was extremely “daunting”. She even admitted that she occasionally collapsed during the recordings Sita Ramam. While talking about her co-star Dulquer Salmaan, she said, “Dulquer is a child of God. I am not shy about saying that I am the chairman of the Dulquer Salmaan fan club because that is how much I admire him. He is so dedicated and not afraid of the language. I remember telling him in Kashmir, ‘Sita Ramam is my first and last film in Telugu. I will not do a Telugu film’. He just looked at me and said, ‘We’ll see.’ I think one of the reasons why I am considering Tamil film or Kannada film today is probably because of him.”
Speaking about the challenges of working in an unfamiliar language, Mrunal Thakur said, “I didn’t want to be in a space where I feel handicapped because when you don’t know the language, you feel restless and I’m not kidding, I were moments when I wanted to give up. I literally cried, but every drop of tear brought me praise.”
“Previously I felt that what was more important was the story and the language were manageable, but I think if you don’t know the language it becomes a bit difficult and since my childhood I wanted to be a princess. So this was the best opportunity and my preparation started from my childhood,” said Mrunal Thakur, adding, “It is a translation in three languages. Sometimes you don’t have time for that because suddenly the scene is written and the lights come on and we don’t have the location tomorrow. So I used to write a dialogue in Telugu, translate it into English because that was the only common language between my ADs, and then translate it into Hindi or Marathi because that is my mother tongue.”
Family star will be released in theaters on April 5.