I find both Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone very inspiring: Malavika Mohanan

Malavika Mohanan is a known name down South, and now, her foray into Hindi cinema has also started with a bang with Beyond the Clouds. The film is all set to hit theatres on April 20. The Mumbai-born actress, originally from Kerala, says she’s passionate about films and wants to stick to the industry in the coming years.

However, “Right now, I want to do Hindi movies, and I am open to doing Malayalam ones a little later,” she smiles and adds, “It has taken me some time to crack a movie here, so it doesn’t make sense for me to do one and then go back. I want to focus my energies here, in the Hindi film industry.”

The actress also claims that she never wanted to be known as a South Indian actress. “I didn’t want to be a South actor per se. Not that I didn’t want to be one, but my goal was always the Hindi film industry. I grew up here (in Mumbai), so I connected more with the films here,” she adds.

Malavika, who has done about five Malayalam movies till now, sighs as she talks about the trolling culture down South. “I think it’s horrible, and especially in Kerala, people are savage. Like, in Bollywood it’s on a fun level but in Kerala it’s just next level. I’ve also seen the kind of trolling that’s happened with Paravathy for no reason. I also think that it’s happening a lot more with women than with men. It’s a very patriarchal world. In Kerala, people are just chauvinistic, but it’s better here — easygoing and relaxed.”

Her Beyond the Clouds co-star, Ishaan Khatter, is an industry kid who had his superstar brother Shahid Kapoor to guide him all along. But Malavika has been learning the ropes by herself. “My family is here to guide me! They’re not mentoring me, because even they don’t know much about this job. But I’ve gone through my own graph. When you don’t have anybody to lean on, you just learn by yourself,” states the young actress.

Malavika reveals that working with award-winning Iranian director Majid Majidi was a tough task in the beginning. “Initially, it was a little difficult because there was a translator and so many things get lost in translation. You lose out on so many emotions. But by the time we reached the halfway mark, we started figuring it out. The moment you take the language out of the equation, it’s interesting to see how people communicate,” she feels.

The actress is quick to add that in the Hindi film fraternity she looks up to Deepika Padukone — an interesting revelation, since the Padmaavat actress had also auditioned for the role Malavika finally played.  “She’s very inspiring; she too comes from a non-filmy background. She’s not a star kid. My dad does work in movies, but isn’t a director; and no one offered me a film because my dad is in the industry. I find both Priyanka (Chopra) and Deepika very inspiring,” said the actress.