Now is the best time to be a female actor: Malavika Mohanan

I have been lucky enough to work with some of the biggest actors, some of the best performers across multiple industries, starting with Rajinikanth sir, Dhanush, Thalapathy Vijay in Tamil to now with Prabhas in Raja Saab among others. There’s so much I have learned from them on screen and off screen.

Acting is something we learn on the job, regardless of whether you are trained or not. It’s something you're constantly learning, you never stop learning. So to work with people who have left such an impressive mark, it teaches you so much about the little techniques, about their hacks, about their method and also just to see how they conduct themselves and how they are as people, it teaches you what footsteps to follow. So I have been fortunate enough to have been surrounded by some lovely people and talents and I also feel like right now is one of the best times to be an actor, especially a female actor because my last release was in Hindi, my current projects are in Tamil and Telugu and I'm about to start one in Malayalam too. I am working with some of the best people in each industry and I feel like a film will have its audience because of OTT, social media, because of the reach that we have today. If it's a good film, it doesn't matter what language it is, people will end up watching it. I think gone are the times when you do a film just for the sake of it being like a big movie because if the script is not good, it's not gonna work whereas we have seen a lot of Malayalam movies and offbeat smaller films do well in recent times because the script is good and it has connected really well with the audience as.

Being a Malayali, I have obviously grown up watching all the cult classics in Malayalam. I hear people across India, especially in Bombay, talking about the Malayalam industry as if it were a new discovery to a lot of people post COVID, thanks to the OTT platforms. Back in the day pre-OTT, you wouldn't even know that a good film's come out or it doesn't really reach you. So the consumption pattern has changed so much because of OTT platforms.

It’s great to be working on a film alongside Mohanlal who's obviously one of the icons of Indian cinema and to be directed by Sathyan Anthikad who's again one of the best, the OGs who's been around for decades and created some of the what are now deemed as classics of Malayalam cinema. It's an absolute honour and I am looking forward to just being on set and learning so much from them

Working with Prabhas for me was something that was on my bucket list ever since I had watched Bahubali because I am a huge Bahubali fan and to get a chance to do my debut in Telugu with him felt like the right place, right time. It just felt like things worked in my favour in the best way possible. He's extremely sweet, very humble and very approachable for a star of that magnitude and he immediately makes you feel warm. He makes you feel at home. This is something a lot of actors who worked with him in the past have said too. He sends the best food and sends enough to feed a village. There are at least 10 different dishes and it feels like the best way to be welcomed on a new set. Having said that, I think he's also one of the most commanding personalities that I have worked with.