Kalyani Priyadarshan has become the name on everyone's lips. Her performance in Lokah - India's first woman superhero film - has been hailed as a game-changer. Audiences and critics alike have praised the actress for bringing strength and grace to a genre long dominated by men. Social media has been filled with glowing reviews, and in the middle of it all, one of Bollywood's biggest stars also took notice.
Akshay Kumar took to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate Kalyani's achievement, writing, "Talent runs in the family... suna thaa, ab dekh liya! Hearing lovely things about the brilliant acting chops of @kalyanipriyan, Priyadarshan Sir's daughter. My best wishes to her and the entire team of #Lokah on their Hindi version release. More power."
Kalyani had met Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan on the Kochi set of Haiwaan, the remake of Priyadarshan's Malayalam hit Oppam. She told NDTV, "I met both Saif and Akshay sir, and they both wished me - this was just a day after the trailer released. After the film came out, because they were shooting in Kerala, they started hearing the buzz. At one point, they even asked my dad if they could take the day off to go watch the film."
That request was firmly refused. Priyadarshan, currently directing Haiwaan, chose professionalism over paternal pride. "My dad, being the father, like, he's so professional that he's like, no, I haven't watched my daughter's movie yet. Nobody gets a day off. We're finishing this, and then we will go," Kalyani said.
The director himself still hasn't seen Lokah. "He's still not watched my film because he's shooting every day. Despite everything, he has refused to take a day off to go watch the film. He's like, I will watch it, but not at the cost of my producer. I will finish what I've committed to him, then I will go watch it," she revealed.
This disciplined approach has shaped Kalyani's career. Though she made her debut in 2017 with the Telugu film Hello, which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut - South, she has never worked on a full-fledged project with her father. "I did a cameo for him in one of his friends, but I think we always knew that he and I were meant to be on different paths... he's never, ever been involved in any of the decision making in any of the scripts that I choose. He's always allowed me to become my own actor," she said.
The lessons passed down to her have been simple yet powerful. "Don't try to be somebody else. Just try to be you... figure out your own path, don't follow someone else's. And that's the only way you will feel happy and satisfied by yourself," she recalled. A WhatsApp message from him that she shared summed it up: "Success should never go to your head and failure should never go to your heart."
Her mother, Lizzy Laxmi, meanwhile, is "over the moon" and "speechless" with pride at Kalyani's success.
