A still from the film. (courtesy: MrunalThakur)
Actress Mrunal Thakur has every reason to celebrate. Her upcoming film 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 maiden collaboration with Vijay Deverakonda. Family Star comes on the heels of another huge success for Mrunal Thakur – the Nani-starrer Hi Nanna. If Family Star proves to be a box office success, it will emerge as Mrunal's third major hit in the Telugu film industry – the first being the blockbuster, Sita Ramam. So, it came as a surprise to fans when the actress in an interview with Galatta Plus shared that she thought Sita Ramam would be her first and last Telugu film.
Mrunal Thakur revealed that working in a language that she was not familiar with was extremely “daunting”. She even confessed to breaking down on some occasions during the shoot of Sita Ramam. While speaking about her co-star Dulquer Salmaan, she said: “Dulquer is a God's child. I am not shy to say that I am the president of Dulquer Salmaan fan club because that is how much I admire him. He is so dedicated and not afraid of the language. I remember I told him in Kashmir, ‘Sita Ramam is my first and last film in Telugu. I will not do any Telugu film'. He just looked at me and said, ‘We'll see'. I think one of the reasons why I am today considering Tamil film or Kannada film is probably because of him.”
Speaking about the challenges of working in an unknown 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 kid you not, I did have moments where I wanted to give up. I have literally cried but every drop of tear has brought praise for me.”
“Earlier I felt like what was more important was what mattered was the story and language was manageable but I think if you don't know the language it gets a bit tough and since childhood, I wanted to be a princess. So, this was the best opportunity and my preparation started from childhood,” Mrunal Thakur said, adding, “It's a three-language translation. Sometimes you don't have the time to do that because suddenly the scene is written and the light is going and we don't have the location tomorrow. So earlier I used to write a dialogue in Telugu, translate it into English because it was the only common language between my ADs and then I would translate it into Hindi or Marathi because that is my mother tongue.”
Family Star is slated to release in theatres on April 5.