The actor speaks to A Sarkar about her new-found success in films after a solid ground work
From playing a supernatural creature, naagin, that Bollywood was once obsessed with, actress Mouni Roy has now transitioned to bigger platforms, films. She rose through the ranks in the Hindi film industry gradually and is finally set to make a debut in movies with Gold, starring opposite Akshay Kumar, a veteran of almost 30 years. The bubbly actress already has three more films in her kitty even though her first has not been released yet.
A fitness enthusiast, she said that it is very important to play a sport for fitness, agility and to beat stress. “If I could, I would snatch the Ipads and smartphones from children today and make them go out and play. I would force parents to take their children out in the sun,” she said.
About her co-star, Akshay, she said that he’s humble and extremely generous. “He would come before a scene and give a spontaneous idea that would be brilliant. He adds so much more to the character than what the script has,” she added. “In one scene, he separates two men who are fighting and to do that he kicks them, that was entirely spontaneous,” she said.
And she also imbibed some lessons from him. She said that she’s learnt to give her best and work hard, be disciplined, not attend parties and be a producer’s actor first and then a director’s.
About the director, Reema Kagti, she said that she’s endearing because of how precise she is. “She would come to me and tell me to do a scene with more energy or less because she knows exactly what she wants.”
The shooting of the film has been a fun process with the ensemble cast, including Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh and Sunny Kaushal, playing games, indoors and outdoors.
However, she has not forgotten TV and remains fiercely loyal to it as she said that she is proud to be a TV actor. But one thing to be said in the favour of movies was that she’s a lot less drained since the role play is much shorter.
About the work and opportunity she received she said that she’s still overwhelmed and in disbelief that this was happening to her.
Mouni said that good films are being made and it is not that sports movies are a trend. Each movie is different even if it’s made around a sport, she added.