EXCLUSIVE | Sanya Malhotra: 'My father apologised to my mother after watching my film, I knew working with Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan would be...'

Sanya Malhotra has taken the role of a housewife in Zee5’s MRS, now streaming on the platform.

In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, Malhotra talks about her new film, why her father apologized to her mother after watching it, why she would never want to relate to this character, and the opportunity of working with Shah Rukh Khan in Jawan.

Edited excerpts from the interview

In these ten years since you have been working as an actress, is this one character you would never want to relate to?

That is such a nice question. I don’t think so. Definitely, I would not ever want to relate to a character like this. And I want other women also to not relate to her eventually. I hope this character does that, that this film does that to our society. Brings some amount of change that we all need.

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So how did you prepare for this character?

I think we had a very solid script in our hand. Our writer, Anu, and our director, Arati, they worked on the script for a year. They brought their own lived in experiences to make the film personal, and I think I had that. When I was preparing for it, I met and interviewed a lot of women to know where they were coming from, if they have faced similar challenges and struggles as Richa, which was really helpful. I think that helped me to make Richa’s character what she is on screen because I have seen it very up close and personal with the women around me who have been in these sort of situations, but I have never experienced it myself.

Like, some some parts definitely I have. But to make it more personal, I wanted to really understand where she’s coming from. I kept her journal as Richa to know her thoughts and her relationship with her family, what her conditioning is as a woman. And I think all of that really helped me to step into her shoes.

Also, most of the film unfolds inside a house or if I can say inside a kitchen. So during the shoot or after the shoot, did you feel any sense of claustrophobia or exhaustion?

100%, I did. Also, we shot the film linear. I think it starts off on a very nice note where Richa is also very hopeful, and she is excited to impress her in laws and her husband. She and you see that throughout the film, she is constantly trying. It’s never like that she doesn’t want to do it. She has seen her mother do all of that. So I think that also comes to her naturally. And then as the film progresses, you two start feeling trapped inside that kitchen. And then we were shooting it, I think collectively, not just me, but the entire team felt that because we had so many scenes in that kitchen that we all used to feel like, why is she not stepping out.

Or why are we not, like, stepping out of this set, to take a breather? And I watched it with my friends and my family and industry peeps and they all said that they felt trapped. They all felt collectively claustrophobic in that room and I think the film does that really beautifully. I was watching it with a couple of friends and they were like, can we step out for a minute? Also it’s an OTT film so there’s no intermission and I like that. It just makes the audience feel connected to the character so much.

So how does Richa, or how do you as an actor view your husband and father-in-law? Are they regressive, red flags, or old school, orthodox people who have never evolved?

People who do not want to change are not aware of the things happening around them. They found comfort in it, and they’re happy being where they are. Definitely old school and rigid, I would call them.

In the final scene, you throw an entire bucket of decayed water on your husband before you walk out of your house. But I really felt that Richa should have said something to her husband. Do you feel that action was enough, or do you feel the conversation was also required that she has finally had enough?

There’s a scene where she’s drunk and she kinds of joke about that how she’s not happy. This is the first time she’s admitting in front of her husband that this is how she feels and they come back home. And instead of asking her if she’s okay, he says why she said that in front of her friends. You can see clearly that there is no communication whatsoever between these two people.

She is trying, but of course, he’s never ready to have a communication with her. So there was no point. That is also an out of pocket thing for that character to do. Like, she doesn’t have anything else left in her. She has tried communicating if he can call the plumber or how she wants to do a job. You constantly see that this man doesn’t want to communicate whatsoever, he’s just not ready to listen to her.

During Dangal, you and Fatima posted a picture on Instagram, which had the iconic, Shah Rukh Khan pose. You have always said this that it was your dream to work with him. What was your reaction when Jawan happened?

I just knew from day one that this is going to be a good good opportunity for me as an actor. And I was right. When Dangal had released, people used to call me Babita, but you know, that validation that you get from the audience and they remember your character’s name, I think that happened again when Jawan released. Everyone started calling me Dr. Eeram.

What about the unfulfilled dreams of people?

I think if you’re being forced into doing anything and if you have that realization that you’re being forced to let go of your dreams or to keep them aside or there’s a certain kind of expectation for you to sacrifice your own passions for something else, don’t do that. I hope you also have that courage to face this fact. And don’t let that happen. Because in that whole process, I think people who think that sacrificing is the best form of love, in that whole process, they tend to lose themselves and then with time, they get bitter because, of course. It just makes you bitter with time. So don’t let that happen.

What has been your one takeaway from the experience of working in MRS?

There are many. My biggest takeaway is that I too am guilty for putting that pressure on my mother. My family saw it and my father came back home and apologized to my mother. And the fact that he was like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I do that too and I’ve done this too. I think that collectively has been our biggest takeaway that we do put a lot of pressure on our mothers.