Last year, actor Mrunal Thakur delivered one of the biggest hits in the Telugu film industry with Sita Ramam. The period love story was set in 1964 and it saw her opposite actor Dulquer Salmaan. The film went on to win her raving reviews and made her the next big thing in Tollywood. So, it’s no surprise that she has been roped in to play the female lead in yet another Telugu film, this time opposite Nani. On the Bollywood front, her next big release is Pippa, a war drama set against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, where she will be seen playing actors Ishaan Khatter and Priyanshu Painyuli’s sister.
In an exclusive chat with News18, Mrunal reveals that one of the factors that drew her to the film was the fact that it revolved around three siblings and that it came to her at a time when sibling bonds were no longer explored in Hindi films. “I heard the story of Pippa about three years ago. What excited me was the relationship I shared [with Ishaan and Priyanshu] in the film. I feel that relationship is important but we aren’t talking about them anymore these days. I remember watching Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999) and thinking how beautiful a film that was! I don’t think many films are made about siblings and their tight bond now. This is one of the major reasons why I wanted to be a part of Pippa,” she says.
Earlier, the 30-year-old had spoken about how female actors often stop themselves from taking up roles of a sister or a mother due to the fear of being stereotyped. She now tells us that not only was she dissuaded from playing Ishaan’s onscreen sister in Pippa but also from essaying the part of a mother in Jersey (2022). “I want to break the stereotype and reinstate that it’s absolutely okay to play someone’s sister or even a mother, for that matter. I think it’s high time that we bust myths. I also had people dissuading me from playing a mother. I don’t think these things should change the kind of choices that a female actor makes in the future,” she states.
She further explains, “It happens a lot. A lot of female actors get misguided because a character’s pitch comes to them as a mother or a sister, and they reject ta good story because they feel like they don’t want to be seen in that light, they feel that their screen age will increase.”
Recalling the time when she had filmmakers raising their eyebrows and calling her up to comment on her choice to do Pippa, Mrunal says, “A lot of people associated with the filmmaking business called me and told me, ‘Are you stupid? Are you crazy? Why do you want to play a sister to a contemporary? You won’t be paired opposite him in the near future. You shouldn’t have done this!’ All I told them was that the story is good.”
Pippa, however, isn’t the first film starring Mrunal, which is set in a different era. While for Sita Ramam, she shadowed the styles and personalities of a couple of yesteryear actors from Bollywood, she decided to study a relative to slip under the skin of her character in Pippa. Talking about how she loves playing characters belonging to older generations and unfamiliar timelines, she elaborates, “There are so many people around me like my relatives and my friends’ mothers. For Jersey, I reached out to my mother and my friend Mallika’s mom, who’s in Chandigarh. I told her to share her stories and photographs with me and the decisions that she would make if she was caught in certain situations.”
The actor, who will also be seen in films like Pooja Meri Jaan, Aankh Micholi and Gumraah, adds, “For Pippa, I observed my friend and her relative, it’s a combination of a couple of people around me. I followed Sharmila Tagore ma’am, Madhubala and Gayatri Devi for Sita in Sita Ramam. The prep for the film was one of the most beautiful journeys because I got to discover so many wonderful women in India, who I’m extremely fond of. I’m thankful to them for being who they are.”
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