Mrunal Thakur has struggled against, apart from the challenges the film industry poses, losing hope at one point too. It was after she gained fame on television, and wanted to get into films.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“I had confidence in myself, but there was a time when I felt it’s not working out. I gave up after four and a half years, but people don’t know I am facing the camera for 10 years now. I started in 2012, it’s my 10th year right now. The fun part is that I gave up, but travelled to Indonesia for six months and lived there. It was important for me to be facing the camera,” says the 29-year-old, whose latest film Jersey released recently.
She was seen in the 2016 Indonesian show Tuyul & Mbak Yul Reborn. Elaborating more, she continues, “At the same time, I was thinking how to wipe off that image of a TV actor. It had become a stereotype. Logon ke dimaag mein woh ban jaata hai, along with a lot of walls ‘she can’t do this because she did that, she shouldn’t do thisbecause she is doing that’ There are these permutations and combinations of assumptions that people have. It’s really disheartening sometimes.”
It was the film Love Sonia in 2018 which changed her career around, she admits. “It broke the stereotype… I needed to be seen in a character where it’s not someone wearing kilos of makeup to look pretty. It is one of the biggest challenges for an actor- yes she is pretty, but can she act? It was amazing to work with an international crew and Demi Moore. I felt that was the moment. Love Sonia was my ticket to Bollywood,” says Thakur, whose initial plan was to become a journalist.
She adds, “I was pursuing Bachelor of Mass Media, but I my first and only love was the camera, I wanted to be with him.”
