It seems like there’s no stopping Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva! The film fraternity is celebrating the end to Bollywood’s dismal streak at the box office and the revived relevance of the big screen magic. The audiences are flocking to the theatres. And social media is busy concocting fan-fictions and theories surrounding the characters in the fantasy action adventure.
After a stupendous Rs 225 crore globally in its first weekend, Brahmastra, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, has kept a steady pace even in this week. The film already has become the highest grosser in Bollywood since the pandemic and is all set to touch the Rs 200 crore club in the domestic box office by the end of this week. As it continues to rake in the moolah, actor Mouni Roy speaks to News18 exclusively about forming a special friendship with director Ayan Mukerji while shooting for the magnum opus and how her friends reacted to her sinister avatar Junoon in the film.
Excerpts from the interview:
You recently posted a picture with your husband Suraj Nambiar and friends Arjun Bijlani and Remo D’Souza as your squad went to watch Brahmastra in the theatre. What was their reaction like?
I was so overwhelmed with their reactions and began crying by the end of it. Everybody was so proud and they were coming and giving me hugs and kisses. Sometimes you can understand people’s emotions without them having to tell you so many things in actual words. They were very happy. I still get congratulatory messages from them for the entire team of Brahmastra every single day. And that’s one of the biggest wins.
Apart from being your cheerleaders, are they critical of your work too?
My friends are my biggest critics. In fact, they’ve come up to me in the past and told me to not embarrass them when I did something which they didn’t like. They’re always full of concerns for the projects I do. In Brahmastra, I was dressed a certain way and my character is very outlandish. I was very concerned about how they would react to my garb in the film. I had gone to everybody before the film and told them to not expect too much.
There are so many fan theories surrounding Brahmastra on social media. How do you see Junoon in the next chapter?
I would want Ayan to put his thought into where Junoon goes from here. His perception of my character really clicked the first time. Whatever he thinks will definitely be better than what I come up with. So many people have been asking but I’ve no clue about the next chapter. I genuinely know nothing about part two.
Ayan said that after seeing your work in Naagin, he knew that you’re tailor-made for Junoon. Would you say that the show proved to be a groundwork for your part in the film?
Not at all because both are very different characters. The only similarity is that they’re outlandish. Both of them much like me in real life have a strong connect with Shiv ji. I’m a big Krishna devotee as well. The one thing that really helped me was Ayan coming to me on the set every single day and telling me to not forget my connection to Shiv ji and Junoon’s devotion to Brahmadev.
Would you call Brahmastra one of the toughest projects in your career?
Junoon is the most difficult character I played so far. I had to unlearn everything. I couldn’t be animated in the film even though I’m very expressive in real. The one thing we were very sure is to not make Junoon a caricature of any other character. She needed to have a sense of calm. Her confidence also had a lot of quietness to it. At the same time, she had to be very stern and invoke the feelings of fear.
Having been a part of Devon Ke Dev… Mahadev, Naagin and now Brahmastra, is there a fear of being typecast as an actor who’s largely drown towards characters rooted in mythology?
I don’t have any such fears. I’ve lasted in the industry for 16 long years and I’m truly a person who believes that work begets work. As long as you do your work with conviction, you’re bound to get more opportunities even if they take some time. But it’s alright because there’s no short cut to hard work. You can’t fight destiny.
Brahmastra also gave you a friend in Ayan. You referred to him as your ‘best boy-friend’ on Instagram. How assuring was it to have a filmmaker of his calibre guiding you?
We became friends through the making of the film. I was assured from the word go. When I was going to meet him, he was very busy. Mukesh (Chhabra; casting director) sir had told me that he would probably only give me ten minutes of his time but we ended up sitting and chatting for three-and-a-half hours. There was already something there and both of us knew that I was doing the part. He’s the most amazing human being. He’s such a great friend and a very good listener. He has a different kind of world going on in his head and he’s truly a wonder boy.
Following the super success of the film, how much has your self-expectations increased?
I’m fully in the present moment and that’s how I treat every single job of my mine. If I’m sitting with you here today, you’ve my 100 per cent attention. I want to play each character to the best of my ability and as an actor, you can only do that much because some things click and some don’t. I’ve always done that and that’s a cardinal rule that I always follow. The rest is up to the audience, they may either like you in a part or dislike you.
