Sanya Malhotra is gearing up for the release of the Hindi remake of the 2020 Telugu hit of the same name, ‘HIT – The First Case’, which stars Rajkummar Rao opposite her. The actress, who has carved a niche for herself as the ‘unconventional heroine’ with films like Pataakha, Pagglait, Photograph, and Love Hostel, said that she really “manifested” working with Rajkummar in a film.
The Hindi remake of the thriller is directed by Dr. Sailesh Kolanu, who also helmed the original film. It is described as a “gripping tale of a cop, who is on the trail of a missing girl”.
“This is something that I manifested for myself because I really wanted to work with Raj. We all know he is such a brilliant actor. He is inspiring and I’m really glad that I got a film like HIT to start my journey of working with Rajkummar Rao. I hope I work with him again on something else,” Sanya told us.
The original film received much love and appreciation for its lead pair Vishwak Sen and Ruhani Sharma from the audience. However, Sanya said that she was not wary of comparisons. “I have seen the original movie but I’m not at all worried about the comparisons. It was a dream to work with not only Raj but the director and the whole team of HIT. The shooting process was so smooth and comfortable that it felt like I was shooting with friends. It was a fun experience to shoot a thriller. We were making a thriller movie but we would do comedy on set. So, I will always cherish that shooting experience and of course, when you are working with Rajkummar Rao, there’s so much you can learn.”
When asked about her dream collaboration from down South, Sanya said, “I would love to work with Sai Pallavi and Fahadh Faasil. I’m also doing The Great Indian Kitchen so that would be my second South remake after HIT. But yes, there are so many talented actors down South that I want to work with.”
Sanya also has woman-led dramedy ‘Kathal’ in her kitty. Set in a small town, ‘Kathal’ revolves around a local politician whose prized jackfruits (kathals) go missing and a young police officer named Mahima (Malhotra) is adamant to solve this bizarre case to prove herself. Sanya said that ‘Kathal’ is unlike any other cop movie that the Indian cinema has seen.
The film marks the directorial debut of Yashowardhan Mishra, who has also penned the film along with veteran writer Ashok Mishra.
“This film and character have been very crucial to me. It’s a story that I really wanted to be a part of. I’d like to thank Yash that he wrote something like Kathal. It’s a story when it will be out, people will really get to learn something, things that we miss living in our own little bubble. It’s a character that grounded me somewhere and opened a new world for me that I wasn’t aware of. As far as my look is concerned, playing a cop and wearing that uniform every day gave me a sense of confidence and pride. It made me responsible. This is a cop film which is not like any other. It’s very real. During the research, I met so many female cops in Madhya Pradesh. We just only uniform but we don’t know that they are just like us behind those uniforms. Sometimes we forget that they are humans too,” Sanya said.
