Malavika Mohanan says Vicky Kaushal was a ‘captivating dancer’ since childhood, reflects on memories of her first friend

Malavika Mohanan and Vicky Kaushal were neighbours in Mumbai growing up. The actor reflected on childhood memories with the Chhaava star.

Actor Malavika Mohanan, daughter of cinematographer KU Mohanan, and Vicky Kaushal, son of action director Sham Kaushal, were neighbours growing up in Mumbai. On Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast, Malavika spoke about their friendship and reflected on childhood memories with Vicky growing up.

Vicky Kaushal and Malavika Mohanan have been friends for years now.

Malavika Mohanan on childhood memories with Vicky Kaushal

When asked on the podcast if she ever imagined Vicky would be such a huge star today, Malavika remarked about how ‘nobody thinks like that in childhood’. When asked if he ever broke out into ‘really cool dances,’ Malavika replied, “He has always been a very good dancer. In childhood, we would all play passing the parcel at birthday parties. And we would all do things we were good at. For him, it was always dance. He was a very captivating dancer.”

Explaining how she became friends with Vicky, Malavika said, “We used to be neighbours when we were growing up. He’s my oldest friend and my first friend ever. Because I was like one and he was like six or seven. I’ve known him since then. We just meet, eat good food. My mom makes lovely Malayali food. So we catch up over food and conversation, not really a lot of reflective topics come up,” stating that they do not discuss their careers with each other.

Recent work

Vicky was most recently seen in the 2024 rom-com Bad Newz, and the 2025 historical film Chhaava. Chhaava collected ₹601.54 crore net in India and ₹807.91 crore worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossers of 2025. He is now shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love & War with Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.

Malavika was last seen in the 2024 films Thangalaan and Yudra, as well as Hridayapoorvam in 2025. This year, she made her debut in Telugu with the Prabhas-starrer The Raja Saab, which was released in theatres on January 9 to mixed reviews. The film has crossed the ₹169 crore mark worldwide. She will soon star in PS Mithran’s Sardar 2 with Karthi.