Mrunal Thakur: I never took the box office pressure as an actor

Excited about her films releasing this year, the actor talks about Toofan and Jersey, and her experience shooting amid the pandemic.

Mrunal Thakur is in a happy space as she is looking forward to three releases this year. “I am glad that finally the amount of hard work that we have put in our films in 2020, will be witnessed by the audiences. My first release is Toofan, which is close to my heart. I worked with a fabulous team including Farhan Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra sir but also the journey, the experience, the growth, not just as an actor but also as a human was enormous. I feel I am a different person today because of it,” says the Super 30 (2019) actor.

Mrunal Thakur has Toofan with Farhan Akhtar, Jersey with Shahid Kapoor, Aankh Micholi releasing this year. (Rahul Jhangiani)

She calls OTT a blessing for those who can’t go to theatres and can watch content at home. “Even during Covid-19, there is a way to entertain our audiences. OTT has a huge reach global reach and any project release in over 200 countries, which is huge. As for box office, I never took that pressure as an actor. My film is a complete package and will entertain people but it will also inspire, allow us to never give up, and follow our dreams. We all need that one push to keep us on track and guide us on the right way. That’s what my character does, though in real life, Farhan inspired me (laughs). It was enchanting and refreshing working with him,” she explains. Up next, the actor has Jersey with Shahid Kapoor and Aankh Micholi and will soon start shooting for Pippa co-starring Ishaan Khatter.

Jersey had begun shoot in early 2020 but had to stall due to the lockdown. Later in October, right after the unlock, the unit began shooting again. Talking about the experience of shooting amid the pandemic, she says, “I was scared but the joy of being on a movie set was great. We couldn’t stay or sit together and kept distances, wore PPE suits, sanitised often - it was a long process and back then, we didn’t know what measures we needed and what worked. It was all still new but today we know better! By the end of the schedule in Dehradun, we were all happy after working so hard and we were glad for the daily workers who could earn their wages on a film shoot as they were dying of hunger and not Covid. I was glad to be back to work.”