Harshaali Malhotra was all of five when she shot for her debut film Bajrangi Bhaijaan. When the film released in 2015, Harshaali achieved stardom overnight. Her cherubic face had won everyone over. It was also a rare instance where one of Salman Khan’s co-actors gained as much, if not more praise. As the film, also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan clocks 10 years today, the 17-year-old says, “No matter how many movies I do, people will always call me and remember me as Munni, they have that image in their minds, and I’m happy with that.”
Ask her about the first scene she shot and she replies, “It’s the one where I am all dirty and stranded in old Delhi, where Munni meets Salman sir’s character (Bajrangi) for the first time.” Speaking about her first day on set, Harshaali, who will soon make her Telugu debut, further shares, “My first day on set, I was a little nervous, but Kabir (Khan, director) sir and Salman sir both made me comfortable. They helped me understand everything. It all went very smoothly.”
Chosen from over 2000 children who had auditioned to play Munni, Harshaali recalls how she would often turn to Kabir Khan with her questions and a piece of advice that Salman offered on set that left a last impression on her. “I used to ask a lot of questions to Kabir sir ‘how am I supposed to act? What should I do?’ and he would explain everything to me so well. The sets of Bajrangi Bhaijaan was almost like an acting school for me,” she says, adding, “Once, when I fell sick while shooting, Salman sir told me ‘whenever an actor is sick, it should not come on their face. They should do their job well and act like nothing is wrong’.” She further says, “We also used to play table tennis a lot, and go on ATV rides.”
{{/usCountry}}Chosen from over 2000 children who had auditioned to play Munni, Harshaali recalls how she would often turn to Kabir Khan with her questions and a piece of advice that Salman offered on set that left a last impression on her. “I used to ask a lot of questions to Kabir sir ‘how am I supposed to act? What should I do?’ and he would explain everything to me so well. The sets of Bajrangi Bhaijaan was almost like an acting school for me,” she says, adding, “Once, when I fell sick while shooting, Salman sir told me ‘whenever an actor is sick, it should not come on their face. They should do their job well and act like nothing is wrong’.” She further says, “We also used to play table tennis a lot, and go on ATV rides.”
{{/usCountry}}BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN 2?
Director Kabir Khan, who had directed the original film, was asked about a sequel. He told Pinkvilla, “We have definitely spoken about Bajrangi Bhaijaan 2. In today’s day and age, when all franchises are doing well, we are being careful about Bajrangi Bhaijaan 2 as we don’t want to make a sequel to the most popular film of last two decades for the same of it. Salman and I are in complete agreement of the fact that we need to come across a story that’s as exciting as Bajrangi Bhaijaan.” Harshaali too awaits that call from ‘Kabir sir’, “If they call me for this film, then I will definitely go for the sequel!”
GETTING BACK TO ACTING
How has the last decade been for her? “I feel overwhelmed when people still come up to me and tell me they cried a lot in the last scene when I say ‘mama’. I have watched the film multiple times since it released and I wonder at times ‘how did I do these scenes as a kid?’. However, now that I am acting again as a grown-up, I am confident I can do it all over again,” Harshaali ends.