Stars In The City: Sanya Malhotra says she has ‘no time’ to get married, reveals how life's been after Aankh went viral

At HT City Stars In The City, Sanya Malhotra shared her experiences with the song Aankh and her role in Mrs- and what she feels about her films dropping on OTT.

"When I read the script of Mrs, I could see myself in it,” said actor Sanya Malhotra, during a recent edition of HT City’s Stars In The City.

Sanya Malhotra

As she gears up for the upcoming release of Mrs on Zee5, the actor opened up about what drew her to the films and its themes of gender equality and patriarchy. In a candid conversation with Sonal Kalra, Chief Managing Editor, Entertainment and Lifestyle, Hindustan Times, Sanya explained, “I haven’t faced the same challenges as my character Richa, but I have seen her in my mother, my sister, and in women around me. I’m hoping after watching it, people will realise that some things need to change.”

‘Feminism is for everyone’

Would the film’s message then be unfair to men who are supportive of the women in their lives? Sanya asserted, “People keep forgetting that feminism includes both men and women. Patriarchy also puts a lot of pressure on men. When we were prepping for Mrs, my co-actor Nishant Dahiya was empathising with his character Diwakar (Richa’s husband in the film) — that irritated me. But I realised we are all products of our conditioning and patriarchy. I could understand aadmiyon pe kitna pressure hota hai; uss chakkar mein apne emotions bhi baahar nahin la sakte.”

The magic of Aankh

On a lighter note, how could we not ask the actor about her recent song Aankh with singer Sunidhi Chauhan?

As the audience cheered at the mention of the viral track, Sanya replied, “I am very keen on pursuing this glamorous side along with acting. As an actor, I like doing character-driven movies like Mrs, Pagglait (2021) and Kathal (2023). But bachpan se toh maine yahi dekha hai, actors ko dance karte huye, woh bhi bada pasand hai.” The actor, who is a trained dancer, added, “For this song, I practised a lot for two weeks. I have never looked like this on screen, so it was a big step for me. The song was incredible, and the choreography was insane!”

Taking the energy up a notch, Sanya also shook a leg with fans and participated in a hook step challenge, busting out some flawless moves as she danced to chartbusters such as Chikni Chameli (Agneepath, 2011) and What is Mobile Number (Haseena Maan Jayegi, 1999).

As the actor talked about drawing inspiration for her character from women around her, we asked, what about becoming a ‘Mrs’ in real life? However, Sanya, who has been rumoured to be dating sitarist Rishabh Sharma, played it coy: “Nahi, I don’t have the time. Yahaan chhutti lene ka time nahi hai!”

On the work front, some of Sanya’s films, Ludo (2020), Love Hostel (2022) and now Mrs, have headed straight to OTT. She shared: “My films have done really well on OTT, so there is no concern whatsoever."