From being the blue eyed girl of Ekta Kapoor’s serial Kum Kum Bhagya on television to joining the Rs 100-crore club with the film Super 30, Mrunal Thakur has come a long way. The actor who started her career with Tabrez Noorani’s Love Sonia is now three films old with Batla House in Bollywood. Despite the sudden success of Hrithik Roshan-starrer Super 30, Mrunal seems to have her head on her shoulders.
“I’m the same girl who started with television soaps. Nothing has changed in my life. Box office does matter but the real struggle starts after the first film. It decides your calibre as an artist. One should continue to get deserving roles consistently after that.”
On the trend of television actors crossing over to the big screen, Mrunals says, “My peers in the television industry say they had planned to do Bollywood films but their careers didn’t take off. They are proud that I have opened doors for TV actors. They look up to me. Things are changing in the entertainment business. Filmmakers these days are casting newcomers from television background. We have so many examples such as Kritika Kamra, Sushant Singh Rajput, Vidya Balan and Mouni Roy.”
The 27-year-old credits the television industry for instilling discipline and passion in her. “I have learned to be disciplined from working in television. I used to be on the sets every single day whether I had fever or not. The showmakers would joke and say that they would call an ambulance on the sets if and when I needed it. I have learnt to give my hundred percent on the sets. My co-stars (John and Hrithik) are both very disciplined. When you work with such actors and see them deliver their lines flawlessly, you automatically follow suit.”
Even though Mrunal has been on a steady rise, the fear of her films not doing well at the box office does not effect her. “Success or failure of the film and the box office collections are not important to me,” she affirms. The actor looks for relatability in the roles she chooses. “My first film was not a box-office success. I didn’t know that Super 30 would do so well when I accepted the film. A film at the script level is far different from the end product. The execution, acting, choreography everything add to it. All that matters is whether I will be comfortable playing the character,” says the actor who will be next seen in a web series adaptation of the film Baahubali.