Gulte News
The very talented actors Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur have been promoting their upcoming film Sita Ramam. In an exclusive interview with Gulte.com, Mrunal and Dulquer opened up on many topics like romance, family, and relationships along with the obvious topic of movies. Here is the full interview excerpt. The interview is done by the most-loved Nayandeep.
The sweet conversation between the trio turned the sweetest when Mrunal said, ‘Nenu meeku chala premistunnanu’ for which Nayan said he loves both of them.
Nayandeep: The reason why Is started it on the note of love is that, when I see the trailer, the one emotion that comes out evidently is love. Me as a person, I believe in old-school love, which I feel is slowly slowly going away. What kind of lovers are you? As a romantic, are you an old-school charm or do you believe in modern contemporary love?
Mrunal: I am very shy when it comes to expressing things. I express things but of course, I take time. I never thought I would be so shy. (Laughs off) I don’t know how to explain it. I am an old-school person and I would like to love someone than to be loved because when I get so much love I can’t handle it. But also I believe in meeting people other than sending emails and Whatsapp messages. I like doing small small little little things like traveling all the way to meet someone.
Nayandeep: Have you done that?
Mrunal: Yes I have done that. A long time ago in Europe, I went to meet a Scandinavian guy, but that did not work out. Now it is within India only. So lately, the flights I have been taking is to Hyderabad, so anyone who wants to meet me can meet me in Hyderabad.
Dulquer: I don’t have to ‘say’ I am old school because I am an old school person. (Mrunal: I love his answers) I am older than a majority of the people here. I like letters and flowers. I will send all the women in the family, flowers letters and all. Unannounced, suddenly they get the flowers. This is why we want to remind them of this, watch Sita Ramam. Remind them of classic love, old-school love.
Nayandeep: We have all grown up in an era where there were no social media. We had an interpersonal relationship. I m talking about love for family, and friends and that is not through a cell phone. Letters are something that has a different emotion. When was the last time that you wrote a letter?
Dulquer: Like a handwritten letter? Recently in May, on my mummy’s birthday.
Mrunal: I am so bad at writing. My letter turns out to be a screenplay. It is just never-ending.
Dulquer: It is good that you have the material to make a movie. Don’t waste them, Just write it.
Mrunal: I wrote one a day back to someone who I like most.
Nayandeep: I am not going to compare it, but one thing I was fondly reminded of about the movie, is the emotions of Veer Zaara. That had a different language to love. Do you feel like people relate to it after watching Sita Ramam’s trailer? Not comparing that, but people are fondly remembering that movie.
Dulquer: I have been reading comments and I see Veer Zaara popping up and even Roja popping up, and also Mahanati because of the screenplay. When we listen to scripts, I am not immediately thinking ‘does it remind me of another film?’ We have enough experience to gauge that this is an original idea. I think that once they watch the film they’ll realize that it’s something true to itself, but I think that we would all love for this to be as classic as those other films.
Mrunal: One of the classics that I last watched was Veera Zaara. I am happy that people are able to resonate with Sita Ramam’s trailer. The most important part of our life is romance. There are not many romantic films being made lately. We needed to tell that love is not hectic. It is like taking an effort for the one person you like the most. The relationship here between Ram and Sita is so sacred.
Shahrukh Khan has set the benchmarks so high for his heroines that my romance expectation is quite dead. But the way he treats every woman in his family, I feel that’s very sweet and that’s love.
Nayandeep (to Dulquer): Love is about respect and the way you send flowers to your family members says a lot about that. You recently said that you wanted to take a break from that romantic image. Why?
Mrunal: That’s not happening. That line needs to be removed.
Dulquer: Next time when I do a love story, I don’t want people to think, ‘Oh another love story. I would like to give you a break.
Mrunal: You do superhero films, action films, and romantic films, but you also do other genres of films as well.
Nayandeep: When we look at the West, all the big stars are confined to a particular genre and we love to see the like that. It is only in India, that we expect an actor to do everything. You don’t feel that you have to do everything, and you can do anything if it’s something that people will enjoy watching.
Dulquer: If there is something as timeless as this and extraordinary as this, I would definitely do it.
Nayandeep: You got married before actually made your debut. That’s not what usually actors do. We have been conditioned to believe that. Were you a silent romantic and how did you guys meet?
Dulquer: I am probably the louder and more expressive and more outgoing one. I will have a hundred ideas of expression. It is like a date. She is orthodox. I love getting letters, and my wife is not very expressive, so when she writes me a multi-page letter, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, Jackpot. This is the best gift.’
Nayandeep: I think that’s why you connected to the film also. I love writing letters. When did you first meet her?
Dulquer: When the men in my family around their mid to late 20s start to look out for women for them, I find it a very traumatic sort of experience. I refused to do it, and instead, I refused to exchange bio-data with people. I started seeing my now wife all around Chennai and I thought maybe it was a sign. I sent her a message on Facebook and we started a relationship.
Mrunal: I think I don’t have a romantic moment, not yet. I don’t know. Like I said earlier, I always like to love people, I was never loved so much. I could feel the difference.
Nayandeep: You know, I didn’t think five years ago that I would be sitting and doing an interview for a Telugu publication and primarily a Telugu publication. But now, I think we’re becoming united, and that’s great. Do you see the perception? A lot of actors who have hailed from the south who belong from any of the states in the South have always felt a little like an outcast, but today people have that acceptance towards those actors. Their films are working more than acceptance I think is respect.
Mrunal: Rashmika is a big hero in Sita Ramam and I feel welcome with every actor from the South. I feel like I have to earn my respect and I don’t have a sense of entitlement.
Dulquer: I’ve always been very aware of my behavior and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, but now I like getting into trouble and making an interesting copy.
Nayandeep: I met sir (Mammooty) and he welcomed me with a pat on the back. The gesture meant a lot to a person like me who’s nobody.
Mrunal: I must tell you something, I was so overwhelmed off when I was at Dq’s place, he served me a fish and the Superstar served me and I had to finish that.
Nayandeep: He (Mammooty) said you don’t have a dinner table conversation on films, despite coming from a film family. He had seen a lot of troubled days in the beginning, like financially low. I understand where he is coming from, you have not seen those many troubling days?
Dulquer: My mom is very rooted and very real. She is very strict with money, and she’s aware of people who are financially struggling. She doesn’t like it when her kids indulge too much or appear like they’re showing off, so she’s taught them to value money and not take it for granted. I see the lows and highs, like when a film does well and when it does not. I have grown up seeing this and I know it is not permanent.
Nayandeep: Any word of advice you got from your dad?
Dulquer: He tells to do your job and not look left and right, and to keep your own identity. He also said that he didn’t want to put pressure on you to work with other actors.
Nayandeep: I would like to tell that there is a lot of respect given to the actors today. I want to tell you that every Indian actor is an ‘Indian actor’ on Wikipedia who primarily works in different language films. We all are the faces of this change and more power to you.
Tags Dulquer Salmaan Interview Mrunal Thakur Interview Sita Ramam Interview
