Sonalee Kulkarni cites similarities between Malaikottai Vaaliban, Natarang, has this to say about Mohanlal | Exclusive

After becoming the ‘Apsara’ of Marathi cinema and giving hits like Grand Masti in Bollywood, Sonalee Kulkarni has finally made her Malayalam debut alongside Mohanlal in Malaikottai Vaaliban. The actress who played the role of Rang Rani in the movie got into an exclusive conversation with DNA and talked about her experience working with Mohanlal, shared the “uncanny similarities” that she found in her Malaikottai Vaaliban character and Natrang character.  

Talking about how she landed the role in Malaikottai Vaaliban, Sonalee Kulkarni said, "They found me from Apsara Ali, Lijo was very sure about the whole casting from day 1. From Apsara Ali to bringing me onboard, there was a huge hunt that happened to find me up north because I didn't have any connections in the south, I had not done any films before. So to find me was a challenge. So the whole process began because of Apsara Ali."

Sonalee Kulkarni who is popularly known for her film Natarang, revealed that she found some uncanny similarities between the film and Malaikottai Vaaliban and said, "For me, it was like doing Natrang 2.0. Vaaliban is pretty much in the same sphere, with similar characteristics and some uncanny similarities between Natrang and Vaaliban. So the film Vaaliban is based on a fantasy period when people used to perform art from village to village, town to town. So the similarities from there. In Natrang I played a tamasha artist and in Vaaliban my character does Indian folk form and goes on performing from village to village. The dance form is also a fusion of various Indian folk forms like we had inspiration from Laavni, nautanki, and south Indian classical dance forms. And in the look when you see, the character of Ranga Rani is very colorful, very energetic, very dramatic. The outfit is similar to Navwari but not a nine-yard saree, it is a dhoti with dupatta attached to it. Then the colours or embroidery are very similar to Rajasthani work. So there is a nice fusion."

Talking about her character, the actress said, "For Lijo, my character was a representation of Indian folk forms. Like I said the character is a little dramatic. All my scenes are with Mohanlal sir who is a wrestler who goes on performing combats in villages to find someone who can defeat him. It’s like two artists coming together. So the chemistry between his character and my character is very fun, quirky, and flirtatious."

Sonalee further talked about her experience working with Mohanlal in Malaikottai Vaaliban and recalled her favourite memory with the superstar and said, "The whole experience was quite memorable. My first memory is when I met him for the first time, we were shooting in Jaisalmer and it was an action sequence and I will always remember the first time I saw him. There were a couple of retakes that happened due to technical issues. Having said that, he is that one person who patiently does whatever the director says. He has been working in the industry for 43 years, he has won many National Awards, he is Padma Shri, he is a trained artist, everything under the sky, but he is so patient. He will surrender to the director and do everything that the director wants and give it 100% in every retake. Whether it is a technical fault or his co-actor’s fault, he will never lose his cool. He does all his stunts by himself at this age and to see him do that was absolutely inspirational. And the first thing he said to me." 

Meanwhile, Sonalee Kulkarni is set to enthrall audiences with yet another Marathi historical drama, Mogal Mardini Chhatrapati Tararani portraying the titular role. Helmed by Rahul Janardan Jadhav, the film is expected to be dubbed in English and Hindi and is set to release in theatres on March 22