Ahead of the release of her film Mrs. actor Sanya Malhotra talked to The Quint about her film, how she prepared for her character Richa, the need for a conversation around agency for women, how she picks her films, and more.
Mrs., based on Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen , is directed by Aarti Kadav and stars Malhotra in the lead.
When asked if a possible comparison to The Great Indian Kitchen weighs on her, Malhotra said, “This story is so relevant, important, and urgent. I am a very greedy actor, I won’t lie. I wanted to be a part of this; I wanted to tell this story. I never felt pressured by any of that. I love the original; I have huge admiration for it.”
“I’ve always been attracted to stories that I wanted to see growing up; want to see women like Richa (Malhotra in ‘Mrs.’) on screen,” the actor added, “I feel lucky that that shift has happened in the industry; people are writing and backing films like Mrs. So many women-led films did well in 2024 and that made me happy and gave me confidence as an actor.”
Talking about the tendency society has to put women on a pedestal for sacrificing their dreams to meet patriarchal societal roles, Malhotra said, “I’ve definitely put my mother on a pedestal; we do that on a daily basis. We dehumanize them and in that process ignore that they might have their own passions and dreams apart from being our mother. I’ve done that in the past but I’ve realised that and slowly, my mother has also realised that."
"I’ve heard so many people say, ‘Wow, a woman sacrificed all dreams and desires for her children’. So many women don’t even realise they’re losing themselves. We’re expecting too much out of them. We need to realise we don’t have to be perfect.”
Mrs. releases on Zee5 on 7 February.
Watch the video for the complete interview.