I Visited a Brothel in Sonagachi for ‘Love Sonia’: Mrunal Thakur

Mrunal Thakur on Love Sonia, moving from TV to films & working with Hrithik Roshan.

Mrunal Thakur exemplifies innocence in the character poster.

Kumkum Bhagya fame television actor Mrunal Thakur makes her film debut with the international film Love Sonia. The film is a complete departure from her character on the small screen and Thakur admits that she was craving something challenging. The film promises to be a gritty and realistic take on the drug trafficking scene as can be seen in the trailer. Another talking point for the film is its stellar cast from Manoj Bajpayee to Richa Chadha to Demi Moore, Rajkummar Rao, Freida Pinto, Adil Hussain and Anupam Kher. The film premiered at the London Indian Film Festival picking up the Best Supporting Female Actor trophy for Chadha and the Best debut for Thakur.

Thakur found it difficult initially to adapt to the working style of an international film because she’d been used to working on television. “I was playing the same character for two years on television so there was no real preparation. Here I had to visit a brothel in Sonagachi, Kolkata to understand the body language of the sex workers. It was a lot of hard work” she said. It also emotionally took on a toll on her, and she found herself breaking down multiple times on set, only to be comforted by her director Tabrez Noorani.

Love Sonia is an unconventional debut for an actor, but prod her about it and she says that she wouldn’t have had it another way. She values the experiences she had working on the film, and that the film could definitely spearhead a change and probably change the lives of some girls who have been trafficked. But she does have a big Bollywood film to look forward to in Super 30 directed by Vikas Bahl opposite Hrithik Roshan. With these two releases Mrunal seems to be poised to conquer the world of movies.

Love Sonia is slated to release on the 14 September, and stars Mrunal Thakur, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadda, Demi Moore, Freida Pinto, Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher and Rajkummar Rao.