Sanya Malhotra on playing a Tamilian: Didn’t want to offend anyone

Sanya Malhotra on getting the Tamil dialect right in Meenakshi Sundareshwar

Sanya Malhotra

Struggles of married life keep following Sanya Malhotra. After Pagglait, where she plays a widow, the actor is off to portray the character of a married woman in a long-distance relationship. Meenakshi Sundareshwar will be the actor’s third association with Netflix after Ludo and Pagglait. 

Malhotra, who recently wrapped up the last schedule of the film that also stars Abhimanyu Dassani, says that playing a Tamilian required rigorous prep. “I wanted to get the dialect and tone right. [Although],  the Tamil portion is not much, I didn’t want to offend anyone. I wanted to get the feel right,” said the actor, adding that she took virtual lessons to work on it. “My Tamil teacher is from Delhi.  He helped me get the tonality [of pronunciation] right.”

Dassani and Malhotra in Meenakshi Sundareshwar

Set in Madurai, the Vivek Soni directorial venture narrates the story of a young couple’s chaotic and hilarious relationship, marriage, and love. Despite shooting during the pandemic, Malhotra says that she “had the best time shooting”. “It was an exciting experience to be working with Abhimanyu. [While] I was anxious the first two weeks, a mask is a cool accessory. You don’t have to do anything else [to protect yourself from COVID].”