It has been a long while since Sanjjanaa Galrani was seen in Malayalam films. She had noticeable roles in the Mohanlal-starrer Casanova and Mammooty-starrer King and the Commissioner. While she had been getting offers from the Malayalam industry, she turned them down for one single reason — they all had newcomers at the helm of affairs. But through the upcoming Mollywood film, Jannat she broke that rule too— she worked with a relatively new director and scriptwriter. All those who have seen her in the song Ya Moula from Jannat would find it difficult to equate the westernised Sanjjanaa playing a traditional Malabari Muslim girl.
The actress who is active in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil films explains, “I mostly work with established actors and directors and I am very choosy about my projects, but I found the script of Jannat very interesting and exciting.” Throwing light on her role, she says, “I play a Malabari Muslim girl in this love story. For someone who is very westernised in her way of dressing, it was a novelty to wear such traditional attires. Since I know Tamil, it was relatively easy to grasp the Malabar accent and dialogues. But I had a lot of mugging to do. Tamil and Malayalam are difficult to grasp.”
Though Sanjjanaa says that Malayalam was challenging, she proceeds to speak in admirably good Malayalam. While complimenting her, she says impishly, “I know enough Malayalam now that if someone scolds me and calls me patti, I say ‘same to you’. Now, I am not at sea when people around me speak in Malayalam; I can understand and speak back as well.” Incidentally, Sanjjanaa is fluent in Telugu, Kannada and mentions that she wants to learn Punjabi. While Kannada and Telugu films keep her busy, Sanjjanaa has also got her hand in a lot of pies with regard to business interests. She ticks them on her fingers, “I run an Interior decoration firm in Bengaluru which works on premium projects, especially hotels. In addition to this, I also have a Yoga Centre Akshara Power Yoga in Bengaluru. This is why I have to be choosy about the projects I do because these two firms keep me on my toes!” .
