I need to be more patient: Manjima Mohan

Malayalam actress Manjima Mohan is making her Telugu debut with Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo, opposite Naga Chaitanya. “Director Gautham Menon saw my Malayalam film promotions and chose me for this film. I got to know that it would be a bilingual film only after signing the film. Initially, I was not interested in acting in it because I could neither understand nor speak Telugu. But, Gautham encouraged me to do it,” says the actress.

The lead actor for the Tamil film is Simbhu, while Chaitanya plays the lead role for the Telugu version. “Both are friendly and have supported me throughout the film. Chaitanya was very helpful right from the first day and we both discussed our scenes. For Simbhu, it took two to three months before we started talking. He is a natural actor and goes with the flow,” she says about her co-stars. The shoot happened first in Telugu, and then in Tamil. “I used to write the lines and an assistant director translated them for me,” says Manjima.

The actress’s father is a cinematographer in the Malayalam film industry and Manjima started her career as a child artiste. “When I was three years old, my father asked me to run in front of the camera for a film. I went on to act as a child artiste till I was 10,” she says. The actress admits, “My father did not want me to become an actress. He has nothing against the industry, but he has seen the struggles of an actress.” However, Manjima had her heart set. Once she completed her graduation, she approached her family friend Sreenivasan, who works in the Malayalam film industry. “He said that he would let me know when he gets a good script. When the film came to me, my mother and I convinced my father and he agreed,” she recalls.

Most of Gautham Menon’s films are intense love stories. So, what about this one? “Romance was a tough task for me, but Gautham gives a lot of space to actors and helps them out. He switches on the camera, gives only a few instructions, and asks us to enact the scene. It worked out well,” she says. She adds that working in this film is like a certificate from an acting school. “I don’t need to join any acting school as I learnt a lot from Gautham, my co-artistes and the assistant directors,” says Manjima.

The actress says that she wants to do more Telugu films in the near future. “I want to do typical commercial films, but I am against exposing. I only want to look glamorous,” she says. After much delay, the film is now releasing on November 11. “I got frustrated and called my father and also asked Gautham. He explained the reasons for the delay and now I understand. But sometimes, I need to be more patient,” admits the actress.