Malavika Mohanan opens up about Thangalaan’s failure despite widespread acclaim for the movie, her performance: ‘Every film has its own journey’

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While she received praise for Thangalaan, her performance in the Hindi action thriller Yudhra (2024), where she starred alongside Siddhant Chaturvedi, garnered a tepid response. Released in September, Yudhra failed to make an impact commercially.  “For Thangalaan, I’m happy that I got an amazing response for my performance. It was one of the hardest roles I’ve ever done, being both physically and mentally challenging. If an audience can appreciate something like that, it makes one feel nice because, the harder the role, the more fear you have that it could backfire, but thankfully, it didn’t, and I’m grateful for that. As for Yudhra, it is what it is. Onto the next round,” she added.

Malavika also expressed that she remains unfazed by box-office figures and reviews, focusing instead on the emotional connection a film creates. While Thangalaan grossed Rs 68.5 crore globally, Yudhra minted just Rs 14.38 crore. “What connects me to a film is if it emotionally pulls me into the narrative and the characters.” However, she noted that no matter how much one tries to stay away from discussions regarding numbers, it finds its way since that’s how things function these days. “We live in a world now where everything is about numbers. Even if you or your family hasn’t connected to a film, but it’s made Rs 100-200 crore, it’s considered a hit. We live in strange times where that’s (box office numbers) dictating what is a good or bad film, so one can’t help but pay attention to it. But I don’t let it affect me too much as long as I’m appreciated for my work in the film,” Malavika added.