Malavika Mohanan says Rajinikanth was the first one to tell her she would become a 'big star'

Mumbai, Jan 11 (IANS) As her film ‘Petta’ completed five years of its release, actress Malvika Mohanan spoke about working with superstar Rajinikanth and how she wanted to share screen space with him.

Taking to X, formerly called Twitter, Malvika shared a long post she penned to honour Rajinikanth, who showed trust and faith in her craft. She also shared a handful of photographs posing with the star and a few from the film.

She wrote: “A little story for you guys.. It was year 2018, and it was the first day of shoot for my first tamil film. I was playing a supportive role and my main reason for signing the project was because I wanted to share screen space with Rajni sir since the day I’d become an actor (sharing screen with him is pretty much on the bucket list for most actors, no?)”

She was nervous.

“I was nervous, in an unfamiliar industry, didn’t know a single soul and to add to it all my first scene I shot for itself was with him. We were all on set and he walked in..the whole set went into a respectful silence immediately,” she said.

“The air immediately got thick with everyone’s adulation for him(not surprising obviously as he has that effect wherever he goes).”

Malvika then got introduced to Rajinikanth by the associate director and she revealed that the superstar very politely congratulated her and then went on to exchange polite pleasantries.

“I was starstruck and mesmerised to say the least. Here was THE Rajnikanth standing right in front of me and talking to me. Karthik(Subburaj) sir said the shot is ready and I thought ok..the small talk is done and what more would someone of Rajni sir’s stature possibly have to talk to a newbie like me any further.”

She recalled that through the course of that day, between each and every single shot, he sat her down and got to know her better.

She said that the star asked her: “Where I came from, where my family lives, where I went to school, what my acting aspirations were, what my thoughts on spirituality were etc(you get this gist) There was no reason for him to do this..to make this kind of an effort..to go out of his way to make me comfortable..”

“I wasn’t even his “heroine” in the quintessential sense of things, just one of the actors and as we all know ‘Petta’ had so so many actors. But he still did. And he continued to do it through the rest of the filming of the movie. He was the first person who ever clapped for me right after the my ‘father’s death scene’ in the film.”

Malvika then recalled how he said that she will one day become a big star.

“He was the first one to tell me you’ll will go on to be a big star in the future. He was the only one at that point to give words of encouragement constantly to a nervous new girl in a new industry pursuing big dreams. I love you so much. You are truly truly one of a kind and this film will always be closest to my heart. #5YearsOfPetta”