By Murtuza Iqbal
Satish Kaushik’s directorial Kaagaz got a direct-to-digital release on Zee5 a few days ago. The movie stars Pankaj Tripathi and Monal Gajjar in the lead roles, and it is produced by Salman Khan.
We recently interacted with Monal, and she revealed that Satish Kaushik didn’t tell her that it’s a Salman Khan banner till the shooting of the film was wrapped up. She told us, “Satish sir didn’t tell me it’s a Salman Khan sir’s banner until we finished the movie. He never mentioned it.”
Monal has done a few films in down South and was also a part of Bigg Boss season 4 Telugu. Kaagaz marked her Hindi debut and in the movie, her character is a mother of two children and in the climax, she plays a middle-aged woman.
When we asked her if she was hesitant to take up a role of a mother in her Hindi debut, the actress said, “I used to tell sir (Satish) that every actress has these things that she should have a glamorous role and look beautiful in saree. But, sir was like ‘Monal, this character will give you a good position in the industry that you are a good actor’. Every actor doesn’t get a chance to perform in the first movie; it is like the director is doing an experiment by taking you in the film. But, for me, the director had faith in me and had cast me opposite Panjak Tripathi. The movie is a biopic on Bharat Lal played by Pankaj sir, so for me to have a character there and stand out, I think it’s an amazing opportunity that I got. I am really grateful to Satish sir who gave me this opportunity and trusted me.”
She further stated, “I gained a couple of kgs for the character because we had to show three stages. First is younger, then middle-age, and then something around 45. But, it was fun, it was an amazing experience.”
