“Language will never be a barrier,” says Saiee M Manjrekar on signing Telugu films

By: Mohnish Singh

Actress Saiee M. Manjrekar debuted on the silver screen with Salman Khan’s Dabangg 3 (2019), which turned out to be an instant money-spinner at the box office, despite receiving mixed response from critics and audiences.

After the huge success of the cop-drama, it was thought that Manjrekar would go on to sign several films in Bollywood. However, in a very surprising move, the newcomer announced the Telugu film Major as her next project. Later, she signed on to headline yet another Telugu film, Ghani. While Major is a bilingual biographical drama based on the life of 2008 Mumbai attacks martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Ghani is a sports adventure film. Both films feature her in completely different roles.

Talking about taking up back-to-back films in Telugu, Saiee M. Manjrekar tells a publication, “For me, language will never be a barrier because I want to let my performance speak more. This is a lesson I learnt from my dad that for an actor, language should never be a barrier. It is the actor's performance that should do the work.”

She goes on to add that her signing of Telugu films was not an informed decision. “It was not an informed decision but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. When I read my character in Major, I fell in love with it. Some movies you read and you can imagine yourself doing this. The language was secondary. Then Ghani also happened. My parents told me that there is so much happening with pan-India films and wherever good work is happening, I should go,” she adds.

Directed by Sashi Kiran Tikka and produced by Mahesh Babu, Major has been simultaneously shot in Hindi. Well-known Telugu actor Adivi Sesh plays Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan in the much-awaited biographical film. It is set to arrive on July 2, 2021.