Malvi Malhotra’s road to recovery

HOW THE ACTRESS HAS REBUILT HER LIFE AFTER A KNIFE ATTACK

By Asjad Nazir

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IN 2020, young Indian actress Malvi Malhotra al­most had a promising career cut short after a producer allegedly stabbed her multiple times when she rejected his advances.

The rising star from Himachal Pradesh, who has shown her acting talent in projects, including dra­ma serial Udaan, Bollywood film Hotel Milan and Tamil feature Ondikku Ondi, has bravely fought back after the vicious attack. She is now slowly re­building her life and has re­ceived support, including from actress Urmila Matondkar. With new projects on the horizon, things are look­ing promising for her.

Eastern Eye caught up with deter­mined young star Malvi Mal­hotra to talk about life after the awful attack, plan going for­ward, inspirations and advice she would give those going through a harrowing experience.

How big a challenge has getting your confidence back after the attack been?

It is a very big challenge to control your subcon­scious mind because how much ever you try to for­get things, it comes back to you in your dreams. Even when you are not thinking anything it still affects you a lot. There are times when I am sitting alone and doing nothing and the trauma haunts me again and again. But I try to forget it and practise medi­tation to calm my mind.

Tell us more…

I read good motivational books to get out of this trauma and my parents have been there to support me, so it’s quite challenging. You have to come out of it, but yes, it will take a lot of time. I don’t know how much time it will take and it’s a very bad memory I want to forget forever.

What has kept you mentally strong?

Being very spiritually inclined has kept me strong from day one. When I got attacked, I really felt that power in me because of my spirituality and that gave me a lot of willpower to fight, to live and heal as soon as possi­ble. So, it was my spiritual strength! I don’t know from where the willpower comes, but I feel when you read so many spiritual books and believe in God and yourself, then God is there to help always.

What advice would you give others going through difficulties in life?

When facing difficult times and any problem in our life, we panic, get angry and disturbed in different ways. We just react and don’t look for a solution. My advice is to just think over the situation and re­member that everything has a so­lution. Try not to panic and react negatively. Look for a solution and calm yourself because the problem has already happened. You can’t do anything about what happened, so think about what will make things better.

Is that what you did after the attack?

Yes, if I had thought about the scars, I would have been negative. I thought about positive things and that God has saved my life, and my organs are safe. I see the positive side of everything and that makes me feel happy. I looked forward to good things in life. Today, I will tell everyone to be positive.

What is the plan going forward?

I really want to start a new project and am just wait­ing for doctors to allow me to start work. Right now, I am just planning to make this time more produc­tive because in our industry talent is very impor­tant. I am working on my craft and learning things that will help me in my career. I am just focusing on my weaknesses and trying to make them stronger.

What can we expect next from you on the work front?

On the work front, I have two music videos that are about to release very soon. One is sung by Bhoomi Trivedi and the other by Kunal Ganjawala. I also have a Tamil film, which is about to be released on Amazon Prime. I am looking forward to starting new work and eagerly awaiting that.

Do you have a dream role?

My dream role is playing a cop on-screen because it really fas­cinates me. I remember as a child I never used to play with dolls and would play with toy guns. So, since childhood I real­ly wanted to play a cop like Ra­ni Mukerji in Mardaani or what Priyanka Chopra has done in Quantico. So, I want to do these kind of roles.

Who would you love to work with?

I would love to work with Rajkummar Rao, Ayush­mann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal. They are very talented and hardworking. Directors I would love to work with are Vishal Bhardwaj, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Anubhav Sinha because their movies are really great. I especially love the cinema and filmmaking of Vishal Bhardwaj.

What kind of content do you enjoy watching as an audience member?

As an audience, I really enjoy comedy films be­cause it makes me feel happy. I love watching ro­mantic films as well. I am a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan and films he has done with Yash Raj. I also like thriller-action type movies. I don’t like watch­ing horror films.

What inspires you?

Not one thing or person inspires me. I observe things a lot and try to manifest those things in my life. There are so many small and big things that in­spire me. Even the smallest gesture inspires me. So, the whole world inspires me.