MUMBAI: Priyal Mahajan, who plays the lead role in the serial Molki, landed acting by chance. she says, “I belong to Delhi and I came to Mumbai when I was just 17. My parents, touchwood, have been really supportive of my decision to act. I didn’t plan to get into this field. A casting and modelling agency spotted me on instagram and they liked my pictures. I was in class XII when I was offered modelling assignments and was required to come to Mumbai. But it took me one year to convince my parents to let me go to Mumbai.” However, the actress says she hardly knew acting when she was offered the lead role in the serial Molki. “I was scared to play a lead in a show. More so, because I was not a trained actress. I still remember the first scene where I hide ro ride a bicycle and then fall from it. Can you believe it that I didn't know how to pretend to fall from a bicycle! I did not know where the camera was, where to look, or how to cheat the camera. Before playing this lead, I had done a small role in Kasautii Zindagi Kay 2, and then I shifted to doing ads which is very different from TV shoots. I had to be very natural while doing commercials.”
Telling us how she is learning on the job, Priyal adds, “I just trusted my director’s vision blindly and followed his advice and thankfully I was able to learn acting on the job. You will be surprised to hear that I had major stage fear during my school days.
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During the special assembly, I would tremble with fear while saying the quote of the day on the mic. So, coming back to learning acting, I have learnt so much by giving auditions. I did theatre for a very short time too to get rid of my stage fear. But it is not always that you are a great actor if you have done theatre.”
So ask her what she is doing of all the fat pay cheques she is getting to play the lead and she says, "All the payment that I earn I have to ask my family before spending it. My family is well aware of my earnings. I still behave like a 19 year-old with them. For them I am still a kid. Plus, since I am from a middle class family, I am heavily into saving money. I am very unlike a Delhite who believes in showing off. It's been three years of my staying in Mumbai and so jab udane ka time aaya toh I came to Mumbai. I am more of a Mumbaikar now."
We wonder if this 19 year-old is ready to be a part of infinite TV shows and play a mother of grown up kids? "I hope Molki runs for years. But I am just going with the flow right now. Also, I have no apprehensions in playing a mother on screen. I am open to good opportunities. I would even love to work on the OTT platform."
But the OTT offers a lot of bold content too? "There is a thin line between looking cheap on screen and doing a bold scene aesthetically. My family will never have a problem with me going bold for OTT. Before shifting to Mumbai, I have discussed everything with them," she quips. Priyal also added that she missed college life. "Whenever I talk to my school friends in Delhi, who are in college now, I do miss not going to college. I am pursuing college from an open university. But it is okay they are not living my life," she says.
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Credits:TOI
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