Kajal said she has grown a lot as an actor in the past decade that it helped her to have insightful discussions about cinema with Kalyan on the sets of MLA.
Actor Kajal Aggarwal made her Tollywood debut in 2007 with Lakshmi Kalyanam, which had Nandamuri Kalyan Ram in the lead. And after a gap of 10 years and 50 films, she has again shared screen space with Kalyan Ram in the upcoming film MLA aka Manchi Lakshanalunna Abbai.
Kajal said she has grown up a lot as an actor in the past decade, which helped her to have insightful discussions about cinema with Kalyan on the sets of MLA. “We both had our own experiences. We both have grown up from 10 years ago. It was really a good reunion with a friend. Lakshmi Kalyanam was my first film. I was really raw and did not understand about cinema as much. Now, I understand a bit about my industry, we discussed a lot of cinema and life in general.”
She noted that she was not able to keep in touch with Kalyan after their first film together. “In this industry, people are very busy in their own lives. When you get 2-3 hours in a day, you want to spend it with your family and the close ones. So it’s very difficult to stay in touch with your co-stars on an everyday basis. But, when you meet them, of course, the bond is the same,” she added. “Kalyan and I were very nostalgic. We used to discuss how it used to be back in the day, working with Teja sir and Madanapalle, where we shot our first film. We had a lot to catch up on.”
She revealed she had different plans in her mind when she started her career in films and that she never thought she will come this far. “After Lakshmi Kalyanam, I thought I will go back to my MBA,” Kajal said while underlining that she is grateful for everything she has today. “It’s a very good space to be. Touch-wood.(sic)”
Kajal said even after doing several films in Telugu she was still not sure about completely dedicating herself to her film career. “It took me about five films to realize that this is it. This is what I want to do. This is where I belong. So around my seventh film Magadheera, I was 100 percent sure. But, before that I was confused,” she recollected.
Talking about her character in MLA, she said she plays an NRI, who is a corporate professional and there is a deceptive shade to her character. “You’re not sure till the interval, what is she doing and what are the reasons behind her doing certain things. It is an interesting character,” she added.
MLA is written and directed by Upendra Madhav and is set to hit the screens on Friday.