Actors Cyrus Sahukar and Mini Mathur are coming together for the first time for a web series, Mind the Malhotras on Amazon Prime Video. While Cyrus plays a crazy, rich man called Rishabh on the show, Mini plays his equally crazy wife, Shefali. The two are unapologetic and insensitive towards each other on screen.

The actors sat for a candid chat with Hindustan Times and didn’t mince any words as they discussed their characters, and spoke about the advantages and disadvantages of married life. Excerpts:

What’s so special about these Malhotras?

Mini: They are the weirdest Malhotras you would have ever seen. They are normal and weird at the same time. They are people you can identify with. There is a couple: Rishabh (Cyrus) and Shefali (Mini) who are trying their marriage to not get boring and are seeing a therapist so that the spark in their marriage is constantly alive. They have three kids and they are trying to be decent parents. It has all the ensuing slice of life, comic situations that we face everyday but just a little weirder.

Cyrus: I think they are the part of you that is already weird but you don’t want to accept it. So now you will see someone else doing it and accept that we all are like that...weird.

Mind the Malhotras: Cyrus Sahukar, Mini Mathur reveal why they are the weirdest onscreen couple

Why is the spark missing in your life on the show?

Mini: Through the process of having three kids, they have been married for around 15 years and feel that since all their friends are getting divorced because they can’t see eye-to-eye on various things, they should go for counselling before that happens to them. Couples who stay together for longer than 10-15 years stop communicating...or their conversations become very boring.

Cyrus: I think it’s the best thing that has happened to them as a couple. There is nobody in a relationship who is sparking through the relationship. If you are in a relationship, it means you are going to go through ups and downs, lefts and rights, circles and triangles. If you don’t want that, you shouldn’t be in a relationship.

Tell us about your three kids?

Mini: They have twin girls: Dia and Jia and an eight-year-old son Yohan (Yoyo). Jia is being played by Anandita Pagnis. She is a very fine actor. She is into fashion and tattoos and boyfriends and is really the front-footer kid but not very good at academics. Whereas Dia is being played by Nikki Sharma. She plays by the book, and is great in academics. She is a kid you want.

Cyrus: Yoyo is more like Rishabh. He is a complete shape-shifter in the show. Nobody knows what’s going on in Yoyo’s head. Jason D’Souza is playing the part. He is a smart kid and just having fun. He would ask a thousand questions during the shoot.

The entire cast of Mind the Malhotras.

Mini, you are married. What are the three disadvantages of being married?

Mini: 1. You wake up every morning and have to care for several other people besides yourself. You have to think of their day as your day.

2. You are stuck with the same guy.

3. Holidays become really expensive. You can’t fly off in first class luxury because you want to spend on yourself. You are like ‘Oh God! these five people will come with me’. Everything comes with two rooms, many flights.

And what are the advantages?

Mini: You are never alone. You always have a sounding board. You have your own unit, your own cheering squad. I ask Kabir Khan the worst things about myself and I know that even if he is lying, he’s got my back. There is a shared memory, a shared journey. So when I am dying, I won’t be dying alone. I won’t be saying ‘Please someone pick me up from the bathroom floor.’ I know somebody (will be) there for me.You also get to live your life with your best friend.

Cyrus, you are not married. What are the disadvantages of being unmarried?

When you get married, you make a real promise that we both are gonna get ugly, weird and go through all these things together while on our individual journeys, but somehow, you are going to be my partner in this long process. It’s a beautiful thing to have.

You can get pretty lonely. You can be with a lot of people and die of loneliness. Everyone is super exciting for the first 25 dates. For the first 5-6 dates, no one meets each other, they just meet a trailer...the best clips. When people fall apart, their number one complaint is - ‘Oh, she has completely changed. She is not what she said she was.’ You build a community with marriage, a family. Emotionally we are not built to be on this solo path, jumping around. Biologically, we need people around us and by force sometimes, those people have to be with us. I am writing a book. It’s a confusing book as I am not sure you will get married or you will get divorced after reading that book. The costs are pretty high, you can’t share them. If you are two people, you can share the costs.

Mini Mathur and Cyrus Sahukar during a candid chat with HT.

What is the craziest thing you have done for your partner?

Cyrus: After a few months of meeting my girlfriend, we were chatting at night. There are four dogs around my building and they have grown up around me. They bark everyday at around 1’o clock. I started barking back. I saw fear on her face as she got concerned that this guy is not mentally fine. She asked me, ‘why are you barking at the dogs?’ I said, ‘Because if I speak in English, the chances of them knowing it are low. Maybe a few barks later, there may be a couple of words I get in’. The fact that she got it was the reason that our relationship survived for so many years.

Also read: Medically Yourrs review: This engrossing drama treats MBBS jitters with love

Quiz

You arrive at your mother-in-law’s birthday party and don’t have a gift. What excuse will you come up with?

Mini: I will wrap myself in a bow and tell her ‘this is the best daughter-in-law you can ever have’.

Cyrus: I will totally blame my wife for it.

What would you do if your kids walk in on you at the wrong time?

Mini: Stop doing what we are doing.

Cyrus: I will act normal and then mess it up.

You are staring at a man or woman and your child catches you? What do you tell them?

Cyrus: Rishabh would say ‘we should take this dress for your mom.’ Or I would say ‘I just showed you what not to do’.

Mini: Shefali will not make bones about it. She would tell her girls ‘To hell with you, he is my crush’.

You are stealing money from your partner’s wallet and your kid catches you. What do you do?

Mini: I will say ‘You also take it, he earns a lot of money and we should have a party’. I will share it among the two of us and call it our personal secret.

Cyrus: Rishabh would say ‘I am counting money and sometimes I can take this money. These are my rules and are not for you’. These are examples of bad parenting.

Author tweets @ruchik87

Follow @htshowbiz for more

First Published: Jun 06, 2019 19:58 IST