Mrunal Thakur turned a bride in the second season of the web series, Made In Heaven. She played a beauty queen and an established actor named Adhira Arya in the second episode titled, Beauty and the Beast. Many among the audience didn’t approve of how her character chose to turn a blind eye to all the red flags about her fiance and went on to marry the man who beat her up black and blue just day before the wedding. Mrunal has now opened up about her character chosing to live with domestic violence until she filed for divorce several months later. Also read: Mrunal Thakur was freezing on Aankh Micholi sets in Swiss Alps: ‘As long as it looks great on screen, I will do it’
Mrunal on playing a victim of domestic violence who overlooks all red flags
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Mrunal talked about why despite her character being a very successful and independent woman, she didn’t walk out of her abusive relationship. She said, “The reason why I wanted to be a part of this episode because when Zoya narrated me, I was like, ‘Zoya, I know so many women who know that things are wrong in their lives but they just can’t take that step because they think maybe everything may not fall into place and it takes time for them to realize that all the carnival that they saw was a red flag.’ It wasn’t something that they were looking at. They were just trying to be the mother in that relationship but unfortunately this is the true harsh reality.”
Mrunal said that it takes time for every person to realise what’s wrong. “As the show comes to an end, you see that Adhira files for divorce. I think it was nice to show the divorce after a few episodes and not immediately because it’s reality. It takes time and good things take time. So maybe that realization to go back to her career, to realize her self worth, it took time and it does take time and this episode precisely was dedicated to all the women who are going through some or the other abuse in spite of knowing that they can get out of because of some or the other issues. But I just want to tell them that believe in yourself. This life is precious and you deserve to be loved.”
On being asked if she felt uncomfortable at first while playing the bruised Adhira, Mrunal said that whenever she felt uncomfortable in her head, she only kept the vision of all those women who were suffering. “I wanted them to be a winner. So to feel uncomfortable for all those people, its okay, I will take it,” she said.
Mrunal on facing judgements on being a TV actor who moved to films
Mrunal is one of the most successful actors who has bagged the biggest projects after making a shift from television to films. Mrunal had already forayed into Marathi film industry while she was featuring as Bulbul Khanna in the hit TV show, Kumkum Bhagya. She made her Hindi film debut in 2018 with Love Sonia. She featured in the much-loved Telugu film Sita Ramam last year and just saw the release of her Hindi film Aankh Micholi in theatres. She now has a lineup of multiple Hindi and Telugu films.
During the interview, she also opened up about her shift from TV to films. On being asked if she faced judgements in the film industry over her being a TV actor, Mrunal said, “Yeah, I did. But then there are filmmakers like Tabrez Noorani, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Nikkhil Advani, Karan Johar and Ram Madhwani, who believe in the artist who you truly are. And all these tags, it just doesn’t matter. As long as you have these directors having trust and faith in you to be able to perform that particular role, that’s all what matters. All these judgments will always be there. Log kabhi khush nahi hote aur kabhi nahi honge (people are never pleased and they will never be pleased). I am not born to please everyone. I’m just born to please myself. I will be here to look after myself and love myself.”