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00:00Almost 80% of the actors that we have in this film are non-Indians, so it was very interesting
00:07interacting with them, knowing about their approach to the profession. We just used to
00:12have very friendly discussions and it was very interesting to share screen with such actors.
00:18It was a very new experience and so many things to learn. So we spent almost one and a half months
00:23inside a haunted house, like easily, very peacefully. Irrespective of a film being
00:29female-oriented or male-oriented, the film will do well only if the content is good.
00:36Every male-oriented film is not doing great and every female-oriented film is not a failure.
00:42Hello Manju. Hi, this is another Manju. How are you? I'm good, thank you.
00:54I like it, you're beginning 2023 with a bang. Well done you with your own production.
01:00You have to tell me all about Aisha. I like the fact it's got our Arabic touch to it.
01:07So it's not my own production, that's a small correction in there. It's not my own production.
01:12Oh really? Aisha, you're talking about Aisha, right? Yes. Yeah, I'm not, it's not my production.
01:19It's not, okay. But does it matter? You are acting in it, that is proof enough to watch the movie.
01:24But you should tell us, what should we see at Manju? Well, it's definitely the audience choice,
01:32like if they want to watch the movie or not at the end of the day. But I would love, I would
01:39like the audience to watch it because we have very soulfully, we have very happily made this
01:47movie with so much of dreams and expectations and we believe it's a good movie and we believe that
01:53it's going to be a good experience for the audience. And I would want the audience to
01:58watch the film without any expectations or like not to have any preconceived notions in their
02:08minds before watching it. It's just a good, simple, small, light-hearted movie and we want
02:14the audience to watch it in that sense. Because you play a house help in this, right? Yes, yes.
02:19Aisha is a maid who works in a Saudi household. So that's where the story, the whole, the almost
02:2697-98% of the movie is happening in Saudi Arabia. But we have shot the film in Ras al-Khaimah because
02:33we could not get the suitable locations in Saudi Arabia during the time we wanted to shoot the
02:38movie. So we have shot the movie in Ras al-Khaimah and the whole, even the setting of the story and
02:48the way the director and the producer, the ways they wanted to approach the film made me think
02:53that they have a very clear, they have a great clarity on how the movie should reach the audience
03:02and of course it's a, I felt it's a good team because Zakaria, who's one of the main producers
03:07of the film, has already made a couple of very well-appreciated films already. He has directed
03:14in, he's the director of Sudani from Nigeria and Halal Love Story and even the writer,
03:21Ashif Kapodi, he is a co-writer of Halal Love Story and they all come from the same group
03:27and even the director Amir, even though this is his directorial debut, he is a very close
03:34associate of Zakaria, the director. So they all have, I felt that they really have a very
03:43interesting perspective of the film. So I thought might as well be part of it.
03:48Right, right. Of course, I feel all the names that you just said, I think they're great at
03:52making these ordinary lives seem extraordinary in many ways. It's not easy to do it, right?
03:57Because there's always a class warfare that happens. It's all in the background, but it's
04:01not out in the open. They don't rub it in our faces, you know, but it's all there. Those
04:06subtexts are there. Does this movie also tackle class warfare in a more humorous, perhaps in a
04:11more humane way? I wanted to clarify that because this is not about a class warfare, because any
04:19movie that we have seen about a maid in which the protagonist is a maid is generally seen to be
04:28ending up as a story of tears and hardships and all in life. But this is a quite very different
04:34approach. And perhaps that's one of the things that excited me about the script, because this
04:39is not at all a sob story of a housemaid. This is actually something which happened in
04:47the real life of one of, you will know when you watch the film we are revealing,
04:53it is a real life story. It's not a biography or it's not been shown as a person's
05:00life. But this story has been greatly inspired by a real life, the episode that happened in
05:08a person's life. A person who has gone to work in a Saudi household as a maid.
05:13So this is a very interesting story of a friendship. You'll watch what happens when
05:21a lady goes to work in a household and how the relationship between the lady and different
05:27people in the house develops. So that's what it's all about. And it's been shown in a very
05:35interesting light. Unlike how we have seen in a few of the previous films which have had Arab
05:46influences in the film. Arab characters which maybe just come and go as a cameo.
05:53We have seen films where the Arab, the superior Arabs are shown as maybe cruel people who torture
06:01Indians who go to work. But this is a very different approach. I don't want to give out
06:06too many spoilers about the movie. But it's really nice and I like how you say that it's
06:12a light-hearted film. It's not to be taken seriously. The thing with you I think as an
06:18actress is if you're in a movie somehow we expect a lot of drama, tears, the whole thing. It's very
06:24to take on a role which is all sunshine and happiness. I'm not saying that this is all
06:34sunshine and happiness. Of course, it has its own emotional moments in the film. But
06:38there is a very interesting way to how the director has approached such sequences. It's a
06:45very real story. So it has all the real emotions that any human being will have in his or her life.
06:52It's all there. But it's been shown in a very different light.
06:57Excellent. Excellent. And it's also a tale of sisterhood I feel. Between two unlikely
07:04friendship being struck by two people belonging to two different worlds.
07:07Was it easy? Did you have workshops with the lady who's playing your boss?
07:12She's a wonderful actor. She's from Syria actually. She lives in UAE. She's a Syrian actor.
07:19And every actor in the film, almost 80% of the actors that we have in this film are
07:28non-Indians. So it was very interesting interacting with them, knowing about their
07:34approach to the profession. We just used to have very friendly discussions. And it was very
07:39interesting to share screen with such actors. It was a very new experience and so many things to
07:44learn. For example, how you wait for the last word of their dialogue to know when to start your
07:52dialogue. So it's a totally different school. And it's not the usual kind of filming, the kind of
07:59shooting that happens in a normal Malayalam film that is shot in Kerala. So it was very different.
08:06What was it like filming in Rasilkam? I remember going for a shooting set,
08:10to visit a set when Akshay Kumar for Airlift with Nimrit Corps, I think. And it was so different.
08:17It was dressed up as I think another region, but another Middle Eastern region, I remember.
08:23So in your case, is it very different being in Rasilkam? Because you are a familiar face
08:29in the UAE. People love you. The kind of stampedes you trigger because of your appearances are
08:34legendary. So was it easy to shoot without being noticed, without having the people crowd? What was
08:40the experience like? We had, even in the film, most of the scenes are happening inside the
08:47household, which the location was, that was actually very interesting because the location
08:53that we chose was a haunted house. A very well known haunted house, a very large palatial bungalow,
09:01which was like, it usually has tickets given out for people to come and see the haunted house.
09:07So we spent almost one and a half months inside a haunted house, like easily, very peacefully.
09:12We had no paranormal encounters in the house. So we all had a great time. The whole unit,
09:23we didn't stay in the house, but we were there till morning, till night, some days through the
09:28night when we had overnight. We spent the whole, most of the, I mean, most of the days we shot in
09:38Rasilkam was inside the house. We had very, very rarely we went for outdoor shoots because the
09:44story is happening inside the house. And Manju, South Indian cinema is going through this moment
09:48of reckoning with, especially with RRR, you know, quoting the awards, glory, like the golden globes,
09:54et cetera, that it won. Suddenly everybody's sitting up and taking notice of Malayalam cinema.
09:59I feel we were there much earlier, I think at least so many decades ago. But in your case,
10:05do you think suddenly people are noticing what you have to do, what Malayalam cinema and the
10:09actors are capable of? Is it a good time? I think the exposure, the credit for all the exposure
10:15should be given to the pandemic. Because it's the OTT boom that happened during the pandemic period,
10:23gave an exposure to Malayalam cinema, which had never happened before. People were,
10:31they were searching for Malayalam films. People started all over India, especially. And I'm sure
10:36all over the, at least some people all over the world might have started noticing Indian films
10:43and especially Malayalam films. So I think that is really, that should really help the industry
10:52to be conscious enough to, to have the conscience that you should actually give
10:58good content to the world because the whole world is watching. So I think that, yeah,
11:03that conscience will help everyone, including me, including me in the terms of choosing films and
11:10to have like, to filter. Yes. Filter my choices and even to improve, refine myself as an actor.
11:21It made me want to improve a lot. So it made me, it inspired me to work on myself a lot.
11:29So I think that's all really helpful. No, I think you're a perfect actor. You're perfect.
11:33You don't have to change. Seriously, if you're in a movie, we watch it. I think that's a goodwill
11:39that not every actor can boast of. But Manjuwari, another thing that I noticed during the pandemic
11:44was the women-centric stories that came. Delhi Crime. And yesterday I saw Trial by Fire,
11:49brilliant stuff. Again, it was spearheaded by a woman. Do you think that is also helping? Like,
11:54suddenly stories, even this movie, I feel you are leading it. And then there's another woman. I
12:00didn't even notice the men, honestly, in the trailer. So it's almost like I have to go back
12:04to it and find out. Is that a good thing? It just happened to be a story where women
12:08are the protagonists. I want to believe and I always say this when I'm asked this question that
12:16it's irrespective of a film being female-oriented or male-oriented, the film will do
12:24well only if the content is good. Every male-oriented film is not doing great and every
12:31female-oriented film is not a failure. So it all depends on the quality of the content and how the
12:37content is capable of engaging the audience. I think that's what matters at the end of the day.
12:44So the female and male-oriented, that notion is a bit outdated now.
12:51Also, Manju, you are like the Kerala's darling. Nothing you can do. I mean,
12:56in their eyes, I think you can do no wrong. Is that a very tough title to hold? And do you feel
13:02a bit overwhelmed by the love you get sometimes? No, no, no, no. I never think about all of it,
13:09Manju. People are very kind. I've been really blessed with the audience, the love from the
13:14audience and even from people like you. I am reminded of it only when people like you ask
13:22questions like this to me. Otherwise, I never plan something to impress the audience or
13:31maybe I don't do any strategic planning or that doesn't work in my case. So I just do
13:38what I feel like doing and I just go with the flow. That's what I do.