From indie to masala: Mrunal Thakur embraces commercial comedy in ‘Son of Sardaar 2’

Actor Mrunal Thakur on Friday said she had never imagined herself doing a full-blown commercial entertainer until ‘Son of Sardaar 2’ came her way. The actor, known for her roles in critically acclaimed films such as ‘Love Sonia’, ‘Super 30’, ‘Sita Ramam’ and ‘Hi Nanna’, expressed gratitude to co-star Ajay Devgn for encouraging her to explore the comedy genre.

The upcoming action-comedy, a sequel to the 2012 hit ‘Son of Sardaar’, stars Devgn in the lead once again and is directed by Vijay Kumar Arora. “I loved troubling Jassi (Devgn’s character) in this film. There are four women troubling him in the story,” Thakur said at the trailer launch in Mumbai. “This is my first commercial film, and I’m grateful to Ajay sir and the director for giving me this opportunity.

“I couldn’t imagine myself as Rabia, nor picture myself torturing Jassi on screen. I kept wondering, ‘Will I be able to pull this off?’ But with the help of Deepak sir (Dobriyal), Kubbra (Sait), Roshni, and later Chunky sir who joined in – we had a blast on set. Especially with Deepak sir, I had a lot of fun,” she added.

The film features an ensemble cast including Ravi Kishan, Sanjay Mishra, Neeru Bajwa, Chunky Panday, Kubbra Sait, Deepak Dobriyal, Vindu Dara Singh, Roshni Walia, Sharat Saxena, Sahil Mehta and the late Mukul Dev.

Kishan and Sait fondly remembered working with Dev, who passed away in May this year at the age of 54.

“Mukul has been an old friend. We spent nearly 40 days together on this film,” Kishan said. “He was so excited about the project. You’ll love him in it – his jokes, his performance. We all love and miss Mukul. I’d suggest watching the film for him – he was a brilliant actor.”

Sait echoed the sentiment, noting that Dev was always the first to arrive on set and remains deeply missed by the cast and crew.

Originally, Sanjay Dutt was meant to reprise his role from the first film. However, a visa issue prevented him from joining the UK schedule, and Kishan was brought in to replace him.

“I’m thankful to Ajay sir and the British government for giving me a visa, which made this possible,” said Kishan. “Sanju Baba played this role in the original, and I was honestly very stressed to take it on. But Ajay sir had faith in me. I hope the audience is entertained.”

Dobriyal described his character as his “most challenging yet,” revealing that he portrays a woman in the film.

“I had to play a woman – that was the toughest part,” he said. “I’d be dressed in costume on set, but my body language was all wrong – still like a man. It took five days for me to understand why everyone was looking at me strangely!”

‘Son of Sardaar 2’ is produced by Devgn alongside Jyoti Deshpande, NR Pachisia and Pravin Talreja. The film is scheduled for release on 25 July.