I was starstruck and mesmerized by Rajinikanth during Petta: Malavika Mohanan

Actress Malavika Mohanan had a dream come true moment when she made her debut in Tamil cinema. While the young actress had acted in a few Malayalam and Kannada films, she made her Tamil debut with Rajinikanth-starrer 'Petta' directed by Karthik Subbaraj. With the film completing years today, Malavika shares her experience of working in the film.
Taking to her social media on the occasion of five years of 'Petta', Malvika Mohanan wrote, "A little story for you guys..It was year 2018, and it was the first day of shoot for my first tamil film. I was playing a supportive role and my main reason for signing the project was because I wanted to share screen space with Rajni sir since the day I’d become an actor(sharing screen with him is pretty much on the bucket list for most actors, no?)" (sic)
"I was nervous, in an unfamiliar industry, didn’t know a single soul and to add to it all my first scene I shot for itself was with him. We were all on set and he walked in..the whole set went into a respectful silence immediately. The air immediately got thick with everyone’s adulation for him(not surprising obviously as he has that effect wherever he goes). The associate director introduced me to him and he very politely said “congratulations, soo happy to have you in the film” and then went on to exchange polite pleasantries. I was starstruck and mesmerised to say the least. Here was THE Rajnikanth standing right in front of me and talking to me," added Malavika.
Explaining about her interaction with Rajinikanth, she wrote, "Karthik(Subburaj) sir said the shot is ready and I thought ok..the small talk is done and what more would someone of Rajni sir’s stature possibly have to talk to a newbie like me any further..but what ensued was, through the course of that day, between each and every single shot, he sat me down and got to know me better, asked me where I came from, where my family lives, where I went to school, what my acting aspirations were, what my thoughts on spirituality were etc(you get this gist)."
"There was no reason for him to do this..to make this kind of an effort..to go out of his way to make me comfortable..I wasn’t even his “heroine” in the quintessential sense of things, just one of the actors and as we all know ‘Petta’ had so so many actors. But he still did. And he continued to do it through the rest of the filming of the movie. He was the first person who ever clapped for me right after the my ‘father’s death scene’ in the film. He was the first one to tell me you’ll will go on to be a big star in the future. He was the only one at that point to give words of encouragement constantly to a nervous new girl in a new industry pursuing big dreams.
I love you so much," she added.
"You are truly truly one of a kind and this film will always be closest to my heart," concluded Malavika Mohanan.
The pretty actress will soon be seen in Chiyaan Vikram-starrer 'Thangalaan' directed by Pa Ranjith.