Manjari Fadnnis calls The Freelancer 2 rollercoaster ride, recalls time when she wanted to leave films | Exclusive

Manjari Fadnnis, who the best known for her role in the movies Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa and Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karun, is recently seen in the web series The Freelacer 2. The actress is seen playing the role of a woman who is suffering from dissociative disorder.

In an exclusive conversation with DNA, Manjari Fadnnis who plays the role of Mrunal Kamath in The Freelancer 2, revealed how she prepared for the role and talked about how she wanted to leave films after she wasn't getting good roles even after Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa. 

Talking about The Freelancer 2, Manjari Fadnnis said, “It’s going to be a rollercoaster ride and it will keep everybody on edge and I don’t think anyone would be able to stop it till it actually concludes.”

Talking about how she prepared for her character in the series, Manjari said, “Mrunal Kamath was a very interesting character to work on. I didn’t know before this, what a dissociative disorder is. So it was very interesting for me to learn about it. I have a friend who is a psychological counselor who I have sometimes gone to. So she educated me about what happens to a person who goes through something like that.” 

She added, “So I tried to put that into the situation and patch it up with her back story, her trauma because of which she is what she is today. So I did that a little bit of homework and it’s very well written on the paper so it was easy for an actor to perform.”

When asked if the role of Mrunal Kamath was challenging for her, Manjari Fadnnis said, “Yes it was because I personally don’t have any relation to understanding what a character like mrunal Kamath would actually go through, like, being responsible for the death of her own child. Apart from that, dissociative disorder is a different kind of mental illness. But at the same time, because it was challenging, it was fun to do the role. So I just tried to get a few things in the performance so I just hope it comes across on screen.”

Manjari Fadnnis further talked about how OTT changed things for her and said, “After Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa, I was hoping to get lead roles and I got a few projects like I did Walt Disney’s first live-action movie in India, Zokomon, Aamir Khan had suggested my name and it was a beautiful project. Apart from Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa, because I was the second lead in that, I was getting called for supporting roles and also less impactful roles. So I didn’t want to follow it up with a lesser role. So I kept waiting.”

She added, “Of course got roles in multi-starrer films like Grand Masti, Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karun. It did benefit me and I got a lot of love from there but I was just getting girl-next-door, just a pretty girl-type character, nothing that excited me as an actor or surprised the audience. So with the coming of OTT platforms that changed for me. In between, in 2017, I decided to take a break and not do anything till the time something exciting came up. I had decided, I would leave the industry and go, I would give up, I would leave everything, I would pack my bags and get back to studies but I would not do something that did not really excite me. And for two years, I did theatre and those years were so fulfilling for me as an actor and it helped me work on my craft and tone my skills.”

She further added, “So I was on my savings for a while, till the time, in 2019, the better stuff started coming my way. It started with Barot House as my first web original film and that changed a lot of things for me. Suddenly people saw me in a more intense character than they had seen before. So that changed a lot of things for me in the OTT space and I am getting much better roles than I have been getting in the past.”

Created by Neeraj Pandey, The Freelancer 2 stars Mohit Raina, Anupam Kher, Manjari Fadnnis, and Kashmira Pardeshi among others in key roles, and has been receiving much love from the audience. The show is available to watch on Disney+ Hotstar.