Raai Laxmi, who is an established name in South Indian film industry with her popularity spanning from Tamil to Telugu and from Kannada to Malayalam cinema is creating the right buzz with her latest music video, Majnu 2. Majnu 2 is a romantic peppy number that dropped during Valentine’s week this month and has been sung by Mika Singh. The music video also features Shama Sikander and DJ Sumit along with Laxmi and Mika.
Laxmi who is well known for south films like Christian Brothers, Mankatha, Kanchana, Valmika, Cinderella made her Bollywood debut with Julie 2 but it failed to ignite the box office. However, with her new music video Majnu 2 she once again is making waves. In an exclusive interview with PeepingMoon.com, Raai Laxmi spoke about Majnu 2, her web series Poison 2, receiving the Golden Visa from UAE, the rise of the Southern film industry, the OTT boom and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
Your recently released music video Majnu 2 is creating the right buzz and topping the charts. What is your reaction to it?
We had made this song and shot for it pre-covid and was waiting for it to get over but it was a never-ending process so then we finally decided that we will launch it for Valentine’s Week because the songs also has that vibe and ever since then the audio has caught up and the remix version of Majnu 2 is actually catching up as it is a fast number and people are loving it. So it feels good that it has become so successful.
How was your experience of shooting the song with Mika, Shama Sikander and DJ Sumit Sethi?
DJ Sumit I had met for the first time. Shama and Mika are very good friends so it did not feel as if I was on shoot, it felt like we friends met for a vacation and decided to shoot a song there, record it and come back. So the whole concept of the song is also something like that, friends going out and having fun. With Mika I shot for the first time but I had known him for so many years so it was great and we shot the song in Malta and Malta being such a scenic place, it was beautiful. We went with friends, we enjoyed shooting there, weather was super nice, the song was super-fun and we shot the song in like one-and-half days, in reality we had planned for three days but we wrapped it soon. And with Mika he can change his mind at the last minute and he took a lot of liberty with us because we were friends. When we landed there we ended up fighting and I said that I am not doing the song but a common friend sorted out the difference and then we shot for the song. It was a very stupid fight but eventually we came back to shoot the song, it was good fun and a most memorable experience.
With the launch of the music video will we see you once again as a lead in Hindi films soon? Or are there going to be more music videos?
I have just started doing singles, I was not open to it previously but now the generation has changed. Digital platforms have boomed up and singles are doing extremely well and I might be doing a few Punjabi singles very soon and of course, I will be doing the web series so Hindi market has opened up for me and not to take away my South films, that is always going to be there those are my roots.
You recently received the Golden Visa from UAE, your thoughts on the same?
This came as a surprise to me as I had no clue about it. Since I do a lot of films in Malayalam and Dubai is like a mini-Kerala and I have shot so much there, it is like a second home for me. My fan club associations had sent an application on my behalf and I got approval and it came as a pleasant surprise. I called it my second home but now it has become a second home.
Your last year’s release Miruga shows you in a different role altogether from what we’ve seen you in? How was the experience of playing a young mom in the film and doing action sequences?
Miruga was very challenging as the whole climax; a whole 40 mins of it was shot in a house against a CGI tiger, it was a very different role and a different film. Many people liked the film and it should have released in theatres but due to Covid we had no choice other than releasing it on OTT. So that way, I played a young mom for the first time, it wasn’t focused on the mother but the emotions that she goes through and what she carries – like losing her husband, how she lives her life with her child and sister and how a guy comes into her life and she gets smitten by him and how that guy traps her and how she overcomes that and how the whole tiger bit comes into the film. It is a very edgy film and had a thriller element to it.
You have been a part of several popular songs in south films. Will we get to see you in any more special numbers?
Not only special numbers but also interesting web series and movies as well. I wanted to do things one step at a time and not rush into things. Since I am into South and have projects lined up so whenever I get that gap I want to fit myself in doing something really nice in Bollywood and I have started liking it with songs and web series like Poison 2 for Zee; they wanted me to do Poison 3 but I couldn’t take it up.
The Southern film industry has taken the country by storm lately with films like Joji, The Great Indian Kitchen and the recent Pushpa: The Rise. Having worked in the industry, what do you think is the reason behind it?
I don’t know what the reason is but people want new content and they are done with seeing the same thing over and over again, they are done with remakes. So getting strong content and people love to watch different kind of films and different genres and there are so many south Indian films being dubbed in Hindi and they enjoy it as they find it different. And South Indian films have varied content, we have four different industries and they have four different kind of stories so we have lots to produce and hence the entire industry has merged together. I am so happy that today I won’t call myself as a South Indian star but I want to be recognized as a star from the Indian cinema and that regional factor has disappeared and everything has merged together. Thanks to digital platform everyone is working every language. Everybody wants to watch different things in different languages so I am happy. Pushpa is a huge success in south as well as Bollywood and that has given hope that we haven’t lost the theatrical market because of Covid, and that the theatrical market is gonna go down because there is so much to watch online but nobody understands the fun of watching a film in theatre and Pushpa gave us that hope. Pushpa was that one hope that got all of us happy.
Your web series Poison 2 was in the thriller genre so are you looking to diversify and take up comedy or drama. Could you tell us that one film or role that is extremely close to you personally?
Most of the web series that are made are either on thriller based or horror based and I’m done with horror as I have done enough of those. But there are a few nice ones which I’ll be doing soon, unfortunately I can’t announce right now but will be on a different level, something larger-than-life. I have done almost everything in South, the only left to do is play my own self in my biopic. Thanks to South I have got enough opportunities to explore. The latest one is that from a film called Cinderella in which I did three roles and one of those roles is of a young maid who lives in Ooty and that character has given me a lot of applause in the film. I never thought I could play something like that and it touched my heart. I usually don’t watch a lot of my films but I went to watch how this role has turned out to be and the character is the most innocent in the film and that is extremely close to me.
What are your future projects? Can you share some deets?
A film in Tamil, a film in Telugu and a bilingual in Tamil and Telugu which are ready to release by July-August; I have another Malayalam film and a series in the pipeline.
