Monal Gajjar is clearly destiny’s child.
A commerce graduate from Ahmedabad, Gajjar, was happy working in a bank and films never figured in her dreams, least of all south Indian films.
But then fate’s ways cannot be explained.
At the suggestion of her yoga teacher, Gajjar sent in her pictures for the Mirchi Queen Bee contest in 2011.
“I clearly stated in my letter that I would not be able to attend the auditions on account of my 9-to-5 job,” Gajjar said.
To her surprise, a couple of days later, she received a letter asking her to report for the finals.
Looking back, recalls Gajjar, “Those days I did not know how to use make-up and went for the event in a simple salwar kameez.”
Winning the Miss Gujarat crown changed her life and paved way for her participation into the Femina Miss India show. She made it to the finals.
With Telegu film, Sudigadu, Gajjar entered the industry. This Friday is special as her two Tamil releases will hit the screens. Naturally she is excited and nervous.
In Sigaram Thodu, she plays Ambuja, a doctor, and romances Vikram Prabhu on screen. And in Vanavarayan Vallavarayan, she plays a small-town college student, Anjali, who is in love with Vanavarayan.
“Anjali loves her father and is very protective of him,” says Gajjar, who had an accident during the shooting of the film and worked with a plaster cast on.
Working in an alien language hardly posed any problem, she says and credits her two directors for guiding her.
It’s been quite a walk for this Gujarati girl from Ahmedabad to the south, where she is currently working on her next Telegu film, Brother of Bommali, opposite Allari Naresh.
