Sonalee Kulkarni is well known for her work in Marathi films like 'Mitwaa', 'Natrang', 'Jhimma' and many more. A decade ago she had the country dancing to the song 'Apsara Ali'

Even after over a decade, the song 'Apsara Ali' continues to do wonders for her

Talking to Mid-day.com, Sonalee revealed that it was while shooting for Tararani that she got a call from Lijo Jose Pellissery's office for a role in Malaikottai Vaaliban. The call coincided with the time the actress was looking for new opportunities

It was like a hunt. Go find Sonalee from Apsara Ali was Lijo’s word (to his team). Then everybody from the production to direction to casting came hunting me and they finally found me,” says Sonalee adding that the film 'Malaikottai Vaaliban' came to her at a time she was seeking to explore chartered territories. 

Lijo Jose Pellissery was clear about what he wanted his characters to look like. Sonalee played the role of  Rangapattinam Rangarani,  a dancer in the film. "Because Lijo knew from 'Apsara Aali' what he wanted Rangarani to be like. And all he just wanted to see was how I look today," shared Sonalee

The end result was Sonalee looking like an Apsara in the film. During her chat with us, she spoke in detail about her look and what it represented

Sonalee explains that Rangarani is an amalgamation of the Indian folk art. "It is Indian folk, music, dancing, theater, everything coming together," she said

Sonalee further shared, "When we talk about Indian folk forms, we talk about Tamasha or nautanki. People used to do these travel theatres and they would sing and dance back in the seventies, sixties. So the period that we're talking about in the film is not in a specific period. It is a fantasy film. It happened a long time ago somewhere in India"

"We've shot in Rajasthan. So we knew what the feel is all about, but we're not mentioning anything in particular. So when it comes to Rangarani's look, Lijo was like, because it's folk has this influence from Lavani and Tamasha, the character I played in Natrang, he knew that he wanted some bits from there," she added

"The look would be a little bit of nauvari, but it's not exactly a nauvari. It's a dhoti with a pallu. So it's not entirely that. The texture is from Rajasthan. So the blouse, the carvings, or the little bit of work that you see is very Rajasthani" 

"Because we've shot the film in Rajasthan, Lijo wanted those colors, he wanted those nuances, those designs.  There is the nath (nose ring) specifying Marathi culture, but there are no ghungroos or ambada. So it's kind of there, you can pinpoint, but you're not sure if it's entirely that. So that's what he wanted"

Sonalee added that director Lijo did not want the character to be attached to a particular region. "She is the representation of Indian folk culture. That's beautiful," she said

Watch the complete interview of Sonalee Kulkarni sharing her first Malayalam film experience here. Click here