She has audiences going gaga over her innocent and endearing performance in “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” and seven-year-old actress Harshaali Malhotra now aims to be a big star like her co-actor Salman Khan.
Harshaali played Munni, a mute girl from Pakistan, in the Kabir Khan-directed blockbuster.
“I like acting and singing. I want to be a superstar like Salman uncle,” she told PTI.
Her mother Kajal had once met casting director Mukesh Chabra. One day he called her up saying the child has bagged the role in Salman Khan starrer “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”.
“I was not aware that Salman was part of this project. We couldn’t believe initially. It was tough for us to accept it,” she said.
The actress said Salman used to play barbie games and table tennis with her on the film’s sets.
“I used to play games with Salman uncle on cell phone. I used to sit on Kabir uncle’s lap and play Barbie games.
Kareena aunty was busy with shoot so did not get time to play games with her,” she said.
“Salman uncle used to play table tennis with me in Karjat,” Harshaali said.
Her mother said Harshaali is now dedicated to acting. “Right now she is dedicated to acting. I keep giving gap in between. Sometime back she was unwell, so we had stopped doing assignments… she is too small.
“By the time she is in class five we will take a break of 6-7 years till she is in class XII. If she wants to pursue acting then we will let her do it.”
Harshaali said used to cry seeing Salman fighting or getting emotional in the film.
“I used to cry when he (Salman) did action scenes. Even when Salman uncle shot emotional scenes, I used to feel bad. Even I cried when Salman uncle cried.”
Kajal said Harshaali initially felt shy talking to Salman.
“She was initially shy. Then they both were left alone for sometime and they got along well. Salman loves her a lot. We are happy that she got this big opportunity of working with Salman.”
The child actor also got along well with Kabir while shooting for the film.
“It was nice… He used to play with me. He never scolded me… He loved ne. I called him after my trailer was out when I was seen in the promo,” she said.
“She had a good tuning with Kabir. Whenever she did not understand anything in a scene she would directly ask Kabir about it. I never got into that,” Kajal said.
While shooting for “Bajrangi Bhaijaan”, Harshaali missed her school for a few days.
“I did not go to school for seven days or so,” said the child actor, who studies in Mumbai’s Seven Square Academy.
“We took permission from her principal, they told us not to take too many holidays,” her mother said.
The actress will opt for meaty roles in future.
“Her role has to be good and the banner has to be big. We would not want her part to be too small. After doing a role like this (‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’), I don’t think we would like her to do a 5-10 minutes role where she is seen in childhood time. That is not feasible,” said Kajal, who is also not keen on television shows for her daughter.
Harshali was earlier seen in popular show “Laut Aao Trisha”. She has also appeared in various TV commercials.
“A big no to television shows. We will see what kind of reality shows come her way… It has to suit her,” she said.
