Tale of a Mardaani starlet !

Here I go again writing about a celebrity. Come to think of it, Manju Warrier is not merely an actress for us Keralites. She is a part of every household with every single person in a family adoring her. Manju is easily Malayalam cinema's most successful and widely followed female actor of all times. She reached this stature in a very short notice (of less than a decade), acted in a bunch of memorable films of all genres and clinched accolades left, right and centre including a National Award. But the actor's dream run came to a grinding halt at the age of 21, when she tied the knot with one of the leading male superstars of Malayalam cinema whom she had fallen in love with.

Filmdom without Manju was quite difficult for Malayalis initially as there wasn't any other actress who could possibly replace her. Later as any family would happily do 'bidaai' of their daughter, we were glad that Manju found happiness in the marriage. But can you really tie-up such a talented artiste and danseuse to domesticity? Not really.

A decade and half after her wedding, their ensued rumours about misunderstanding between the couple. Later in the year, Manju announced her grand comeback and we learnt from the media that the couple lived apart. In May 2014, her comeback film 'How Old Are You?' which was ironically about a housewife discovering herself, amidst a difficult family. The film did exceptionally well (predictably!) and Manju later admitted on social media that the film carries the essence of her own life. Immediately did media broke the news about her husband filing a divorce which was followed by another piece which reported that she was not taking any alimony from him. All of this could be the actors' PR at work but what makes her Mardaani enough is the decision! Her grit to have come out to what she always loved doing.. entertaining people! It was not easy for someone who had wasted all of her youth as a wife and a mother to think of a comeback like this but she had the courage and she ultimately found her way through it .... and most importantly her individuality.



This is written as a part of I am Mardaani activity exclusively at BlogAdda.com for Indian Bloggers.